Jonas feels apprehensive about the upcoming Ceremony of Twelve and struggles to find the right word for his emotions.

Jonas's father receives permission to bring baby Gabriel home each night to help the struggling newchild sleep and grow.

Jonas sees the apple appear to change into something else for an instant while tossing it to Asher.

Jonas reports a dream about convincing Fiona to undress, and his family identifies the feeling as Stirrings requiring medication.

Jonas is skipped when the Chief Elder announces job assignments at the Ceremony of Twelve, causing panic in the crowd.

The Chief Elder announces Jonas has been selected as the next Receiver of Memory, the community's most honored position.

Jonas enters the locked Annex and meets the pale-eyed bearded elder who will train him as the new Receiver.

The Giver places his hands on Jonas's back and transmits the first memory — a joyful sled ride through snow.

The Giver is overwhelmed with pain and transmits a battlefield memory to Jonas, where Jonas watches a young soldier die.

The Giver shares a warm Christmas memory filled with grandparents and gifts, and Jonas learns for the first time what love is.

Jonas watches a recording of his father inject a twin newborn with a lethal syringe and discard the body as trash.

Jonas and the Giver devise a plan for Jonas to flee the community hidden in the Giver's car before the December ceremonies.

Jonas learns Gabriel will be released the following morning and immediately flees the community with the baby before the plan can begin.

Search planes fly over Jonas and Gabriel during their escape, and Jonas transmits snow memories to mask their body heat from sensors.

Jonas and Gabriel descend a snow-covered hill on a sled toward distant colorful lights and music, sensing someone is waiting below.

Jonas lives in a tightly controlled community where children receive lifetime job assignments at age twelve, and he approaches this milestone with deep unease. After a series of mysterious perceptions, Jonas is selected at the Ceremony of Twelve for the rarest and most honored role: Receiver of Memory. He trains with the outgoing Receiver, who transmits the world's accumulated memories to him — both beautiful and devastating — showing Jonas everything the community has surrendered in the name of order. The most shattering revelation comes when Jonas watches a recording of his father administering a lethal injection to a newborn twin and discarding the body, exposing the true meaning of release. Jonas and the Giver devise an escape plan, but it collapses when Jonas learns that the baby Gabriel will be killed the next morning, forcing him to flee immediately with the child. The novel ends with Jonas and Gabriel descending a snow-covered hill on a sled toward distant lights, music, and the uncertain hope of Elsewhere.

The core events driving Jonas from chosen child to fugitive.

An unidentified aircraft flies over the community and the Speaker orders all citizens to take immediate shelter indoors.

During the nightly feelings ritual, Jonas admits he feels apprehensive and his parents speak with him privately about the ceremony.

Jonas volunteers at the House of the Old and bathes Larissa, who describes the celebration that preceded Roberto's release ceremony.

Jonas begins taking a daily pill to suppress his Stirrings, which gradually numbs his emotions and blunts his feelings.

The Committee of Elders grants Gabriel an extra year of nurturing instead of releasing the struggling baby immediately.

Asher receives the assignment of Assistant Director of Recreation at the Ceremony of Twelve, surprising no one who knows him.

Fiona receives the assignment of Caretaker of the Old at the Ceremony of Twelve, a role well suited to her gentle nature.

Jonas opens his sparse training folder and discovers he is permitted to ask anyone questions, to lie, and to refuse medication.

The Giver transmits a memory of lying in the sun too long to Jonas, giving him his first experience of real pain.

Jonas receives a memory of hunters slaughtering an elephant and attempts to transmit the experience to Lily, who cannot receive it.

The Giver explains that the Committee of Elders rarely consults him on decisions, leaving him with great honor but little actual power.

Jonas, who has skipped his pills for weeks, joins Asher's war game and begs his friend to stop playing it.

The Giver warns Jonas that if Jonas were to die, his stored memories would flood back into the unprepared community.

Jonas and Gabriel rest by a stream in daylight hours to avoid searchers, and Jonas transmits exhaustion memories to help Gabriel sleep.

Jonas and Gabriel encounter living animals for the first time as the landscape narrows and food becomes increasingly scarce.

Before Jonas's training begins, life in the community is defined by rituals, rules, and careful oversight of every citizen's behavior, from nightly feelings-sharing to mandatory volunteer hours. At the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas's friends Asher and Fiona receive their assignments, marking the beginning of the end of their shared childhood. Jonas's training folder reveals shocking new freedoms — including permission to lie — and his early sessions with the Giver expose him to pain he has never experienced before, including sunburn and the horror of animal slaughter. As Jonas absorbs memory after memory, he quietly stops taking his pills and grows increasingly alienated from his friends, exploding during a war game that his companions find perfectly innocent. The Giver warns Jonas that if he were to disappear, the community would be swamped by returning memories it is not equipped to handle, which plants the seed of the eventual escape plan. Jonas and Gabriel's flight from the community is arduous, marked by the threat of search planes, dwindling food, and their first encounters with wild animals in a landscape unlike anything they have known.

The supporting moments that shaped Jonas's world and his path to escape.

Lily points out that Jonas and baby Gabriel share the same unusual pale eyes, a remark considered impertinent in the community.

The Chief Elder tells the crowd at the Ceremony that the Committee previously failed when selecting a Receiver, causing visible unease.

Jonas perceives Fiona's hair as red for a flickering instant and learns from the Giver that he is beginning to see color.

Jonas asks his parents whether they love him and they respond that the word is too imprecise and obsolete to use.

Jonas decides to stop taking his daily pills, choosing to feel more deeply rather than live in emotional numbness.

Jonas secretly pats Gabriel's back while putting him to sleep, transmitting a sailing memory and discovering he can share memories.

The Giver reveals that the failed previous Receiver-in-training, Rosemary, was his own daughter whom he loved deeply.

The Giver describes how Rosemary asked for release and administered her own lethal injection during the ceremony, which he could not watch.

After watching the recording, Jonas refuses to go home and tells the Giver he cannot return to his family or the community.

The Giver tells Jonas that the worst part of being Receiver is not physical pain but the loneliness of carrying memories alone.

The Giver tells Jonas he must stay behind after the escape to help the community manage the flood of returning memories.

The Giver reveals that his first experience of seeing beyond was actually hearing beyond — the distant sound of music.

Jonas and Gabriel grow cold and weak as their food runs out completely, nearly perishing in freezing rain and snow.

Jonas experiences his first personal memories — of family, friends, and the Giver — which surge through him and give him strength.

Jonas reaches the top of a hill and feels with certainty that Elsewhere — the destination he has sought — lies just ahead.

From early signs of Jonas's uniqueness — his pale eyes, his ability to perceive color — to the shattering truths revealed during his training, this pool traces the internal shifts that transform Jonas from an obedient child into a rebel with a purpose. Key revelations build steadily: Jonas learns he can lie, discovers what love means, and secretly begins sharing memories with baby Gabriel in defiance of the rules. The Giver's confessions about Rosemary — his own daughter, who asked to be released and administered her own lethal injection — illuminate the true cost of the Receiver role and the community's deepest deception. After watching the recording of the twin's death, Jonas reaches his breaking point and refuses to return home, and the two plan an escape that puts the Giver's role in sharp relief: he must stay behind to help the community survive the flood of returning memories. The final events of this pool show Jonas drawing on his own first personal memories to survive the journey, reaching the hilltop that promises Elsewhere lies just beyond.

The discoveries and decisions that changed Jonas — and the community — forever.