The Giver- Literary Devices-->Endings

The ending in The Giver is ambiguous. This means that the author Louis Lowry allows the reader to interpret what they believe happens to the characters in the end of the novel. In the end of this novel, Jonas is running away from the community with the newborn, Gabe, who was to be released that morning. He does this with the idea of returning all the lost memories to the community where "The Giver on his return, would find the community in a state of confusion and panic. Confronted by a situation which they had never faced before, and having no memories from which to find either solace or wisdom, they would not know what to do and would seek his advice." (161)
Jonas finds himself facing his memories given to him by the Giver in real life. "...the bike fell to it's side. But Jonas's ankle was twisted, and his knees were scraped and raw, blood seeping through his trousers."(170). "Jonas remembered, suddenly and grimly, the time in his childhood when he had been chastised for misusing a word. The word had been "starving." You have never been starving, he had been told. You will never be starving. Now he was." (172). Jonas, in chapter 22 is experiencing real pain. Not pain in other peoples' memories given to him by the Giver, but real pain that he himself is actually enduring. He is going through things that he had been convinced would never, ever happen to him, such as starving. He comes to the conclusion that "if he had stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for colour, for love."(173).
Jonas also experiences things that he enjoyed from the memories. "Terrified, he looked up, but it was not a plane at all. Though he had never seen one before, he identified it from his fading memories, for The Giver had given them to him often. It was a bird." (171). " After a life of Sameness and predictability, he was awed by the surprises that lay beyond each curve of the road. He slowed the bike again and again to look with wonder at the wildflowers, to enjoy the throaty warble of a new bird nearby, or merely to watch the way the wind shifted the leaves in the tree. During his twelve years in the community, he had never felt such simple moments of exquisite happiness." (171). Even though he is burdened with the weight of his own and Gabe's lives, he takes the time to stop and look around, take in all that he has been missing his entire life. Even though he is starving and bleeding, he is in no hurry to make it to Elsewheres.

So many people have the interpretation that Jonas and Gabe die at the end. They think that he is finding happiness because he's recalling all the wonderful memories of love and celebration and family. They believe he's becoming delusional as he slowly drifts into death. I believe differently. "But he began, suddenly, to feel happy. he began to recall happy times. he remembered his parents and his sister. He remembered his friends, Asher and Fiona. he remembered The Giver. Memories of joy flooded through him suddenly. He reached the place where the hill crested and he could feel the ground under his snow-covered feet become level. It would not be uphill anymore... But it was not a grasping of a thin and burdensome recollection; this one he could keep. It was a memory of his own." (177)

I believe that he went back to the community. I believe that he realized that even though his "family" and "friends" didn't ever actually "love" him, because they didn't know what love is, he felt that he loved them. He was attracted back to his community, where memories now existed because he had left. That is why there is snow on the ground. Before there wasn't any such thing as snow, but because he had released all his memories back into the community, there was now snow, lights, singing, and the celebration of love. Also, with research I found that in the sequels of The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger, Jonas and Gabriel make appearances. Appearances that you would have to actually read between the lines, think about the character, and decide that yes, this person is an adult version of Jonas/Gabe. Jonas shows up in the third book, The Messenger, as the leader, then also in Gathering Blue, the main character, Kira, sees a pale eyed boy. It could be either Jonas or Gabe. I really don't believe they die. I believe they come back to the same community, but it is no longer filled with Sameness, instead with feelings of love and memories.