Question

The Giver begins with Jonas and his friend Fiona walking together. Fiona states that she is nervous, and Jonas reminds her that ''everything’s different now.'' They are about to begin training for their new roles, and they part ways when Fiona goes into the House of the Old.

Jonas makes his way to the Annex and rings to be let in. He speaks with the receptionist who is very polite to him and buzzes him into the room where the Receiver is located. Jonas is surprised because no other buildings have locks. In many ways, the living area is like the one in his own dwelling, just slightly more ornate.
What is quite different is the books. The room is filled with shelves and shelves of books. Up to that point, Jonas had only ever seen the three books in his own dwelling: a dictionary, a book of rules, and the book that describes all aspects of the community. Jonas cannot even imagine what could be in all of these books.
Jonas recognizes the Receiver as the elder who seemed a bit set apart from the others. He looks old and tired, although he says he is not actually quite as old as he looks. The job aged him.
He explains to Jonas that his job is to transmit memories to him. Jonas assumes this means that the Receiver will tell him memories from his own past. The Receiver says that, instead, he will transmit all memories from all time. He will give him memories from many generations past and from everywhere, including Elsewhere.
Jonas has much difficulty understanding any of this. The Receiver tells him, ''I re-experience them again and again. It is how wisdom comes. And how we shape our future.''
The Receiver tries to explain to Jonas how it feels to be the Receiver. He compares it to going down a hill on a sled, but Jonas cannot understand because he has no memories of either snow or sleds. The Receiver decides that snow will be the first memory he transmits to Jonas. Jonas is shocked when the Receiver turns off the speaker. Although all the dwellings have similar speakers, he has never seen one with a power switch. To prepare to receive the first memory, the Receiver asks Jonas to take his shirt off and lie face down on the bed.

What does Jonas find unusual about the elderly couple in the memory?

Answer 1

Jonas is astonished by the sheer number of books in the Receiver's room, the ornate nature of the room, and unfamiliar features like locks and the ability to turn off speakers.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry, Jonas finds it unusual that there are so many books in the Receiver's room because in his own dwelling, he only had access to three books: a dictionary, a book of rules, and the book that describes all aspects of the community.

Jonas is astonished by the sheer number of books in the Receiver's room, the ornate nature of the room, and unfamiliar features like locks and the ability to turn off speakers.

The presence of shelves filled with books is a stark contrast to the limited access to knowledge in his controlled society. Additionally, the room is slightly more ornate than what he's used to, and features like the lock on the door and the ability to turn off the speakers are not things Jonas has seen before in other buildings.