The Giver

I am looking forward to re-reading the book the Giver. I remember parts of the book from the first time that I read it in elemtary school, but I know that I am missing some key parts of the book. I decided to google the book to try to job my memory. I found this on Wikipedia about the plot...

The novel's setting seems to be a utopia, where all possible steps are taken to eliminate pain and anguish. The people are almost always compliant; families share their dreams and feelings on a daily basis to diffuse emotional buildup. This society remains harmonious by matching up husbands and wives based on compatibility of personality and if there is any sign of feelings the match is denied. There is also a subtle theme of technology having only a minimal role in society; throughout the book, it is taken for granted that Jonas's community is without such technologies as television, or radio, although computers are mentioned at one point. Transportation is mostly limited to bicycles; however, cars and airplanes exist in small numbers.
Part of the novel possibly takes place in December 2065[citation needed].
Lowry describes creating the pain-free world of Jonas' Community in her Newbery Award speech:
I tried to make Jonas's world seem familiar, comfortable, and safe, and I tried to seduce the reader. I seduced myself along the way. It did feel good, that world. I got rid of all the things I fear and dislike; all the violence, poverty, prejudice and injustice, and I even threw in good manners as a way of life because I liked the idea of it.One child has pointed out, in a letter, that the people in Jonas's world didn't even have to do dishes.It was very, very tempting to leave it at that.[1]
As time progresses in the novel, however, it becomes clear that the society has lost contact with the ideas of family and love, at least in the "more complete" sense at which Lowry hints. Children are born to designated "Birthmothers" and then family units can apply for children. If the family unit applies for the maximum allowed number of two, it will always be one boy and one girl. This is to keep the genders even. After family units have served the purpose of raising the children in a stable environment, they cease to exist, the parents going to a communal housing facility for childless adults, and the children becoming involved in their work and starting monogenerational families of their own, forgetting their foster parents who are growing old. The community maintains this process using pills which suppress emotions, mainly romantic love and sexuality, which they refer to as "Stirrings."
All the land near the Community and around the other, similar communities clustered about the nearby river has been flattened to aid agriculture and transportation. A vaguely described system of climate control is used so that the weather remains constant. It is implied that genetic engineering has been used extensively to manipulate human beings so that they physically conform with Sameness.
The Community is run by a Council of Elders that assigns each 12-year-old the job he or she will perform for the rest of his or her life. People are bound by an extensive set of rules touching every aspect of life, which if violated would require a simple but somewhat ceremonious apology. In some cases, violating the rules is "winked at": older siblings invariably teach their younger brothers and sisters how to ride a bicycle before the children are officially permitted to learn the skill. If a member of the community has committed serious infractions three times before, he or she may be punished by "release". "Release" is a thing at which the characters hint throughout the book. Originally, it is thought of as a process where the "released" is sent to live outside of the community, but still in a good place. Eventually, it is revealed to be a system of euthanasia through lethal injection, employed not only as punishment, but also to ensure a monotony of means by which death occurs.
The book is told from a third-person limited point of view. The protagonist, Jonas, is followed as he awaits the Ceremony of Twelve. Jonas lives in a standard family unit with his mother (a judge) and father (a "Nurturer"). He is selected to be "Receiver of Memory", because of his unusual "Capacity to See-Beyond", which is an ability to do something unusual, such as see color, which all the other people were genetically changed not to see, or hear music (as in the case of Jonas's mentor). He trains for the position of Receiver by receiving memories from the aged incumbent, known to the community as "The Receiver", and to Jonas as "The Giver", who is burdened by the emotional weight of the memories. These memories are images from the world as it existed before the time called Sameness, "back and back and back", things that no one else in Jonas's world remembers.
Through the Giver, who becomes his teacher and surrogate grandfather, Jonas telepathically receives memories of things eliminated from his world: violence, sadness, and loss, as well as true love, beauty, joy, adventure, animals, and family. Having knowledge of these complex and powerful concepts alienates Jonas from his friends and family, as well as making him more cynical towards his previously sheltered life, as he often discusses with the Giver. Eventually, these revelations prompt Jonas to seek to change the community and return emotion and meaning to the world. He and the Giver plan on doing this by having Jonas leave the community, which would cause all of the memories he was given to be released to the rest of the people, allowing them to feel the powerful emotions that Jonas and the Giver feel.
Meanwhile, Jonas's family temporarily houses a baby named Gabriel, because he is unable to sleep throughout the night and disturbs the other babies in the "Nurturing Center". Jonas learns that unlike the other people in his community, "Gabe" can receive memories from Jonas, which he uses to help calm the baby. Because Gabriel still cannot sleep through the night without crying after the extra year he was given to learn how to sleep soundly, he is now destined to be Released. Desperate, Jonas flees the community with Gabe. At first, the escape seems successful. Soon, however, food runs out and they grow weak. They find a snow covered hill with a sled on top, which Jonas remembers from the first memory he ever Received. He and Gabriel board the sled and go down the hill where they hear singing.
The ending is ambiguous, and Jonas' future and even survival are left unresolved. Their survival is made apparent, however, in Messenger, a sequel novel written much later. The book is recommended for children and adults eight and older.