Plot Summary
Chapter 19 of The Giver is the most devastating chapter in the novel and the moment when every comfortable illusion Jonas has held about his community is permanently destroyed. The chapter opens with Jonas and the Giver discussing the concept of release. Jonas mentions casually that his father is releasing one of a set of identical twins that morning, and the Giver responds with visible pain. He tells Jonas that, as the Receiver of Memory, he has the authority to watch any recording in the community—including releases. He offers to let Jonas watch the recording of his father's procedure.
The Giver turns on the video screen in the Annex Room, and together they watch a recording from the Nurturing Center earlier that day. Jonas's father enters the room carrying two identical newborn twins. He weighs each baby on a scale, speaking to them in the cheerful, singsong voice Jonas has always associated with his kind, gentle father. The smaller twin weighs less, and Jonas's father sets the larger baby aside in a comfortable crib. He then turns to the smaller twin, still chatting pleasantly.
The Truth About Release
What happens next shatters Jonas's world. His father rolls up the smaller baby's sleeve, takes out a syringe, and injects a needle directly into the top of the newchild's head—into the soft spot of the fontanel. The baby cries briefly, then its movements slow and stop. Jonas recognizes the twitching—it is exactly what the dying soldier did in the battlefield memory the Giver once transmitted to him. The baby is dead. Jonas's father then says "Bye-bye, little guy" in the same light, cheerful tone, places the tiny corpse into a small cardboard carton, and sends the box down a chute that leads to the same place garbage goes.
Jonas is overcome with horror. He realizes that release is death—it has always been death. Every elderly person "released" in a celebration ceremony was killed. Every person who broke the rules and was "released" was executed. Rosemary, the previous Receiver who asked to be released, was killed—and the Giver reveals that she actually injected herself. And most urgently, the infant Gabriel, who has been struggling to meet developmental benchmarks, is in danger of being released as well.
Jonas's Reaction
Jonas breaks down completely. He screams at the screen, cries uncontrollably, and is devastated not only by what he has witnessed but by the realization that his father—the man he trusted and loved—routinely kills babies and feels nothing wrong about it. His father does not understand that he is killing; the community's language and conditioning have made the act seem as mundane as any other task. Jonas refuses to go home that night. He cannot face his family, his father, or the community that has been built on this hidden foundation of death. He stays with the Giver, who holds him as he weeps. This chapter marks the point of no return for Jonas—he can never go back to the life he knew before.