The Giver is written from the point of view of Jonas, an eleven-year-old boy living in a futuristic society that has eliminated all pain, fear, war, and hatred. There is no prejudice, since everyone looks and acts basically the same, and there is very little competition. Everyone is unfailingly polite. Society has also eliminated choice: at age twelve, each member of the community is assigned a job based on their abilities and interests. Citizens can request and be assigned compatible spouses, and each couple is assigned exactly two children each. Children are born to biological mothers, who never see them, and spend their first year in a care center with other babies, or “new children,” born that year. When their children grow up, family units dissolve and adults live with childless adults until they are too old to function in society. They then spend their final years being cared for in the House of the Ancients until they are finally "released" from society. In the community, liberation is death, but it is never described that way; most people think that after their release, the new imperfect children and cheerful old people are welcomed into the vast expanse of Elsewhere that surrounds the communities. Citizens who break the rules or do not properly adapt to society's codes of conduct are also released, although in their case it constitutes a great shame. Everything is planned and organized to make life as convenient and enjoyable as possible. Jonas lives with his father, who looks after the new children, his mother, who works at the Ministry of Justice, and his seven-year-old sister Lily. At the beginning of the novel, he dreads the upcoming Ceremony of the Twelve, during which he will receive his official mission as a new adult member of the community. He doesn't have a particular career preference, although he enjoys volunteering at a variety of different jobs. Although he is a wise citizen and a good student, Jonas is different: he has pale eyes, while most people in his community have dark eyes, and he possesses unusual powers of perception. Sometimes objects “change” when he looks at them. He doesn't know it yet, but he alone, in his community, can perceive flashes of color; for everyone, the world is as devoid of color as it is of pain, hunger and unpleasantness. During the Ceremony of the Twelve, Jonas receives the very honored mission of recipient of memory..