The Giver/Characters

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Some or all of these characters need descriptions. A list of tropes is not a description.

A listing of characters who appear in Lois Lowry's The Giver (and its "sequels"). Beware of unmarked spoilers!

The Giver

Jonas

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Blue Eyes: As they are very rare in the community, they are taken as a hint of his Receiving capabilities.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror
  • The Chosen One: And how!
  • Erotic Dream: Jonas' dream of his "favorite female friend," Fiona, which prompts his mother to start giving him the pills.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: He has his Stirrings on Fiona.
  • Inferred Survival: It's strongly hinted in Messenger that Leader is Jonas: the mentions of his blue eyes, his sister, and Fiona, the sled makes an appearance, and that he first discovered his powers via an apple.
  • Love Interest: Fiona and implied in Messenger, Kira.
  • Meaningful Name: Jonas is a variation of Jonah, as in the reluctant prophet Jonah. Jonas knows that what the community is doing is wrong, but he is afraid to do the right thing and leave until someone around him is in danger, at which point he assumes the mantle of prophet and leaves the community at great risk to his own life, giving Gabriel a chance to live and releasing the stored memories back to the community.
  • Nice Guy
  • Nightmare Fuel: Some of the memories he gets from the Giver.
    • War Is Hell: He receives one about a dying (implied to be Civil War) soldier. And it lasted for hours.
  • Only One Name
  • Psychic Powers: To a certain extent in Messenger.
  • Someone Has to Do It
  • What Is This Thing You Call Love?: When Jonas learns about love through memories received from the Giver and asks his parents if they love him, they admonish him for not using precise language and say that asking "Do you enjoy me?" or "Do you take pride in my accomplishments?" would have been better.

The Giver

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Asher

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Fiona

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Rosemary

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Driven to Suicide: She couldn't take the horrors of the memories she received and decided to kill herself.
  • In the Blood: She was the Giver's daughter.
  • Meaningful Name: Boy howdy. After she killed herself the community banned her name, decreeing that it was never to be used for a new child again.

Ophelia: There's rosemary, that's for remembrance...

Gabe

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Jonas' family

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Gathering Blue

Kira

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Matty

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Christopher

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Jamison

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:

Thomas

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:


Messenger

Leader

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Blue Eyes: One of the few things that hint that he's actually Jonas from the first book.
  • Epileptic Trees: It's heavily implied, but never outright stated, that the Leader is Jonas. Lois Lowry acutally does confirm it, rather offhandedly, in an interview.
  • Psychic Powers
  • Reasonable Authority Figure
  • Ship Tease: Done rather subtly with Kira. When he first sees Kira, he describes her as being beautiful.

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