The color red is significant in The
Giver. The first time Jonas “sees beyond” is when he notices an apple change
color. He also sees color in the faces of the crowd during the Ceremony of Twelve,
Fiona’s 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 community’s 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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