Imagine a place where there is no color, no choice; a place where individuality and freedom has been traded for sameness and security. Louis Lowery has created such a place in the novel The Giver. This place, or rather community, is presumed to be in the future and is supposed to be a kind of utopia where everyone conforms to the rules. The citizens have no connection with their past or what they have given up. There are only two people who can remember. One is the Giver and the other is the Receiver of Memory. These two people are the main characters in this story. The Giver is an old man that the council of elders turns to when they have a problem. He listens to their proposals and then tells them what they should do by basing his decisions on the lessons of the past. He also gives his memories to the Receiver of Memory who is Jonas, a twelve year old boy. As Jonas receives memories, he learns about bad things like war, hate, and pain. He also learns of good things like colors and love. As he receives memories his eyes are opened to wrongs of his so-called "perfect" society .
             This story begins with Jonas being nervous about his Ceremony of Twelve. At this ceremony he is assigned his lifelong job, the Receiver of Memory. When he goes to his first day of training The Giver gives him the memory of snow and of the pain of a sunburn. From here Jonas is given many other memories, some are horrible and others are good. Jonas mostly enjoys receiving the memories until he finds out that released really means being killed by a lethal injection. He also learns that his father lies and it causes Jonas to wonder if everyone else is lying as well. As Jonas receives memories, he also sees the hypocrisy that exists in his community. He sees how the elders control everything by making the rules and decisions for everybody. No one is allowed to make choices and everyone must conform to the rules. There is no love...