Essay

1. Essay The Giver Prompt

2. Attacking the Prompt-Getting ready to write • Take the prompt apart and answer any questions within. • Develop your thesis or assertion. • Find references from the book to support your thesis or assertion.

3. The Prompt The Giver by Lois Lowry After experiencing the feeling of love from the Giver and his memories, Jonas thought about the way life must have been when there was love and realized it was probably a "dangerous way to live." Think about what Jonas meant. What was "dangerous" about that kind of life, and what was a "safe" life like? What were the advantages and disadvantages of each choice? Write an essay in which you either support or criticize Jonas's decision to escape the community in light of the choice he made between a safe life and a dangerous one. • As you write, remember your essay will be scored based on how well you: • develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly communicates your thesis to the audience. • support your thesis with meaningful examples and references from the text, carefully citing any direct quotes. • organize your essay in a clear and logical manner, including an introduction, body, and conclusion. • use well-structured sentences and language that are appropriate for your audience. • edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English

4. In text Citations • MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example: • Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263). • Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263). • Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

5. Model Introduction • Have you ever felt trapped in life and unable to escape? The Giver by Lois Lowry considered this question through the life of a boy named Jonas. Jonas grew up in a utopian community that focused on peace through the idea of “Sameness.” As Jonas encountered his twelfth year, he received his first assignment, Receiver of Memory. Little did he know that this assignment would change his perception of the world in which he lived and force him to leave his family, friends, and the man he came to appreciate the most, The Giver. I support Jonas’ decision to leave the community first, because by doing so he saved the life of a little boy name Gabriel, and finally, because he knew information that prevented him from living a peaceful existence in that community.

6. Model Support Paragraph • “Never leave a comrade behind,” is a policy that many military organizations abide by. One such organization is the highly-esteemed United States Marine Corps. Jonas, like a Marine, followed this policy when he chose to include a toddler named Gabriel in his escape plan. Gabriel was a one-year-old little boy that Jonas’ family had chosen to take in because of his inability to sleep well at night. This quality was not acceptable in the community, and if Gabriel was not remediated over a period of time, he would be released. Gabriel did not get better, and toward the end of the book, Jonas’ father commented, “even I voted for Gabriel’s release when we had the meeting this afternoon“ (Lowry 164). Jonas did not want Gabriel to be released because he referred to him as “my little brother” and leaving him behind was not an option (98). Consequently, escaping from the community was Jonas’ only choice in the end if he hoped to save Gabriel’s life.

7. Model Support Paragraph • As frogs cannot transform back into tadpoles, Jonas could not return the knowledge he had received during his time as Receiver-to-Be and thus live at peace with his fellow community members. Originating with an apple-tossing activity with his friend, Asher, Jonas saw life differently from others in his community (24). This knowledge, which was considered "seeing beyond," caused Jonas to be set apart from his friends and his family. Once Jonas was given his assignment, this "apartness" became more glaring because his mentor, The Giver, transferred memories of the past and the future into Jonas' consciousness. These memories included ideas that were foreign to him such love and war (118, 125). As a consequence of this transference, Jonas desired a different life with his family-one that included warmth, happiness, and celebration (123). And in the same way, he could not exist in a community where his closest confidants take part in war-like events but simply refer to them as games (134). Jonas had become a person without a country; he was a puzzle piece that no longer fit. Leaving to find like-minded persons was his only choice, and he hoped it would become the norm for the child, Gabriel.

8. Model Conclusion Paragraph • Life is made up of many difficult decisions. Some deal with ourselves alone with consequences lying on the fringe, but most involve others and will affect their destinies. Jonas' life was encompassed by both; he had to make a decision to keep his own sanity with the knowledge he gained from his predecessor, The Giver. He also had to save a life; the one of Gabriel the child whose destiny was held firmly in Jonas' hands. He chose to go toward the lights, which he recognized, and toward the place where people celebrated love and would be waiting for he and Gabriel (178). His family and friends wanted to choose his life for him; he chose for himself.

9. Bibliography • Lowry, Lois. The Giver. Random House: New York. 1993. Print.

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