Jonas, the main  character in Lois Lowry’s dystopian novel, “The Giver” lives like every other person in his community. They live in Sameness, so everybody looks the same, does the same things, and acts the same. They are sheltered from everything that might change that, or anything that might hurt them. They have never known war, fear, pain, or sadness, but they have also never known color, love or feelings. This all changed at The Ceremony of Twelve, when Jonas was selected to be the new Receiver of Memories. He begins to receive memories of the past, when everything was different. Everything Jonas knew was changed. He knew things no one else knew, and he had to keep them to himself. One theme this story suggests is that it’s important to use memories from the past to shape your future and make good decisions.

At the beginning of the story, the memories were hidden from Jonas just as they were from the rest of the community. When Jonas remembers the plane that flew over the community, he remembers how frightened he felt. We find out later in the story that The Giver used memories from the past to make a good decision to change the future. The Giver said,” ‘I used my wisdom, from the memories. I knew that there had been times in the past-terrible times-when people had destroyed others in haste, in fear, and had brought about their own destruction.’ ”

In the middle of the story, Jonas has received a few memories and has some wisdom, but not enough to make important decisions, like The Giver. The Giver tells Jonas why they need the memories. ” ”It gives us wisdom.’ The Giver replied. ‘without wisdom I could not fulfill my function of advising the Committee of Elders when they call upon me.’ ”

Although some people believe that you should forget the bad memories and move on, you should use the memories of your mistakes to try to avoid doing those things again. The book supports this on page 110 by saying “‘They have never known pain’ he thought.” But even though it’s painful, the memories are important.

At the end of the story, after Jonas receives most of the memories, he realizes that things are not right the way they are. The Giver and Jonas begin to make a plan to change the community. “That night, Jonas was forced to flee.” Jonas had to cross the border and release the memories to everyone. “He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for love.” This is what would have happened if he had not crossed the border.