The color
red is significant in . The first timesees beyond is when he notices an
apple change color. He also sees color in the faces of the crowd during the Ceremony of Twelve,
Fionas hair and the sled in the memory. In The Giver, red is a symbolic
color. It represents difference, and therefore emotion. All of the objects that are red or
turn red are connected to deep emotions for Jonas.
The apple is the first red
Jonas sees, and he does not recognize at first that he is seeing a color. The apple changing
color foreshadows later change for Jonas, and foreshadows his later experience with the feeling
of love.
Jonas feels a connection with Fiona from the start. Her red hair
compromises the communitys sameness. When Jonas notices her hair, he recognizes that she is
different. He also has strong feelings for her. His sexual feelings, represented by the dream
with the bathtub, are at first repressed by the Stirrings pills. When he stops taking the
pills, these feelings may potentially grow into love.
Although at first we do
not realize the significance of the faces of the community changing color, we later learn that
Jonas feels love for the people of his community even though he deeply disagrees with much of
what they do. He realizes that they do not know any better, and that he and The Giver have a
responsibility to care about them. This is the reason Jonas leaves the community, to save them
from themselves.
Finally, the red sled is a powerful memory. The sled being
red connects another emotion, pain, to the feelings of love that are associated with the color
red. Love is a strong emotion that can cause pain, although not the physical pain of the sled.
While the people in the community do not see the color red, a strong emotion, or any other
color, representative of other emotions, Jonas does see and he does feel. He realizes that to
be human, one must see and feel even if it is painful.
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