Chapters Fifteen and Sixteen

In this chapter Jonas goes to the giver for his training session but the giver is in too much pain. Jonas tells him that he will come back but the giver makes him stay and receive some of the pain. So Jonas decides to lay down on the table and open his tunic unexpectedly. The pain that the giver gave him was much more horrible than anything Jonas had ever felt. It was no wonder the giver wanted to get rid of it. after the memory was over Jonas did not want to go back to his training sessions. He didn't want the honor, the wisdom, or any of the memories he had received. Jonas just wanted to have a normal assignment. Jonas wanted to quit but he knew that he had to finish all of his training sessions with the giver.

In chapter sixteen Jonas goes to receive another memory. Unlike the past few this one is happy. Most likely because the giver felt bad for causing Jonas so much pain. In this memory Jonas experienced what he knew as family. In it was much more than just a mother and a father. There were aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. All of these concepts were very new to Jonas because all he had was three family members. The giver told him the feeling that the memory gave him was love. Jonas then ended his training session and went home. When he got home Jonas asked his dad if he loved him. His dad answered.

"Father? Mother?" Jonas asked tentatively after the evening meal. "I have a question I want to ask you.

""What is it, Jonas?" his father asked.

He made himself say the words, though he felt flushed with embarrassment. He had rehearsed them in his mind all the way home from the Annex.

"Do you love me?"There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then his father gave a little chuckle. "Jonas. You, of all people. Precision of language, please!"

"What do you mean?" Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.

"Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete," his mother explained carefully.

Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He had never felt something as meaningful as the memory."

And of course our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language. You could ask, 'Do you enjoy me?' The answer is 'Yes,' " his mother said."

Or," his father suggested, " 'Do you take pride in my accomplishments?' And the answer is wholeheartedly 'Yes.'

"Do you understand why it's inappropriate to use a word like 'love'?" Mother asked.Jonas nodded. "Yes, thank you, I do," he replied slowly.

It was his first lie to his parents.

Were you surprised that Jonas's dad did not know what love was?