Why Tell Everything in a Story When you can Leave it to Imagination?

"The Landlady" by Roald Dahl tells the story of a young man, named Billy, who travels to the city of bath, in a business trip. it is his first time in bath and he is new to the job of businesshe was walking  man. Billy asks another traveler for a good place to stay, and he suggested the Bell and dragon. On his way to the bell and dragon he walks past an old looking neighborhood and sees a Bed and Breakfast notice on one of the houses' windows. he feels drawn toward it and rings the door bell. A strange looking lady who offers him a room within a good price. Billy decides to stay, for the price is unbelievably low and it seems like a good place to stay. The little woman says that they have the house all to themselves. The strange landlady shows him his room and asks him to later go downstairs and sign the guest book. When Billy goes to sign the book he only sees 2 other names there, Mullholand and Temple. Somehow the names ring a bell but Billy is not able to remember form where he knows both of those names. He thinks they are somehow connected, but he is distracted from his thoughts by the landlady who made him some tea and seems to dismiss every idea Billy has from the connection and place he knows the names from. As they keep talking the strange little lady reveals that both of the guests have not left and are still in the 3rd floor. This surprised Billy but he decides to ignore it and look around the room. Later on he realises that the animals, pets that are in the room are stuffed. The landlady tells him that she does it herself, leaving Billy mesmerised by how real they look. The tea tasted like bitter almonds and billy was feeling strange. As the story ends Billy asks if there haven't been any guests in the last 2 or 3 years, because the dates in the guest book dates said so and the lady answered, "no my dear, only you". The End

Roald Dahl uses imagery and characterisation to enhance the reader's experience while reading the book, to help them see the story like he imagined it in his head. Roald Dahl is exceptionally good at characterisation, for he is able to show features of the charter by his/her actions, thoughts and so forth.

"He walked briskly down the street. He was trying to do everything briskly these days. Briskness, he had decided, was the one common characteristic of all successful businessmen. The big shots up at Head Office were absolutely fantastically brisk all the time. They were amazing." This shows that Billy is willing to do everything, to become a successful businessman, copy every characteristic to have the outcome he wanted, he is a man that focuses on details and common facts.

As it was mentioned before a great addition to stories, to make the reader visualise what the author is describing in the story is imagery. Imagery helps the reader create a mental image and it creates a better idea or understanding of the plot of the story. it provides depth, hooking people more to the story.

"Normally you ring the bell and you have at least a half-minute’s wait before the door opens. But this dame was a like a jack-in-the-box. He pressed the bell – and out she popped! It made him jump.
She was about forty-five or fifty years old, and the moment she saw him, she
gave him a warm welcoming smile."   With this detailed description we can clearly imagine how the landlady came and opened the door and how she looked. 

I really enjoy how Roald Dahl manages to include this elements into his writing, making stories more interesting and fun to read. While reading and analysing this story I remembered a song that talked about trust, in the movie "The Jungle Book". I believe the message is not to trust strangers and this song was what I used as reference to trust inly the people who you know. 

This is my favorite scene in the movie

Trust Me-Jungle Book

Escape

Jonas has now received manny painful memories, and he was beginning to see how this was going to affect him. He discovers how not being able to share the memories will make him lead a very lonely life, and all this knew knowledge will affect his way of treating others and dealing with matters in the community. Jonas has never felt so far apart from his loved ones! They don't understand him. Jonas is now very close to the giver, and enjoys his company. Jonas now feels very confortable asking personal questions, so he decides to ask the giver about the previous receiver, Rosemary. she had applied for release because the memories had really affected her. After this Jonas sees a release, the one of his father releasing the twin. he is horrified and between him and the giver they make up a plan to change these peoples understanding of the real world. but for this to happen, Jonas has to escape and never return

 In chapter 19 Jonas learned, for real, what releasing was."He killed it! My father killed it! Jonas  said to himself, stunned at what he was realizing. He continued to stare at the screen numbly." (pg 150). After this was said Jonas will really understand the importance of having memories. His father does not understand how bad what he just did is. How could he? He has no way of knowing what killing someone can mean because he has no knowledge of the pain that action of his causes, he was just following the rules given to him. Jonas is really aware now of the repressive and unfair society he lives in. I think Jonas wants to share what this society is doing and what they are doing. With the memories shared, like memories are meant to be, people will leave in a much  more real and human society. Jonas understands the inhuman things the community does, now to make a change all he needs is to show the rest of the people living in the community why it is wrong.

Some things this has left me thinking right now is what will Jonas do to achieve for everyone to gain back the memories.  How will people handle the tremendous amount of pain they will go through? Will Jonas ever find out what happened in the community he left? Jonas may be a strong person but what if people in the community cannot handle the pressure and pain?

Real Pain

The Giver is still passing on memoriews to Jonas, as time passes the memories transmitted become stronger, like poaching, opposing to the first paiunful memory Jonas recieved (sunburn). Jonas feels really conflicted, why were some things taken away, like color? why does he have to endure all of that pain? Also Jonas is trying to make his friends see what he sees, to transmit the memory of color, but for some reason he can't. Frustrated as he is he goes home that day to find his parents talking about how Gabe has improved but he is still too restless at night. Jonas volunteers to take gave to his room that night so his parents can finally rest. as the night goes on Jonas accidentally at first transmits memories, happy memories, to Gabriel. Now he sleeps soundly in his room. Afterward, after receiving the terrible memory of warfare, the giver gives Jonas the memory of Christmas. In this memory Jonas discovers love. He really enjoyed the feeling of love, and he wanted to feel that again. Jonas decides that he will not take his pill for stirrings anymore, to feel whatever he is supposed to without the mind control of the elders.

To understand what Jonas is feeling here is the link to a song about freedom:
Freedom-Anthony Hamilton









This book, as one important concept, talks a lot about the connection between pain and pleasure. "Overwhelmed by pain, he lay there in the fearsome stretch for hours, listened to the men and the animals die, and learned what warfare meant" (pg. 120). This quote took me back to another book I love, "The Fault in Our Stars". In this book there is a strong quote that relates towards pain:  This quote is very true, and I think that throughout the training to become the receiver, Jonas will soon learn that the real world, the not controlled world is filled with pleasure and with pain. The truth of the matter is that to know real pleasure, you need to have felt real pain. Jonas sees that now, but nobody else in the community, besides the Giver, can understand what he is going through. How could they? Because of Sameness they don't feel pain, they really don't feel anything legitimate, only what is allowed.

There is one thing left on my mind, once Jonas discourse the real meaning of life, how will he make the rest of the community realise that too, if memories cannot be transmitted to them? How will Jonas  make his friends believe him and not report him as a crazy, confused boy? I guess everything is in Jonas' hands now, we will just have to wait and see.

A New World

Jonas is nervous. he was given the assignment or as his mother calls it, the honor, of being the Receiver of Memories. As he reads through the rules he realises his whole world will change, he cannot share any of his dreams anymore, he is now allowed to lie (this rule makes him very uncomfortable) and now he can ask any question, even very personal questions, and he will receive an answer. Jonas goes to his 1st visit to the Receiver of Memories training. A new world is opened before his eyes, the elder training him transmits memories to him, of things that don't exist anymore, that have been eliminated or changed. Jonas learns what snow is, what a hill and a sled are. These things have now disappeared because the community lives in sameness.

I remember that te receiver of memories needed the ability of seeing beyond. In pg. 91 Jonas says "Then today, just now, outside, it happened with my friend Fiona. She herself didn't change, exactly. But something about her changed for a second. Her hair looked different; but not its shape, not its length. I can't quite -......... it changed. I don't know how or why." To me, at the moment, it seemed like it was like Jonas had a super power that only the people who where able to be receivers of memory possessed whatever it was. Later on we learn that Jonas is talking about color. This community is so concentrated in sameness that they took away all the color, from everything. Could you imagine a colourless world? No green trees or red roses. everything would be the same. I think that taking color away from people is simply too much. how can color not be part of the so called perfect society? The community rules are so oppressive not even color is allowed. I believe through this the author wants to transmit the discrimination the world we live in has against differences. without color there would be no racism, like we have in our present day world. I find the missing color is a very contradictory concept, it may help but it is still too extreme for my opinion.

Changes

Everything in Jonas' life seems to be changing. he started taking pills for something called stirrings, and he has to for the rest of his life. He will be given his assignment and have more responsibilities upon him because of it. The ceremony of twelve came upon them, and Jonas didn't receive his assignment, instead he was elected, by the committee of elders to be the next receiver of memories. This selection is very rare and the most important thing in the community. Jonas is full of mixed feelings and he is not shure what will happen next, and has no idea of what to expect.

"She skipped me, Jonas thought, stunned. Had he heard wrong? No. There was a sudden hush in the crowd, and he knew that the entire community realized that the Chief Elder had moved from Eighteen to Twenty, leaving a gap" (pg. 57). Why is the whole community so startled that someone supposedly (later we learn that she actually did not make a mistake) made a small mistake? She is only human. We humans all make mistakes at some point in our lives.Mistakes teach important lessons, it is part of growing up and becoming who we want to be. Mistakes can shape people into who they are today, mistakes make people grow. without mistakes we would never know right from wrong and we would never learn what is better and what is worse. I can assure you, you will never find anyone that has never made a mistake in their whole lives, it is simply impossible.

Ask yourself, what is life without mistakes? What is the point of doing things if you never learn anything new? What would life be with out taking risks and living adventures? Life would not be our own. Humans would not be living, we would only be surviving.

Meeting Jonas and His Community

Jonas is a young 11-about to turn-12 boy, that lives in a community where being different is fowned upon. Everybody has the same opportunities, houses, families, and they all get certain things, like a bike, at the exact same age. Nobody has their own birthday, just a ceremony each December in wich each age group moves up a number, until they turn 12. When they turn 12 each individual is given their assigment (what you will work and do for the rest of your life) and most people stop counting their age after that. Jonas is nervous about what he will get as his assigment, he has done his volunteer hours almost everywhere and he didn’t have the slightest clue on what the elders would put him in. Besides that, his family unit had taken a little baby boy each night to be with them until the naming ceremony. The little boy was not growing correctly so Jonas’ father, who was a nuturer, decided he really wanted this baby not to be released therefore Jonas and his family now take care of the little boy every night. Jonas is constantly wondering what will happen with his life, he is confused and a little scared.

“ We celebrated a release this morning, and that always  throws things off a little, so things get backed up” (pg 28). Why do these people celebrate a release? In this community, it seems to me that its more like dying, you never see the released man/woman again and they are out of your life forever. I wonder, if releases are bad for people in the community that are not old, why is it considered a motive for celebration when a old citizen is released. Besides that the person being released is described as happy and exited, not at all frightened wich to me seems almost imposible, considering that they will go out to the great unknown completley alone.

“But there was a little shudder of nervousness when he thought about it, about what night happen. Apprehensive, Jonas decided. That’s what I am.” (pg 4). Jonas is very careful about his felings and how he describes them. He deeply thinks and analyzes what is going on within hiself. I believe jonas likes to overthink his emotions because of the community he lives in. Probobly he didnt want to say a very strong feeling in his nightly ritual of shairng the feelings as a family after dinner. Why are feelings so discussed in this book? Proplr cannot realy decide what they feel but they can choose to describe a certain way and that is what Jonas is doing at the beginning of the story.

Could you imagine lving in a world like this? For me it seems everyone is very careful to describe what they feel or want. Words seem to have a great impact on this society and fear is not very present when talking about the release of old citizens. What will Jonas get for his assigment? Will he like it? Will it change his life forever? What does the assignment say about Jonas? All of these questions come flooding to mind, but we will have to wait and see.

The Giver: First Impression

I think this book will be about a society where feelings, memories and individuality (like having your own opinion about something) is taken away from the citizens in the town or place this story is taking place in. I can also infer that the main character is Jonas and that he will receive training from the Giver, who has control over the memories and everything else this society takes away from people. The Giver will show Jonas the real beauty in life and Jason will try to destroy this distopian society and give the people the experience of living life like it should be, full of pleasure and  pain but most of all being a real life.

In the dedication page Lowry says: "For all the children, to whom we entrust the future". What the author is trying to say is that this book is dedicated to the future generations of the world, the future generations that should take care of this place and understand that that the world's future really depends on the choices and actions this generation takes.