Son
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Book Response # 9
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Personally, I think Son could be a stand alone book. The previous three are mainly just prep for this one which has the actual story line in it. Still, I don't think Son tied up many loose ends. I was waiting since Giver to see the change in the original village where Jonas, Gabe, and Claire lived, but we never get a glimpse as to how things changed when Jonas left.
And in Messenger, they mention how things changed in Kira's original village and again, we never get to see it.
Also, I think that the ending of Son was incomplete. We waited the entire book (or if you want to be technical, since the very first book) to see Claire's reunion with Gabe, be we never actually do. I also think we should have seen some sort of romantic conclusion for Claire and Einar.
And considering that we never see anyone from that small village again, it felt like a huge waste of the time spent getting to know them. If the sole reason for Part 2 was to prepare Claire to climb out, it could have been summed up in a fraction of the time.
I can see your point, but I don't really see a Biblical representation here. Calling Claire, Mary is stretching it. Mary was hugely honored to be chosen to give birth to the Messiah. Claire's trade was a nightmare and cruel trick. Mary, then got to raise her son, while Claire barely had any contact with her son for the first 16 years of his life.
And it's stretching it ALOT to compare Jonas and Gabe with God and Jesus. Jonas was just a leader. It would be more accurate to compare him with Moses or some other Biblical character. (And maybe Claire with Moses' mother since she gave him up to save him, but it's still not a good comparison)
Gabe didn't do anything extraordinary, really. All he did was stand up to evil. Maybe exceptional in this village, but it's not even a first for the series - Jonas took a stand against evil. So did Maty.
Thanks for your response. So do you not think that the Trademaster resembles satan or at least a demon?I agree Mary had a higher calling; however I was referring to the manner in which Claire gave up part of herself just as Mary did.
As for Jonas, he is able to see the future just as God is. I guess I could have compared him to a prophet. Finally, Gabe as the Son and hero who overcomes the Trademaster resembles Jesus who overcame satan.
All of that being said, I thoroughly appreciate your passion and reverence for biblical matters. It shows in your writing.
God bless you in all you do. :)
I could see the Tradesmaster resembling Satan only as far as he was the epitome of evil in this world. But I don't see much in the way of this series being a close representation of the Bible at all, so I still think calling him Satan isn't a great comparison. Mostly because he's defeated so easily. It's a closer picture than the others though.
I get what you mean, but Mary didn't really sacrifice very much in order to have the Messiah. She had to deal with the stigma of being pregnant before she was married in a society that heavily condemned that, but that didn't last much longer than the time it took for Joseph to accept her in spite of it.
Also, Mary was purposely chosen for her faith. Claire's name was more or less picked out of a hat because she didn't fit anywhere else. And even that choice was a bad one since they switched her after realizing all the problems she had.
And I'm not so sure that her actions later on (when she gives up her youth) were even necessary. She could have done the smart thing and gone in a boat to try to find him and avoided the whole climb and meeting with the Tradesmaster. It would have been faster and more self-sacrificing to face her fear in order to find her son. Plus, I can't imagine Mary making a deal with Satan in order to see Jesus.
But if you're going to look at Gabe as the son who defeats "Satan", than yeah, I could see the connection to calling her Mary.
However, as I mentioned, Gabe didn't really do anything extraordinary, which sort of negates the idea of him being supernatural (and comparing him with Jesus). He just did what anyone with willpower and morals could have done.
I might be able to see calling Gabe a prophet (perhaps Samuel and then Claire would be Hannah) and the Tradesmaster a demon, but I still think it's not a close comparison. But maybe that's just because I feel like this series could have been alot better than it was. Maybe with more character development and actual resolutions I'd see some things differently. As it was, I thought the whole story was pretty weak down to the 'ultimate evil'.
Thanks. You too :)
Bridgette wrote: "Dr. Dryden, you must forgive me for thinking I knew better that thou. When I picked up this book, I realized that it was part 4 in a series. I wondered, why would Dr. Dryden ask us to skip books? I..."Like you, I wish that there was a romantic conclusion of Claire and Einar... after all those years of seeing each other on a daily basis, and they are both sad characters. They were in love and compatible with each other. I'm sure when Claire was with Einar, she was the happiest in her life (except that she longed to see her son more). To me, it seemed such a waste that neither Einar and Alys were mentioned again after the climb-out.
I also want to see the changes in Kira's village and Jonas' community (which I thought I would see in "Son" after Jonas had escaped). Other than the fact that the Giver had sent Jonas a bunch of books using a boat (which implied that the Giver knew where Jonas was), signifying that Jonas had been forgiven by his community, we knew nothing else.
That being said. Son was as phenomenal as The Giver. I bet when Lois Lowry finished writing this book she thought to herself, there, it's done, leave me alone! (I read some of the reviews about book 2 & 3) This book brought closure to The Giver. I love how the author gets us to really connect with the characters. I still haven't understood how though.
I am not sure if the author is religious, but I found many similarities to this book and the bible. The Trademaster resembles satan and how he deceitfully tries to tempt us in order to take from us. Claire resembles Mary in that she gave of herself despite the repercussions it would bring when she gave her youth for her child. Jonas resembles God in that He was able to see beyond. Finally, Gabe as the Son and hero who overcomes the Trademaster resembles Jesus. It also had biblical principles, such as using our gifts and talents to help others.
Although I loved this book, the middle seemed to draaaaaagggg on and on. I am not sure if it was because I was so anxious to find out about Jonas and Gabe? In the end the author tied up all of the loose ends very nicely. There was definitely a sense of closure. It also referred back to the first book real nicely and answered any unanswered questions for those who were not familiar with the first story.
As for classroom application, the book mentioned the importance of math in real life and there were many philosophical points which could be discussed.