For the first day of his training, Jonas goes to the Annex of the House of the Old, the accommodation of the current Receiver. Jonas is surprised to find that the doors at the Annex can be locked. He is unaware of any other door in the community that can be locked. The Receiver’s furniture is also different: it is decorative and has curved lines. In all other dwellings, the furniture looks alike and is merely functional. The room is also stacked with thousands of books.

Jonas meets the current Receiver of Memory and notices that The Receiver’s eyes are pale, like his own. When The Receiver tells Jonas that his job is to transmit all the memories of the world to Jonas, Jonas is confused. The concepts of “world” and “memories” are still unknown to him. The Receiver then explains to Jonas how the future is shaped by the wisdom gained from these memories.

The Receiver first transmits the memory of snow to Jonas. The Receiver turns off the speaker before doing so. Notably, only the Receiver is allowed to turn off the speaker. He puts his hands on Jonas’ bare back, and Jonas feels cold. He experiences the sensation of riding a sled downhill. Since all the hills in the community have been levelled, the experience and feeling are new to Jonas. When the experience of the Receiver’s memory ends, Jonas is informed that this memory took place prior to the introduction of “sameness.” The Receiver then grants Jonas the sensation of sunshine and the feeling of a mild sunburn.

Before leaving, the Receiver asks Jonas to call him the Giver.

Chapters 10 and 11: Analysis

When he meets the Giver, it is almost as if Jonas is looking at an older version of himself. Not only do they have similar emotional disposition but they also have pale blue eyes that differentiate them from the rest of the community. Their eyes serve as a metaphor—they are both able to see clearly and remain pure. However, these chapters show that Jonas has a difficult time accepting these qualities, mainly since they set him apart from the rest of the community and also entail great responsibility.

The Giver transmits two more memories: the memory of sunshine and the sled-riding memory, both of which are rather pleasant and in fact a little more alluring than the snow memory. A confused Jonas questions the Giver about the pain he’d been told he would have to endure. In a bid to effectively explain the pain that awaits Jonas, The Giver transmits the memory of a painful sunburn.

In these chapters, Jonas begins to understand that the community’s sameness has harmful effects on the residents, even if they do not recognize the many compromises they’ve made.