What is the release in The Giver?
Larissa tells Jonas that every release ceremony has a “telling.” Somebody gets up and narrates important parts of the person’s life that is about to be released. Other people are allowed to get up and speak as well about things they remember about that person.
A releasing ceremony is a celebration, during which time, the person’s life becomes a story repeated for others in the House of the Old. No one in the house of the old knows what to expect, but they happily walk through a special door in the Releasing Room, and they are never seen again.
“Released” is really just a euphemism for being killed. Larissa explains that a celebration of release entails the telling of a person’s life, a toast, the chanting of the anthem, the person’s good-bye speech, and a few more speeches. Afterward, the excited person bows and walks into the Releasing Room.
Larissa, an elderly person, explains the process to Jonas. She also notes that the room is not large. The committee members seem to be the only people who know what happens in the Release Room. People can request early release. The Giver notes that sometimes he wishes to request an early release.
In the case of the elderly, we do not know where their bodies go after release, as there is never discussion of burial or graveyards or cremation. For the newborn twin, his body is put into a box and sent down what appears to be a trash chute.
Jonas was absolutely appalled when he watched the video of the release. He couldn’t believe that release, which was portrayed as this wonderful thing, was really just killing. He was also devastated to find that his father had been doing this and lying to the family about it.
Release is the term used when members of the Community (from the book The Giver) are sentenced to leave (actually, sentenced to death by lethal injection). In reality, the people being released are injected with a lethal injection of CYANIDE CHEMICAL, and their bodies are thrown away.
The “release room” is where people are released, which in this community means death by lethal injection.
Expert Answers mwestwood, M.A. Jonas is allowed to watch the release of a child because he is the Receiver. In the society in which Jonas lives, pain and suffering have been eliminated. Because people are not permitted to be in situations in which there is suffering, they are not made aware of what “release”…
453 answers. The release as Jonas understands it in Chapter 4 is a happy occasion where a person’s life is celebrated and then they are “released” to a mysterious place. Jonas feels pretty good about the idea of release, and finds comfort in the House of the Old.
Larissa tells Jonas that every release ceremony has a “telling.” Somebody gets up and narrates important parts of the person’s life that is about to be released. Other people are allowed to get up and speak as well about things they remember about that person. The person being released is allowed to speak as well.
death
Release is the community’s euphemism for death. In order to shelter its citizens from the frightening reality of death, the elders claim the released people go “Elsewhere,” a term that also refers to the land outside the community.
