Wednesday, January 21, 2015

What would be a good title for chapter 4 in Lois Lowry's The Giver?

When determining what to call a chapter with no name, consider the themes found therein. What happens to the characters in this chapter? Is there anything in the chapter that moves the plot forward? Is anything revealed that was not known to the characters or the reader before this point in the book? Chapter 4 in Lowry's The Giver shows Jonas volunteering at the House of the Old along with his friends Fiona and Asher....

When determining what to call a chapter with no name, consider the themes found therein. What happens to the characters in this chapter? Is there anything in the chapter that moves the plot forward? Is anything revealed that was not known to the characters or the reader before this point in the book? Chapter 4 in Lowry's The Giver shows Jonas volunteering at the House of the Old along with his friends Fiona and Asher. The reader is informed of the following aspects of their community: First, Elevens need to have finished a certain number of service hours before the Ceremony of Twelve in order to receive an assignment; there are also rules about not looking at other people's nakedness and bragging; and, as Jonas bathes the old woman Larissa, they discuss that morning's Ceremony of Release for Roberto. Jonas and Larissa discuss his release as follows:



"'What happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?'


She lifted her bare wet shoulders in a small shrug. 'I don't know. I don't think anybody does, except the committee. He just bowed to all of us and then walked, like they all do, through the special door in the Releasing Room'" (32).



The above passage reveals that people don't know that Release means death. Jonas learns later that people who are released actually get injected with a drug that kills them. But for the purpose of creating suspense and mystery, this information cannot be divulged in the title of the chapter.


Possible chapter titles for chapter 4 might be:


  1. The House of the Old

  2. Bathing Larissa at the House of the Old

  3. Service Hours at the House of the Old

  4. Learning about a Ceremony of Release

  5. Jonas Learns about the Ceremony of Release

  6. Jonas Meets Larissa



No comments:

Post a Comment

Is Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre a feminist novel?

Feminism advocates that social, political, and all other rights should be equal between men and women. Bronte's Jane Eyre discusses many...