The end of The Giver left everyone wondering if Jonas and Gabriel died, lived, or became zombies. When we had finished the book, I thought that they had reached Elsewhere, a place for everyone to retire in happy memories. But now what I'm wondering about is not the actual state of Gabriel and Jonas, but that music, which was maybe an echo, or the real thing.
#1: Random House
In this interview with Lois Lowry, she says that kids want a more specific ending to The Giver. She says the Giver is many different things to many different people. She doesn't want to "put her own feelings into it, her own beliefs, and ruin it for people who create their own endings in their minds".
She does say that she finds it an optimistic ending, with all the lights and music. She gets disappointed when people tell her that they think Jonas and Gabriel just die. She believes that they don't die; their life takes a new form which she likes her readers to figure out themselves. So that's why everyone will have a different ending in their mind.
#2: Spark Notes
This website didn't actually talk to Lois Lowry, but put their own thoughts on the ending of the book. They say it can be viewed two ways: One, that Jonas and Gabriel finally reached Elsewhere, a place that has love and welcoming, or that they are both freezing to death, and in their insane coldness, are reliving memories from Jonas. (But, this doesn't make sense to me, because at one point in the book, it said Jonas had been losing the memories as he got farther and farther from his community).
The first explanation would make the novel optimistic, and hopeful for the future. The second interpretation is for the "glass-half-empty" people, the pessimists (like me) which gives a hopeless message. Lois Lowry, in the other article, had said that she found the ending optimistic, which leads me to believe that they DID end up in Elsewhere, and that's where Jonas and Gabriel will grow up, away from Sameness and a lifeless life (I'll explain what I mean by that in a second).
Although the first explanation is definitely more optimistic, both versions end with Jonas and Gabriel filled with music, hope, love, happiness, and uncertainty, things that never existed back in the community.
When I say lifeless life, I mean life back in the community; a life deprived of colors, feelings, and choice. That is more valuable to Jonas than anything, even if it means having to leave to that final sled ride. If he and Gabriel really do die at the end, at least they died after actually living, and actually died, without the help of a needle (Release).
This website also mentions how at the end of the book, Gabriel is referred to not as the 'newchild', but 'baby'. This shows that while on their journey, experiencing the memories, they both became a little more human.
In conclusion, no matter what the ending means, Jonas became the real Giver, by having his memories of love and family going back to the community, but this time for everyone to experience.
And if that Christmas house at the end doesn't really exist, we can say that thanks to Jonas, the Christmas house is now his community, with love, colors, and family. But this is now with the hearing beyond of music, which were not part of the memories that Jonas received, but rather, the actual memory itself. And that could make the Christmas village both the future and a memory. They're moving on, but looking back. The sweet gift of music will finally give meaning to the lives of those in the community.
Now, after reading these articles, I have a question: the music, is it actually the memory? Or could it be the echo of his own community discovering music the same time Jonas does? Possibly they created the music, a genuine memory of their own, and not the one The Giver had experienced? OR is it The Giver's final goodbye, token of gratitude, to Jonas?
Here is my (final) interpretation of the ending: Jonas and Gabriel have ended up in Elsewhere, but they do not die or live. They become part of the others in Elsewhere. There is no Sameness, no judgement, nothing but love and family, like an infinite Christmas. This place is timeless, like Jonas says: "the Elsewhere that held their future and their past". You could say Elsewhere is nothing, or everything. In my opinion, I think Elsewhere is the origin of the good memories, before a colorless life and Sameness. Jonas had begun to feel happy, recall happy times, and remember his family, friends, and the Giver. Elsewhere is the only place to create the real, colorful, happy memories, which have meaning to them, not just some Ceremony where you got a haircut (Like the Tens). Before Jonas and Gabriel got on the sled, Jonas had said: "It was not a grasping of a thin and burdensome recollection; this was different. This was something that he could keep. It was a memory of his own." I believe that in Elsewhere, Jonas and Gabriel will grow up, start over,with colors and emotions. At times, this could be harder than living in the community, where everything is so orderly. But then you're not really living if you don't feel or see anything, are you? Basically what I'm saying is that Jonas and Gabriel aren't really alive or dead, their life (like Lois Lowry says) is taking a new form. And Elsewhere might look different to everyone who goes there, but I think everyone gets what they have been missing out on; and for mostly everyone, that's love. Elsewhere is a place for everyone to be loved, and that's my interpretation of the ending: an end where Jonas and Gabriel will forever be loved and welcomed.
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