The Giver
The Giver
by Lois Lowry

The Giver Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Sometimes, there’s more to Lit than meets the eye.

The Color Red

OK, so what do you think of when you think of red? Fire, passion, and love…exactly. Red is a pretty intense color. Possibly the intense color. So when Jonas starts seeing the color red, he's...

Gabriel

Because Gabriel is a baby and can't talk or emote in any discernible way, he's really more of a symbol than a full-fledged character. So what does Gabriel symbolize? Well, to Jonas, Gabriel is a pa...

The Sled

The sled first comes up when The Giver compares the process of receiving the memories to sliding downhill in the snow. At first it's all birthday parties and wind in your face but, before you know...

Light Eyes

There is definitely an association in The Giver between those who can receive memories and those who have light eyes. There isn't really any explanation for why this is, and it would pretty useless...

The River

There's a lot you could say about the river and symbolism, and none of it is necessarily right or wrong. You could go with the "you can't step in the same river twice" argument, which is to say tha...
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