In The Giver, does Jonas die or live at the end?

Question

In class we are reading the Giver, and we are having a debate on weather or not Jonas lives or dies in the end. I do not consider asking you for help to be cheating, I will say that I got some ideas from the internet.

I think he lives, but in class we are split into two groups and I am unfourtunatly in the Death group.

In class we are devided into groups, and I don't think our teacher will mind if we get ideas on the internet as long as we say they aren't ours, which I will say.

Answer 1

I honestly think that he dies, but it's a happy ending because he goes to a better place. I don't have my copy of the book with me now, so I'm not sure about the accuracy of my memories of the story. I sort of got the feeling that he was hallucinating in the end.

And, besides, wouldn't it make for a better story if the community that Jonas came from, experienced the world differently because of the memories that Jonas returned to them when he died? Sure, they'd go crazy at first, but it's the best for all of them. Really.

The author herself said in an interview that the ending is up for the reader to decide. So Jonas does and doesn't die. A bit epigrammatic, I have to admit, but think about it.

P.S. It would be cheating, in this case. If you are supposed to come up with your own ideas in a debate, then the ideas should come from you (that was quite redundant...). If you are going to present the ideas of others as your own, you are going to do something very close to plagiarism. If you are going to copy-paste the ideas you get here, at least cite your sources. I took quite sometime to come up with this answer, and I think I at least deserve some credit :)

Answer 2

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RE:
In The Giver, does Jonas die or live at the end?
In class we are reading the Giver, and we are having a debate on weather or not Jonas lives or dies in the end. I do not consider asking you for help to be cheating, I will say that I got some ideas from the internet.

Answer 3

The Giver Ending

Answer 4

I've read all the books and I'm almost positive there is a reference to a man teaching a boy in the third book (I think that's the right one, I haven't read them in a while). However the man and boy are Jonas and Gabriel in a new community after they leave. So yes I believe they do live.

Answer 5

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It never really tells you but I think he lives. There's no sequel to it, its more like a companion. But in Gathering Blue it does mention a boy with blue eyes who supposedly is Jonas.

Answer 6

I liked how the ending of "The Giver" was open to debate. I believed he died, myself. I mean, think of what a coincidence it would be if he managed to encounter a situation that was EXACTLY as the Giver described--the snow? The red sled? The lights and singing? Come on! It had to be a dying hallucination. However, then Lois Lowry wrote "Gathering Blue" in which there was a thinly veiled reference to Jonas. Then she wrote "The Messenger," in which he is a main character. So much for ambiguity. Sorry you're on the losing side of the debate!

Answer 7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver

There is no set answer to your question. The end is ambiguous enough to allow the reader to draw his/her own conclusions.

In the book, you know that the community is run by the Council of Elders, a position held until death. Jonas' position as the Giver is a weighty one, remembering things that only he does, no one else.

What do you think?

Answer 8

i know i'm eight years late, but he lives. At the end it says that he heard music, and that couldn't be a dream-like coma because the Giver didn't give him the memory of music.

Answer 9

I think he lives because at the end when it says he hears music for the first time that means he did live and he heard music

Answer 10

My friend has an interview at the end of her book with lois lowry and that is one of the questions. she says he doesnt die but i didnt read the whole interview