Helen Keller once said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Similarly, in The Giver, a dystopian novel written by Lois Lowry, Jonas, a twelve-year-old boy, lives in a “perfect” community. Through the memories of the past that Jonas receives from the Giver, he learns that feelings must be felt with the heart and cannot be touched or seen. Jonas' understanding of feelings develops greatly after receiving memories from the Giver. Over the course of the novel, Jonas learns the true meaning and importance of feelings and compassion, and evolves from a superficial boy to a compassionate and empathetic young man. Before receiving memories, Jonas reveals his superficiality through his pointless arguments with his sister Lily. and his inability to feel true feelings. For example, when Jonas and his immediate family recount their feelings during the evening, Jonas recalls how he and Lily sometimes "argued about turns, about who would go first" (5). This memory shows that Jonas does not know how to be considerate and lets his younger sister go first. Therefore, he is unable to show altruism and compassion. Furthermore, Jonas also shows his superficiality when he remembers how scared he was of the plane passing over the Community (1). Since Jonas has never truly felt feelings, he is unable to know what it feels like to be truly scared. This shows that he is superficial, because he is isolated from all emotions; he has never had real feelings, only what he thinks are real feelings. Overall, Jonas is superficial before receiving the memories, but becomes more compassionate after receiving the memories from the Gi...... middle of paper ...... retains the memory, Jonas has been shown to be selfless and empathetic. Through Jonas' pity for the people he cares about and his selflessness, he describes his newfound empathy. Through the memories that Jonas receives from the Giver, he gains the ability to feel, which causes him to break out of his selfishness and transform into a more compassionate and empathetic person. In fact, before receiving memories, Jonas doesn't even have the ability to feel true feelings, which makes him selfish. However, after receiving reminders from the Giver about true feelings and pain, Jonas begins to become more compassionate. Jonas' compassion also leads him to become more empathetic towards the people he cares about. Although feelings and emotions can sometimes bring pain, without them the world would be a selfish place where people only care about themselves..