The Giver and How I Feel About It Now

I need to make a confession… I read The Giver when I was about 12 years old and it was a serious struggle. I did not enjoy the book at all and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me and why I did not love this book the way that so many other did. I have found over the years that I just struggle with futuristic situations, where I know I would be the person that was always trying to change things. I think that was the main issue. I just didn’t believe in the story. I also think that while I appreciate the story now, I didn’t understand the story at all before now. I didn’t understand why any one would make a world like the one that Jonas lived in. I feel like I now have the ability to learn from this story and appreciate the things that they characters in the story have to live with out. 

I finally finished The Giver and saw the movie over the weekend. The movie was very good. It was slightly different from the book, but most movies based on books are. They added a love story and also some violence that just added excitement to the story. The movie did offer something that I really liked. I am a very visual person and so I respond very deeply to movies. I loved the way they showed the memories in the movie! I felt so much emotion for every memory that was shown. I found myself laughing and crying and being thankful for something that I don’t often find my self being thankful for. I found myself being so thankful for the fact that I am a human and that I can feel emotions. I know what it means to be an individual that feels what I feel when I feel it. I know that feeling of happiness and anger. I feel love and warmth often. The movie made me feel lucky.

I will say that I feel much differently about the book now than I used too. I have great respect for Jonas as a character. He was a character that had so much personal growth during the span of 179 pages. I grew to love him and the fight that he stood for. 

Have you seen the movie or read the book? What did you think? Let me know. I would love to talk about books with you! Have a great week and enjoy all the time you have with your students!

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Ms. Cara