Plot Summary
Chapter 20 of The Giver opens with Jonas in the Annex room, still reeling from the horrifying discovery that his father killed the lighter newchild twin during the release ceremony he watched on the screen in Chapter 19. Jonas is so shattered that he refuses to go home. He tells the Giver that he cannot go back to his family, cannot go back to his life of ignorance. The Giver allows Jonas to stay overnight in the Annex, and the two spend the evening in deep, painful conversation about the nature of their community.
Formulating the Escape Plan
As the night progresses, the Giver and Jonas begin formulating a daring plan. The Giver explains that when Rosemary—the previous Receiver—was released ten years earlier, the relatively small number of memories she had accumulated returned to the community. The citizens were overwhelmed even by that limited flood of feeling and sensation. Jonas, by contrast, now holds an entire lifetime's worth of memories. If Jonas were to leave the community, all of his memories would be released back to the people, forcing them to confront the full spectrum of human experience—joy, pain, color, love, grief, and everything else that Sameness has suppressed.
The Giver proposes that Jonas escape to Elsewhere—the unknown world beyond the community's boundaries. The plan has specific steps: in the two weeks before the December Ceremony, the Giver will transmit every memory of courage and strength he can to prepare Jonas for the dangerous journey. Jonas will secretly stockpile food. On the night before the Ceremony, Jonas will leave his dwelling, hide his clothing and an extra set by the river, and leave his bicycle near the riverbank. The next morning, the Giver will order a vehicle ostensibly to visit another community and will hide Jonas in the storage compartment, driving him partway to give him a head start. When the community discovers Jonas missing and finds his bicycle by the river, they will assume he has drowned and hold a Ceremony of Loss for him.
The Giver's Sacrifice
Jonas begs the Giver to come with him, but the old man refuses. He explains that he is too old and too weak for the journey, and more importantly, the community will need him. When Jonas's memories flood back into the citizens, they will be overwhelmed by feelings they have never experienced. The Giver must stay behind to help them process the returning memories and guide them through the chaos, just as he once helped the community cope after Rosemary's release.
In a deeply moving moment, the Giver reveals what he wants for himself once his work helping the community is finished: he wants to be with Rosemary. This quiet confession implies that the Giver wishes to die—or be released—so he can join his lost daughter. The chapter ends with both Jonas and the Giver understanding the enormous risks ahead, but resolved that the plan is the only way to return genuine human experience to a community that has traded it away for the false comfort of Sameness.