Dreams and Pills

What I read:
Jonas and his sister Lily are having their ceremonies.  Lily is now old enough to get a bike of her own and the begin with her volunteering hours.  The night before the Ceremony of the twelves, Jonas has a dream that is sexual.  In the dream, he's thinking about his friend Fiona.  He tells his parents and they tell him that it's normal to have "Stirrings,", but that they have to be treated and that he has to take pills to not have the stirrings anymore.





At one of the ceremonies, there is a couple that lost their son Caleb.  Caleb died in the river when he was four years old.  They are assigned a replacement child also named Caleb.  Everyone in the community acts like this is normal.

Jonas continues to be nervous about his ceremony which is coming up.  He's really nervious and you can tell that he is from the way that he acts.

What I thought about:
"Jonas was glad that he had, over the years, chosen to do his hours in a variety of places so that he could experience the differences.  He realized, though, that not focusing on one area meant he was left with not the slightest idea - not even a guess - of what his Assignment would be" (28).

When I read this quote, it demonstrated to me how nervous Jonas is about his Ceremony and his assignment.  Also, I felt nervous about what assignment Jonas will get because if he gets assigned a job that he doesn't like, then the story would be told in a different way.










"Jonas knew about the pills.  His parents both took them each morning.  And some of this friends did, he knew... It was the sort of thing one didn't ask a friend about because it might have fallen into that uncomfortable category of "being different."  Asher took a pill each morning; Jonas did not.  Always better, less rude, to talk about things that were the same" (37-38).

Jonas didn't know about the stirrings, so he didn't know about the pills.  Basically, he didn't know what the pills where for.  Because he didn't know, he didn't want to talk to Asher about them.  This is sort of like our own society.  Some people have something personal that they think is different from other people and so they keep it a secret.  In this quote, Jonas says that he hasn't told his friend that he's not taking his pills.



What I conclude:
At this point, its still uncertain what assignment Jonas will get.  I cant wait to find out! Also, I wonder if he'll get any more stirrings, or if because of the pills he won't feel like that anymore.  What will happen to Jonas if he has a different dream next, even if it's not a stirring.  I can tell that some parts of Jonas's world are connected with ours.  As example of this is when he doesn't talk to Asher about his pills.  This reminds me of the differences around the world, but the way that people have trouble talking about those differences.  Sometimes its hard to talk about things that are difficult to say.