The Giver: ThemeTracker

The LitCharts ThemeTracker is a mini-version of the entire LitChart. The ThemeTracker provides a quick timeline-style rundown of all the important plot points and allows you to track the themes throughout the work at a glance.

	1	Jonas tells his family he is worried about the upcoming ceremony in which he will receive his Assignment. Jonas’s father shares his concern for Gabriel, the small newborn at work.
	2	Jonas’s father assures Jonas that the Committee tries to choose jobs that will make people happy.
	3	Jonas’s father brings Gabriel home to care for him. Jonas notices that Gabriel has pale eyes like his own. Jonas plays catch with Asher with an apple and notices the apple’s appearance change.
	4	Jonas joins Asher and Fiona at the House of the Old. He bathes a woman named Larissa, who tells him how wonderful the release ceremonies for the Old are.
	5	Jonas shares a dream about wanting to bathe naked with Fiona. Jonas’s mother gives him pills to stop the feelings.
	6	Gabriel is allowed one extra year of nurturing to gain weight. At the annual ceremony, children of each age group are given new responsibilities.
	7	Assignments are given out to Twelves, but the Chief Elder skips Jonas’s name in the Assignments.
	8	The Chief Elder announces that Jonas has been selected to be the next Receiver because he has Integrity, Courage, Intelligence and the Capacity to See Beyond.
	9	Jonas is uncomfortable with the attention. He asks his father what happened to the trainee before him who had failed. His father tells him it was a female, but won’t say anything more. Jonas reads his instructions for the next day. He is shocked that he is allowed to lie and keep secrets about his training.
	10	Jonas meets with the Receiver, whom he is to call The Giver. The Giver is allowed more luxuries than anyone else, especially books. The Giver tells Jonas his job is to transmit memories to Jonas.
	11	The Giver transmits to Jonas the memory of sledding in the snow. Then he transmits a painful memory, sunburn.
	12	Jonas dreams of something wonderful waiting for him at the bottom of a snow-covered hill. Jonas notices Fiona’s hair change. When he asks The Giver about it, The Giver tells Jonas he has the ability to see color, while everyone else sees in black and white.
	13	Jonas tells The Giver he is angry that people are not allowed more choices. The Giver tells Jonas that if they had more choice they might make the wrong choices. Then he transmits a memory of an elephant being killed. The Giver tells Jonas that when the trainee failed ten years ago, all her memories were released to the community, and they couldn’t handle them.
	14	The Giver transmits a painful memory of falling from a sled. The Giver tells Jonas his job is to keep these memories so he can advise the Committee about wrong and right decisions. Gabriel sleeps in Jonas’s room. Jonas finds he is able to transmit memories to Gabriel.
	15	The Giver transmits to Jonas a memory of war and death.
	16	The Giver gives Jonas memories of family and love. But when Jonas asks his parents if they love him, they reprimand him for using that word. Jonas decides to stop taking his pill for the Stirrings.
	17	Jonas finds Asher playing a game about war, and he is horrified. Jonas realizes that although he loves Asher and Fiona, they can never love him back.
	18	Jonas asks The Giver about release, and learns that the previous trainee, Rosemary, couldn’t cope with the painful memories and asked to be released. Jonas asks The Giver what would happen if he drowned or left the community. The Giver says all of Jonas’s memories would be released to the Community.
	19	The Giver shows Jonas the releasing ceremony of the identical twin baby. Jonas realizes that to be “released” means to be killed.
	20	Jonas convinces The Giver to help him give memory back to the community. They form a plan in which Jonas will escape, and all his memories will go back to the community. The Giver will remain behind to help the people cope. The Giver offers to give Jonas the memory of music, called Hearing Beyond, but Jonas refuses it.
	21	When Jonas learns that Gabriel is to be released, he is forced to escape sooner than planned. He steals Gabriel and crosses the river, fleeing the community.
	22	When Jonas reaches a place where the road has not been tended in a long time, he sees a bird overhead. He also experiences rain and great hunger. He is afraid he will die, but more afraid that Gabriel will die.
	23	When it starts to snow, Jonas sees a hill like the one in his dreams. After struggling to the top of the hill, finding a sled, and sledding down Jonas and Gabriel hear music coming from below and houses with windows of colored lights. Jonas also thinks he hears music coming from the community he left behind