Getting Started and Gathering Evidence for The Giver Argumentative Essay

(That’s a really lame title, Mr. Erwin.)

Name ______

Essay Topic Choices:

  1. Did Jonas make the right decision to take Gabriel and escape the community?
  1. Was Jonas’ selection as the next Receiver of Memory an honor or a punishment?
  1. Is it better to be ignorant (uninformed) and happy, or fully aware and upset?
  1. Is individuality (doing things one’s own way) preferable to conformity (going along with a group)?

The essay topic that you select to answer should be one about which you have a strong opinion AND one that you believe can be supported (backed up) with evidence and direct quotations from The Giver.

Your Topic

Select an essay topic and write down the topic number here: ______

Your Opinion

Now, state your opinion about this essay topic.

Example of a student’s opinion for essay topic number 4:

Conformity is sometimes necessary but individuality is also important.

State your opinion about the essay topic you selected (#1, 2, 3, or 4 above):

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Rutabaga à

Reasons

List three general reasons (not specific examples from the book) that support your opinion. These three reasons will become your three body paragraphs.

Examples of three reasons to support essay topic number 4:

1. Sometimes people have to conform (go along with a group) in order to fit in.

2. Individuality leads to happiness.

3. Individuality leads to success.

List three reasons to support the opinion you wrote on the previous page:

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Direct Quotations

Next you will be writing down direct quotes from The Giver that support, or back up, your three reasons.

Example for reason #2 listed above, “Individuality leads to happiness.”

Page 129

“The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away.”

You need a total of THREE to SIX (3-6) direct quotes from The Giver – with at least one quote for EACH of your reasons.

  1. Reason # _____. Page # ______.

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The Giver explains to Jonas that having the job of Receiver of Memory “‘is important and has tremendous honor’” (76).

Jonas expresses his confusion when he tells the Giver, “‘I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘the whole world’ or ‘generations before him.’ I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now’” (78).

The Receiver of Memory is not allowed to ease the pain of bad memories with medicine. Jonas “didn’t want the memories, didn’t want the honor, didn’t want the wisdom, and didn’t want the pain” (121).

The Giver explains to Jonas that “feelings are not part of the life” of the community members (153) but, through the memories, he knows that “people felt this once” (162).

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