The Giver - Mind, Body, Spirit
The Giver, by Lois Lowry, contains a lot of mind, body, and spirit symbolism on a variety of levels. First is Jonas and his two friends, Asher and Fiona. Jonas is the mind, Asher the body, and Fiona the spirit.
Second is Jonas's family. His father is the spirit, his mother is the mind, and the children in the household collectively make up a body character. When examined individually, however, Jonas is the mind, Lily (his sister) is the spirit, and Gabriel (the child from the nursery they are nurturing during the night) is the body.
I just glossed over this without giving any real reasons as to why this is true because I want to get into a slightly different topic. In my workshops, I often talk about occupations and their relation to the mind, body, and spirit symbolism. The Giver is a great example of the use of occupations to help strengthen your character symbolism.
Spirit characters have a lot of compassion and tend to put their "cause" ahead of themselves. In The Giver, the spirit occupations include Nurturers and Caretakers. These are people who are willing to put the needs of others ahead of their own. Jonas's father is a Nurturer who brings another child into their home because he is not thriving in a more traditional environment. It takes special permission to do this, but Jonas's father is willing to make the sacrifices in order to help nurture the baby.
Fiona does her required volunteer work as Caretaker, one who helps take care of the elderly in the community. She helps feed them, bathe them, or do anything necessary to tend to their needs. The Elders (the ruling council for the community) recognize her heart for service and select her to become a Caretaker as her adult profession.
Mind characters rely on logical analysis and deductive reasoning, as well as "book knowledge." they tend to be concerned with rules and community standards. Detectives tend to be mind characters, as do judges. Jonas's mother, who works within the Department of Justice is just such a mind character. She talks about helping others see the error of their ways.
Being an adviser is also a good mind character occupation.The Giver carries all the memories of the time before "sameness" so he can analyze them and give rational advice when the Council of Elders requires it. In the book, this is shown when the Giver explains what happened "behind the scenes" when the aircraft flew over the community at the beginning of the story. Jonas is also a very analytical person, as well, and a good choice as the new Receiver of Memory.
Body characters are typically focused on their own base needs. Food, sleep, self-preservation, and (at the right age) sex seem to dominate their thoughts and decision-making. Recreation and fun are also at the top of their priority list. In the book, Jonas is concerned about his friend, Asher, who shows little aptitude for anything but the most basic tasks, and even then his aptitude seems low. When he is chosen to be the Assistant Director of Recreation, however, the selection seems to be a perfect fit.
Occupations can help strengthen your character symbolism, as it is in The Giver, but it can also be used to create conflict in your story. Start with someone who is one character type and put them in an occupation which typically contains a different type of character and you have already generated conflict. A common example is taking a spirit character and making that person a detective, an occupation typically filled by mind characters. Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, and Rush Hour are all great examples of this type situation.
Second is Jonas's family. His father is the spirit, his mother is the mind, and the children in the household collectively make up a body character. When examined individually, however, Jonas is the mind, Lily (his sister) is the spirit, and Gabriel (the child from the nursery they are nurturing during the night) is the body.
I just glossed over this without giving any real reasons as to why this is true because I want to get into a slightly different topic. In my workshops, I often talk about occupations and their relation to the mind, body, and spirit symbolism. The Giver is a great example of the use of occupations to help strengthen your character symbolism.
Spirit characters have a lot of compassion and tend to put their "cause" ahead of themselves. In The Giver, the spirit occupations include Nurturers and Caretakers. These are people who are willing to put the needs of others ahead of their own. Jonas's father is a Nurturer who brings another child into their home because he is not thriving in a more traditional environment. It takes special permission to do this, but Jonas's father is willing to make the sacrifices in order to help nurture the baby.
Fiona does her required volunteer work as Caretaker, one who helps take care of the elderly in the community. She helps feed them, bathe them, or do anything necessary to tend to their needs. The Elders (the ruling council for the community) recognize her heart for service and select her to become a Caretaker as her adult profession.
Mind characters rely on logical analysis and deductive reasoning, as well as "book knowledge." they tend to be concerned with rules and community standards. Detectives tend to be mind characters, as do judges. Jonas's mother, who works within the Department of Justice is just such a mind character. She talks about helping others see the error of their ways.
Being an adviser is also a good mind character occupation.The Giver carries all the memories of the time before "sameness" so he can analyze them and give rational advice when the Council of Elders requires it. In the book, this is shown when the Giver explains what happened "behind the scenes" when the aircraft flew over the community at the beginning of the story. Jonas is also a very analytical person, as well, and a good choice as the new Receiver of Memory.
Body characters are typically focused on their own base needs. Food, sleep, self-preservation, and (at the right age) sex seem to dominate their thoughts and decision-making. Recreation and fun are also at the top of their priority list. In the book, Jonas is concerned about his friend, Asher, who shows little aptitude for anything but the most basic tasks, and even then his aptitude seems low. When he is chosen to be the Assistant Director of Recreation, however, the selection seems to be a perfect fit.
Occupations can help strengthen your character symbolism, as it is in The Giver, but it can also be used to create conflict in your story. Start with someone who is one character type and put them in an occupation which typically contains a different type of character and you have already generated conflict. A common example is taking a spirit character and making that person a detective, an occupation typically filled by mind characters. Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, and Rush Hour are all great examples of this type situation.
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