A Short Extract


"Do you love me?"

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Then Father gave a little chuckle. "Jonas. You of all people. Precision of language, please!"
"What do you mean?" Jonas asked. Amusement was not at all what he had anticipated.
"Your father means that you used a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete," his mother explained carefully.
Jonas stared at them. Meaningless? He has never before felt anything as meaningful as the memory.
"And of course our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language. You could ask, 'Do you enjoy me?' The answer is 'Yes,'" his mother said.
"Or," his father suggested," 'Do you take pride in my accomplishments?' And the answer is wholeheartedly 'Yes.'"
"Do you understand why it's inappropriate to use a word like 'love'?" Mother asked.
Jonas nodded. "Yes, thank you, I do," he replied slowly.
It was his first lie to his parents.


This extract is from the 16th chapter of The Giver. This scene happens after Jonas received a memory from The Giver of a family celebrating Christmas. In this memory, he felt love and warmth flowing very strongly in this room. Curious to know if his parents loved him, he mustered up the courage to ask them if they loved him.

When he finally asked his parents, Jonas was caught by surprise when his parents did not say an immediate yes which he expected, but instead gave him a brief lecture about precision of language.

Enjoying or being proud of someone is different from love. You can enjoy someone's company and be proud of a classmate, but that doesn't equate to love. Love is a word on its own, not a broad word that could be used to describe many other kinds of feelings. Jonas' parents do not understand what the warm fuzzing feeling called love means just like everybody else in the Community. Everybody is programmed to be a robot, to function just as the Elders want them to. They are devoid of any feelings, of any emotions. This can be seen in many other parts of the Community.

Due to the memories, Jonas learnt how to feel. He knew what real rage, sadness, loneliness and love meant. Therefore, he knew what the feeling of love encompassed. Love was neither too general not obsolete, its just that Father and Mother did not know what it meant. Furthermore,from other parts of the book, we can see that Jonas is pretty law-abiding and takes great care not to break the rule of precision of language. Therefore, asking if his parents loved him was not a mistake on his part.

It is very saddening to see that the people in the Community do not get to experience love. Love makes people want to dance. Thinking of it brings a smile to one's face. Jonas understood this, and he wished that the people he now knew he loved, could wake up from the terrible nightmare of being held hostage to a world without emotions.

As the media continues to rule over our lives, it sends many wrong and thwarted definitions of love. Recently, I checked up the definition of love on Dictionary.com and was horrified to see that love could also mean a sexual desire. This is totally false! Love is what one feels for someone they care for, certainly not a desire that could fade away easily. Therefore, I think that people should reflect on the true meaning of love, and who really loves them as love is an essential ingredient to life.