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Jonas's Innocence
This is Jonas's Innocence changing throughout the novel The Giver. Jonas starts out as a regular, same child as every other child in the Community. However, becoming the Reciever of Memories changes his way of being completely, to the point of loosing his innocence to the reality of the world he's living in, -
Jonas's way of acting
Jonas acted normally like any other kid. He played, talked, and behaved normally. This proves Jonas's innocence before it changed through the novel. -
Jonas's Decisions (before)
Jonas, before he changed, he decided things like any other person would. For example, the snack he kept and he got called for it, that was an error he commited, but it was human to do so. Innocent to some extent, yet innocent in the ways he decided throughout the novel before he changed. -
Jonas's way of speaking
Jonas, being a kid, changes his way of speaking. Throughout the first appearances, he speaks accordingly to what he was told he can say and what he cannot say. Once, however, he became the Reciever and began taking in memories, the way of speaking against the things he saw within the Community took a turn. Now he would speak more freely, with privacy of course, about the wrongs in the Community. -
Jonas's teenage change
Knowing he has finished his Ceremony of twelve, this can mean only one thing. It's that he has, in a logical sense, had a 12 year old birthday party ceremony. At this age, we can agree humans can expirience changes. For example, the dream he had about Fiona, which prooves innocence lost in that field. -
Jonas's thoughts on life
We could assume that Jonas saw black and white. Because of this, we can aslo assume he didn't really care for that he couldn't see. However, then being to able to see color, and others can't, disturbed Jonas. Also, watching his 'father' take away life of the twin, was immoral! He, by loosing such innocence to a certain level of 'normality', his thoughts changed on the views of life in the Community. -
The war memory
When Jonas recieved the War memory, lots of things changed. The things he knew about the Community weren't as pure as what they seem. War has changed man then, and now the burden is carried on by Jonas. Now all he can do is keep it, until he passes it to someone else. -
Jonas's views on the ambient
After events such as the war memory, things have gotten more symbolic than literal. For example, when Jonas's friends were playing that one game with shooting things, he immediately visioned the war memory. Seeing his father kill the twin made him think twice when he was around him, and doubt his role as father. Jonas went under psychological changes. -
Jonas's new thought of pain
Jonas wasn't new to pain. However, it wasn't just physical pain that he would endure during the process of being a Reciever. When he recieved memories like the war memory, the death of the elephant or sunburn, those would be scars on the mind. Those would have burdened Jonas for a lifetime. -
Jonas's Decisions (after)
After that abrupt change, he started to try to make things well. Obviously, not trying to get caught in the act. For example, when he tried to pass colors to Asher, so he could see what was really going on. Other than that, when he tried to make Gabriel a better person by giving him good memories. These desicions would be frowned upon by the Elders, for giving away truth. -
Jonas's Escape
We can say at this point Jonas lost innoncence. His decision to leave the Community was inhumane, within the novel. Elsewhere would be a hiperbolic idiom for a walk in the park. He wouldn't have sustained living in a Community who had absolute control over their people, like a Sims game.