What is the ending of Lois Lowry's The Giver?

The ending of Lois Lowry's The Giver is debatable. Jonas is fleeing his home with his baby brother Gabriel in an effort to end Sameness. Once he gets to Elsewhere, or gets far enough away from his community, the memories that the Giver passed on to him will be released upon the citizens and Sameness will end. The Giver stays behind so he can help the people deal with the memories when Jonas crosses into Elsewhere. However, whether or not Jonas actually makes it safely to Elsewhere is ambiguous. As Jonas feels that he and Gabe are nearing the end of their journey, they run out of food and water and encounter deep snow. Jonas had been giving Gabe memories to satisfy his needs for a time, but he soon feels like he is running out of memories to give. The bike gets stuck in the snow and Jonas continues through the snow with Gabe. At one point, Jonas feels as if the memories are leaving him, suggesting that they are going back to the community.

"The memories had fallen behind him now, escaping from his protection to return to the people of his community. Were there any left at all?" (176).

This passage suggests that the memories have gone to the community and Jonas has no more to share with Gabriel to sustain him. Jonas keeps climbing a snowy hill and loses feeling in his extremities. Things seem hopeless, but then he remembers his friends and the Giver, and that motivates him to keep going. When he gets to the summit he finds a sled waiting for him. One could argue that Jonas's consciousness has simply fallen back to the first and final memory, and after that, he's done for. The text even says that "Jonas felt himself losing consciousness" before sliding down the hill. Jonas then feels joy, hears music, and thinks he hears people singing, but then the book ends with "But perhaps it was only an echo" (180). There is no explicit information that says Jonas and Gabe make it safely to a house that has a family in it. Furthermore, why would a sled be waiting for him at some random hill? It seems too much like the memory to be reality.

Others may say, however, that the memory of the sled, snow, and family in the house is a real memory; therefore, Jonas and Gabriel are truly saved and they find a real home in the end. Many readers like to believe this option is how the book ends because it is positive and Jonas and Gabriel aren't left out in the snow to die. The movie goes even further to perpetuate this belief by showing the community receiving the memories of joy, crying, and understanding life better; but the book seems to leave the end up to the reader to interpret for himself.