The Individual - Grant

The Giver:

The Giver obtains the job of the Receiver of Memory in our novel. In his community, everything is controlled; fear, pain, love, and life. The Receiver of Memory is responsible for holding the burden of pain in the community. This job is honored the most as it is the most important of the community. Long ago, the world resorted to Sameness. Thus doing so, they eliminated pain. To do so, they contained all the memories of the whole world and concealed them into one person, The Receiver of Memory (this applies to every community). Jonas (the main protagonist of the novel) has been newly selected to be the Receiver if Memory in his community at the Ceremony of 12. Jonas must now begin training for his assigned job. He must receive the memories of the world and contain the pain. The Giver, his teacher as one may say, must give these to him. The Giver is burdened by being knowledgeable. The memories that he alone holds frightens him. He wishes to share his knowledge with his community, but it is against the rules. The memories of pain hurts him. The memories of joy/love brings happiness to him (like the memory of the family on Christmas, sitting by the fireplace). His wisdom is what sets him as the base of the novel. In the navel, Jonas asks the man what his name is, and he only replies for him to call him "The Giver". Later in the novel, the reader learns that he had once trained a girl to be the new Receiver of Memory, but she failed. After that you learn that this girl was The Giver's daughter... The release of his daughter saddened the man and set his melancholy attitude during the time of the book. 

The Givers physical appearance:

• on the front cover of the novel, a picture of a real life representation of the man is shown
• he has a long, grey beard
• he is bald
• he is very old but looks older than he really is
• the burden from all the memories and pain as what has caused his drastic aging

 

The Receiver of Memory must have the qualities of intelligence, integrity, courage, wisdom, and the Capacity to See Beyond. This applies to the present receiver, any new receiver, and to all the past ones as well.
I myself have only two of these, intelligence and courage. Like him, I am knowledgeable. I know I am not all knowing as he is, but I know of past and presents events that have shaped society currently. Not only am I knowledgeable I am a courageous person as he is as well. It takes courage to not only obtain the memories but to also bear through the pain that comes with them. I chose these row particularly because they're most relatable to my life and to others as well. Most people don't have the Capacity to See Beyond as it is only a made up quality within the novel.