IXL | Analyze passages from The Giver: Part 1

Read the following passage from The

Giver.

In this excerpt, Jonas, the main character, is talking to his friend Asher.

"Anyway," Jonas pointed out, "have you ever once known of anyone—I mean really known for sure, Asher, not just heard a story about it—who joined another community?"

"No," Asher admitted reluctantly. "But you can. It says so in the rules. If you don't fit in, you can apply for Elsewhere and be released. My mother says that once, about ten years ago, someone applied and was gone the next day." Then he chuckled. "She told me that because I was driving her crazy. She threatened to apply for Elsewhere."

"She was joking."

"I know. But it was true, what she said, that someone did that once. She said that it was really true. Here today and gone tomorrow. Never seen again. Not even a Ceremony of Release."

Jonas shrugged. It didn't worry him. How could someone not fit in? The community was so meticulously ordered, the choices so carefully made.

Even the Matching of Spouses was given such weighty consideration that sometimes an adult who applied to receive a spouse waited months or even years before a Match was approved and announced. All of the factors— disposition, energy level, intelligence, and interests—had to correspond and to interact perfectly. Jonas's mother for example, had higher intelligence than his father; but his father had a calmer disposition. They balanced each other. Their Match, which like all Matches had been monitored by the Committee of Elders for three years before they could apply for children, had always been a successful one.

Like the Matching of Spouses and the Naming and Placement of newchildren, the Assignments were scrupulously thought through by the Committee of Elders.

He was certain that his Assignment, whatever it was to be, and Asher's too, would be the right one for them. He only wished that the midday break would conclude, that the audience would reenter the Auditorium, and the suspense would end.

As if in answer to his unspoken wish, the signal came and the crowd began to move toward the doors.

What does the information in the passage suggest about the community?

The citizens place greater value on having intelligence than having a calm disposition.

The citizens do not always fit in and often apply to live in other communities.

The citizens develop deep and meaningful relationships with friends and spouses.

The citizens are not allowed to make many big life decisions on their own.

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question

Read the following passage from The

Giver.

In this excerpt, Jonas, the main character, recalls a time when he saw an unidentified aircraft.

Frightened was the way [Jonas] had felt a year ago when an unidentified aircraft had overflown the community twice. He had seen it both times. Squinting toward the sky, he had seen the sleek jet, almost a blur at its high speed, go past, and a second later heard the blast of sound that followed. Then one more time, a moment later, from the opposite direction, the same plane.

At first, he had been only fascinated. He had never seen aircraft so close, for it was against the rules for Pilots to fly over the community. Occasionally, when supplies were delivered by cargo planes to the landing field across the river, the children rode their bicycles to the riverbank and watched, intrigued, the unloading and then the takeoff directed to the west, always away from the community.

But the aircraft a year ago had been different. It was not a squat, fat-bellied cargo plane but a needle-nosed single-pilot jet. Jonas, looking around anxiously, had seen others—adults as well as children—stop what they were doing and wait, confused, for an explanation of the frightening event.

Then all of the citizens had been ordered to go into the nearest building and stay there. IMMEDIATELY, the rasping voice through the speakers had said. LEAVE YOUR BICYCLES WHERE THEY ARE.

Instantly, obediently, Jonas had dropped his bike on its side on the path behind his family's dwelling. He had run indoors and stayed there, alone. His parents were both at work, and his little sister, Lily, was at the Childcare Center where she spent her after-school hours.

Looking through the front window, he had seen no people: none of the busy afternoon crew of Street Cleaners, Landscape Workers, and Food Delivery people who usually populated the community at that time of day. He saw only the abandoned bikes here and there on their sides; an upturned wheel on one was still revolving slowly.

He had been frightened then. The sense of his own community silent, waiting, had made his stomach churn. He had trembled.

But it had been nothing. Within minutes the speakers had crackled again, and the voice, reassuring now and less urgent, had explained that a Pilot-in-Training had misread his navigational instructions and made a wrong turn. Desperately the Pilot had been trying to make his way back before his error was noticed.

Which of the following is most likely true about Jonas's community?

It is isolated from the outside world.

It trains its citizens to use advanced technology.

It is located near several airports.

It expects its citizens to fend for themselves.

solution

The details in the passage support this inference about Jonas's community:

green checkmark, It is isolated from the outside world.

The details in the passage do not support these inferences about Jonas's community:

red X symbol, It trains its citizens to use advanced technology.

The passage does not suggest that citizens are trained to use advanced technology.

red X symbol, It is located near several airports.

Pilots do not fly planes directly over the community as it is against the rules, and cargo planes land across the river away from the community. If aircraft are not allowed near the community, the community is most likely not located near several airports.

red X symbol, It expects its citizens to fend for themselves.

These citizens are not expected to fend for themselves; rather, they are given immediate orders to go inside the nearest building until they are told it is safe to come out.

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