To Trust or Not to Trust

In Roald Dahl´s short story, "The Landlady," a young man called Billy Weaver has just arrived to the city of Bath. He was looking for a place to sleep until a sign caught his eye; it had big, black and bold letters that said “Bed and Breakfast.” He was told that the Bell and Dragon will take him in but he wanted to stay at that house. He looked inside the window, it seemed lovely, there was a dog, a fireplace, and a parrot. He decided to go to the Bell and Dragon to see if it was better but before he knew it, he was pressing the bell, the door opened and an old woman came out, she seemed very nice and the price was low, Billy would stay at the hose of that Landlady. She welcomed him in and treated him like a son or grandchild.  She showed him his room and told him to sign the book. Billy  did,  and as he was signing the book he read two names, Christopher Mulholland and Gregory Temple, they seemed familiar almost like if they were related. He asked the landlady about both names, they had stayed there and never left. Subsequently, Billy noticed that the animals were perfectly preserved, they seem real, almost like if they were alive. The Landlady invited Billy for a cup of tea, he drank it and start to feel really weird, he couldn’t breathe. The land lady did nothing. 

I really enjoyed Dahl´s use of characterization in this story, it made me imagine how the Landlady might look like and be capable of using the textual evidence as a source to develope my imagination. As an illustration: 

This illustrates how I see the Landlady, 
like a grandma.

"She was about forty-five or fifty years old, and the moment she saw him, she gave him a warm, welcoming smile. 
“ Please come in,” she said pleasantly. She stepped aside, holding the door wide open, and Billy found himself automatically starting forward. The compulsion or, more accurately, the desire to follow after her into that house was extraordinarily strong."

In here, Dahl describes fiscal traits that help the reader understand the personality of the character. He does this by using words such "warm, welcoming smile" that help you infer how the characters personality and how it changes as you keep on reading and learn more about him or her. He uses the adequate words the helps the reader to create an illustration of the character and the environment in the story. In this story he not just focuses on the characterization of the characters, he also writes in order to appeal to the senses of the reader creating a better illustration of the environment in which the story takes place in. For example: 

This is how I imagine the street in which Billy was
walking by. 

"There were no shops on this wide street that he was walking along, only a line of tall houses on each side, all of them identical. They had porches and pillars and four or five steps going up to their front doors, and it was obvious that once upon a time they had been very swanky residences. But now, even in the darkness, he could see that the paint was peeling from the woodwork on their doors and windows and that the handsome white facades were cracked and blotchy from neglect."

In here Dahl is appealing to the sense of sight. He creates a very detailed illustration of how the streets look like and how the character saw the houses as he walked by, how the paint from the houses facades looked like. He includes many other factors that help the reader to create an illustration of how the setting looks like by using words that approach to the sight, that what makes his stories so demonstrative and illustrative.

This is such a well written story that has a deep message that we could apply to our daily lives: we should not trust on everyone and be responsible of the decisions that you make because if you don’t you may end up in a place where people could harm you and take advantage of your innocence. I was able to perceive this because of the strong use of characterization and imagery that this short story has making it into one of my favorite stories. 

A plan to Elswere

Holidays are very rare in the community, but for one day they had one. Asher was playing with some kids and Jonas joined them. They were playing a war game, Jonas had never realized that and when he did he felt a lot of pain because he remembered the memory of war. Asher was really upset at Jonas because he had ruined the game, he didn't meaner to, and no one could connect with the pain that he was feeling. Now that he had received more memories he couldn't connect with his friends anymore, they all had different lives. Back at the house Father was trying to get some sleep because the next day he will release a twin, he will weight them and the bigger one will stay in the community. He made it seem as something that the babies enjoyed. 

This represents war, one of the most painful memories
that Jonas has.

The next day Jonas went to his training at the Annex, he asked the Giver about the previous receiver. Her name was Rosemary, she was really smart and eager to learn, she wanted more of the painful memories and that’s what made her feel sad, she released herself eventually, giving all the memories that she had back to the community. The Giver felt sad because he loved her just like he loved Jonas. After the Giver told this to Jonas, Jonas wanted to know about release, the Giver told him that he could watch his father release the twin that morning. They watched the video together at the annex room. Jonas had seen his father killed a baby, Jonas recognized the same posture of watch had happened in war. He didn't wanted to go home, he was upset and angry. The Giver told him that he could spent the night there that way they could both create a plan for Jonas to escape to Elsewhere. The plan was based in Jonas leaving the community during the ceremony of twelve with the help of the Giver, after that searchers will go out to find him and will see his clothes and bicycle next to the river, by then Jonas will be on his own in a journey to Elsewhere all by himself. The Giver will not be able to go with him because he will help the citizens calm down after receiving all of Jonas memories, also the Giver wanted to stay because we wanted to get together with his daughter, Rosemary. 

Memories are important in a person’s life, they help to build up a personality and also give the knowledge to a person so that he or she does not make past mistakes. Sometimes to have many memories is a good thing, but other times it is too painful for a person to hold up so many memories like Jonas and the Giver do. This is shown in the quote below:

"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared” (154).

Memories are overwhelming, they are too big just for two persons to hold up. In this community The Giver and Jonas have the job of keeping all of the memories, this is a very hard job because they cannot express all of the feelings that you have from memories because no one else has them therefore no one else could give you advice or help you get through something painful like death. "Memories need to be shared.”

Many things will change in the community. Jonas will need a lot of help to run away and go to Elsewhere. The Giver and Jonas will need to be really smart and use the memories and their knowledge so that Jonas could escape and the memories will return to the people in the community. 

A new Receiver?

This represents Christmas, the Giver´s favorite memory that also
represents love and family.

Time has passed and Jonas has received more memories, some of them are painful, like war and warfare, while others are happy and joyful like Christmas (the Giver´s favorite). Jonas is also learning about the colors and how to keep them in his mind for a while, now he knows about blue, yellow and green and many more colors.  With the help of the Giver, Jonas has realized that he lives in a place were even though it may seem perfect t is not because they don’t have snow or sunshine everything is the same, Jonas is starting to want to change that in his community even though he cant because it is how they have decided for it to work. Baby Gabriel is also appearing in the book, his is growing and is starting to be a healthier and stronger baby. One night Jonas was taking care of him and baby Gabriel woke up, Jonas remembered the memory that the Giver had given to him, of a sailing boat, in a blue sky, Jonas accidentally transmitted this memory to him making the memory disappear in his mind in his mind. One day when Jonas went to the annex room, he saw the Giver in pain that’s why he told the Giver to give him the memory that was making the giver feel agony. The giver did and he transmitted the memory of war. Jonas didn’t like it, he felt sad and didn’t wanted to go to the annex room any more.

When I was reading these chapters, many quotes stood out to me of what made a meaningful life and what can we do to have one. One of the quotes that answered my question was this one when the Giver says:

“Everyone is well trained for their job. ‘It’s just that . . . without the memories it’s all meaningless. They gave the burden to me.’” (105)

Is a meaningful life full of memories? Does it make our lives meaningful if we learn from our past mistakes? All of these questions went through my mind while Reading because it made me think of what made up a meaningful life. I was also thinking that knowledge is transmitted threw memories that’s why the Giver says this. In conclusion, a meaningful life is full of knowledge that’s how it is transmitted and how Jonas community does not know about.

 More interesting things are happening in Jonas’s life. He is receiving new memories and learning more things that he would never had imagined that he would had ever learned. For more information keep reading this blog and have a merry Christmas and a Happy new Year.

The Giver Chapters 9-12

As a continuation of what we read last week, The Giver has become a really interesting book, during this few chapters Jonas got an introduction to what his job as being the receiver will be. He learned that he would be able to lie and many more things that he wasn’t able to do before, he also learned that he would feel pain in his training to become the receiver. In his first day of training he met the receiver. He is an old person that is very wise. He will be in charge of teaching Jonas to learn about the community’s memories and its past. For example, the receiver told Jonas that before they had sunshine. Jonas didn’t know what it was; he also got a sun burn that symbolised the pain that he will feel in his training.

As I was reading these chapters I found a quote that really stood out to me:

“I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him,’ I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.”

Why doesn’t Jonas and his community know about the past? Why do they don’t learn about the past and the rest of communities? Is this why they can’t talk about the previous receiver of memories? I think that Jonas community is a really closed community that doesn’t know about the rest of the world. While I was reading this phrase I thought that maybe Jonas community live under a dome that’s why they are able to control the climate and that why they don’t know about the rest of the world.

I think that these chapters were the most interesting ones because the author is starting to give more clues about what will Jonas learn in the future.  I also think that now we are starting to get more the theme of the importance of memories. To learn more about what will happen in the rest of the book keep on reading this blog every week.

The Giver Chapters 5-8

                In this community they made a ritual were they shared their feelings with their families. Every one had to share their dream, Jonas usually didn’t dream of anything but this time he did. He had his first stirrings, he felt good about it, but he wasn’t able to do so because they had to take pills in order for them to do not have stirrings, he liked that felling, he felt pleasure and slowly the feeling went away. December finally came, and the ceremony too, Jonas was really nervous of what his assignment will be. The ceremony began and it was time of the name ceremony, in here baby’s got their name and their family unit. Finally it was the ceremony of twelve, the moment that Jonas had waited. Jonas and the rest of the twelve’s by their birth number, the chief elder started top assign their professions. Jonas was 20 and when the chief elder got to his number he skipped him, Jonas felt ashamed because he didn’t knew what he had done wrong, he felt a lot of anguish. He was introduces to his new job and was told that he will be receiving memories from the receiver after school every day in an isolated place.

One of the parts that stood out to me in this few chapters was when Jonas talked about Caleb, a baby that had been lost in the river because he was wandering around. This was really rare in the community because they all took care of children and old people. “This new Caleb was a replacement child. The couple had lost their first Caleb, a cheerful little four. Loss of a child was very, very rare. The community was extraordinary safe, each citizen watchful and protective of all children”(44). This quote shows that even though the community was protective they also made mistakes because everyone does. They all build up a safe environment even though they had failed this time.  In conclusion, Jonas community is a safe environment for children but sometimes they made mistakes that led to the loss of a child.

What I can conclude about these chapters is that everything in Jonas community is made for them. They all have to follow the same rules, and do everything the group of elders say, I also think that Jonas got a job that will be really important for his future knowledge, this way he will be able to learn more about his community and what is behind all the rules with the help of the receiver. For more updates on the Giver keep reading this blog.

The Giver Chapter 1-4

Jonas is an eleven that lives in a community with no war, fights, disagreements or trouble every one in this community follows the rules because if you don't you will get released. no one in the community is sure about what it is to be released that's why everyone is afraid of it. He is a kid with a normal life and a normal family, he has one sister named Lilly a father and a mother. His father is a nurturer at the child care center, he likes a lot his job but he is really worried about a new born named Gabriel, he is a newborn that is really weak and is not growing as fast as a baby is supposed to. Jonas dad is not supposed to call a baby by his name; he is supposed to call him by his number or code. Jonas is apprehensive about the ceremony of twelves that is a ceremony in which kids are assigned a job that they will have for the rest of his life. He doesn't want to have the ceremony because he does not want to be away of his best friend Asher. He is a kid that is the opposite of Jonas; he is wild and always come in tardy for school. Asher is really excited about the ceremony of twelve but Jonas is really worried for him. in the other hand, Jonas doesn't know what the council of elders will choose for him, he really is not sure of what he wants to be in the future. as elevens, kids need to serve volunteer hours in order to get a good job and to be part of the community. The ceremony of twelve is coming up and Jonas life will change forever.    

Text Response ( 1-4)

“December was approaching. He searched for the right word to describe his own feeling.

Jonas was careful about language.Not like his friend, Asher, who talked too  fast and mixed things up, scrambling words and phrases until they were barely recognizable and often very funny”(3).

I find this quote interesting because it shows the difference between Jonas and his friend Asher. They are very different in many ways and this quote is an example of it because it says that Jonas cares about what he says while Asher does not. They are really different people with different personalities and maybe that's what makes them such good friends.

Conclusion:

 The book the Giver by Lois Lowry is one that has cought my attention because it has been able to make me feel different emotions that the main character, Jonas has he is a boy that  lives in a almost utopic place and is nerveous about what he will do for the rest of his life. To find out more about this book keep Reading this blog.

The Giver

By: Lois Lowry

1. I think that this book will be about a kid that wants to be himself and make his own choices in society even though it is an utopia society in the future, that's what the giver will teach him how to do.

2. I be think that the quote “for all the children whom we entrust the future.” means that the future will now rely in the kids of our society and that this book will teach us what could be the future if we don't take care of it. I also think that the quote means that it is our responsibility to build a good place in which we live by making good choices in our lives.

3. I can infer that in this book Jonas will become a really good friend of the Giver and that they will spend a lot of time together. I can also predict that this "utopia" will become a dystopia because the Giver will teach Jonas that their society has a lot of flaws and that it is not a perfect place to live in. I also think that Jonas will learn a lot from the Giver and that he will gain a lot of knowledge.