The+Giver

=Summary=

Read a summary [|here]

=Test Yourself= http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/Literature/The-Giver-287696.html

=Background Reading=

// The Mending Wall // By Robert Frost That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun, And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: 'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!' We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'. Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: 'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
 * Something there is that doesn't love a wall,

|| What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me~ Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors." ||

Discussion Questions (do this with a partner and write your answers down in your journal)

 * 1) Why is this poem called “The Mending Wall”?
 * 2) Why do you think Frost poses the question: “What are we walling in and walling out?”
 * 3) Why do you think people put up walls?
 * 4) Are all walls good? Are all walls bad?
 * 5) Why do you think the two neighbors continued to reset the wall?
 * 6) Why do you think Frost uses a stone wall as his example? Are stone walls as sturdy? Lasting?

Our Mending Wall Discussion Questions
· “What are we walling in and walling out?” · When you put up walls to protect/keep something good in, do you end up “walling out” good also? · Why do we continue to work on repairing the “walls” instead of bridging our differences, celebrating diversity, and creating a world without walls?

Connection to The Giver and Essay Assingment



 * What is a utopian community? Look at the following sites and write a definition in YOUR OWN words.**

http://www.yourdictionary.com/utopian [|Chasing Utopia, family imagines no possessions]

Utopian communities are not science fiction. They are part of our world's history and our present. They will most likely continue to exist in our future. You may have seen movies such as [|The Matrix], [|Fahrenheit 451], or a [|Brave New World].

Think about the content of these movies. What are the similarities? Think about the world we live in. What do **our** communities want? What would be **your** utopia? = =

Look at the following sites for more information on utopian communities.


 * 'A Summary of the Ultimate philosophy' from a group called the Utopia Now Organization**

http://users.erols.com/jonwill/


 * Examples of American utopian communities**

http://www.easternct.edu/depts/amerst/utopia.htm

= = =Activities=

Here is the complete list!!!
 * Vocabulary



A Perfect World** [| Introduction - a perfect world.doc]

[| Literary Techniques Questions for The Giver 1.doc] [| Literary Techniques Questions for The Giver 1.doc]
 * Literary Techniques**

You and your group are to write a new ending for The Giver. First listen (or read the transcript) to Lois Lowry talk about her view of the ending [|here]. Instructions for this writing activity are below:
 * Collaborative writing**


 * What would it be like to be color blind?**

[|Pingelap: Island of the color blind] [|Colors for the color blind]

=Guiding Questions=

Jonas [| Jonas Guiding questions.doc] = =

=Connections=


 * Reflect on the enduring understandings of this unit:**
 * **Systems can create inequities**
 * **Change is continual**
 * **Democracy is a process**


 * 1) //In trying to remove diversity, the system of government in// The Giver //created inequities.// Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.
 * 2) Once a government has been created, why do people keep changing or modifying its structure?


 * Universal Declaration of Human Rights**
 * //All rights have corresponding responsibilities. What do you think should happen if someone violates these rights? What does the community in __The Giver__ believe? Do you agree, why or why not?//**

=Lois Lowry's Newberry Acceptance Speech=



=Final Exam Essay Outline= ** The Giver Essay **

Choose from one of the four excellent topics below and discuss it in a **4-6 paragraph essay** that has an introduction with a thesis, a body of details, and a conclusion. You do not have to cover every sub-question in Qs 1-4. They are items for you to think about and discuss if you wish. · Before you start writing, create an outline of points you would like to cover. · Include 1-2 quotations. · Mention the title of the book and the author near the beginning of your first paragraph. Write in the present tense about the book. For example, “Lowry **//creates//** a society where the children **//proceed//** through carefully prepared stages of life.” · Do not use the first person: I, me, us, we, mine, ours (you may have to say “one” or “this writer”). · Create a clever but appropriate title.
 * __To Do Tonight__**

1. In Jonas’ community, every person and his or her experience is very similar. In the novel what advantages and disadvantages does their society and “sameness” offer? Are you familiar with governments that have tried to institute a kind of “sameness” in recent history? Could this work today?

2. Underneath the calm of Jonas’ society lies a very orderly system of “Release.” Who are the victims of Release and why are they Released? What are the disadvantages and benefits of a community that accepts such a vision of euthanasia? Are there types of euthanasia in societies today (not including animals)? 3. The ending of __The Giver__ could communicate different meanings for different people. Provide your interpretation of the ending and give evidence to support your opinion.

4. Lois Lowry creates a community that uses words in a special way. Though that world stresses what it calls “precision of language,” in fact it is built upon language that is often not precise, but deliberately clouds meaning. These words are called “euphemisms.” What are the main examples of euphemism in Jonas’s community? Why is such misleading language a dangerous thing? What are other examples of euphemism today or in the past?

=Final Activity: Flat Jonas!=