102 pages • 3 hours read
Lois LowryA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
The river on the edge of the community is a symbol of boundaries and danger. A young boy named Caleb drowned in the river, despite the community’s many efforts to keep children safe. The Giver also tells Jonas to stay away from the river so there’s no chance that he’ll disappear into it, thereby unleashing the world’s memories onto the rest of the community, a fate he fears they cannot handle. Asher also tells a story of a boy who “jumped into the river, swam across, and joined the next community he came to” (47)because he was so unhappy with the job assignment he received in their own community. He points out that this boy never returned, which makes the river seem ominous. It is a bridge to Elsewhere, and Elsewhere is filled with the unknown, something that causes the community anxiety.
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