The Giver transmits two more memories to Jonas that are as lyrical as the first memory. Jonas receives a memory of sunshine that is as pleasurable as the sled-riding memory. Confused, Jonas questions The Giver about the pain that he'd been told he would have to endure. Suggesting the pain that Jonas will feel in memories that he has yet to experience, The Giver sighs and hesitates answering Jonas' questions, as though he is not sure how to tell Jonas about the pain that is to come. To help explain the pain that awaits Jonas, The Giver transmits the memory of a painful sunburn to Jonas. Afterward, Jonas comments that he now understands pain. The Giver does not respond, indicating that Jonas doesn't know pain at all. Here, Lowry creates suspense because we have been told that Jonas will have to endure indescribable pain.
Chapter 12 begins with Jonas eating his morning meal. He had a dream the previous night, but according to his training instructions, he doesn't tell his family about it. In the dream, Jonas is going downhill on a sled in the snow toward a certain destination, but he can't reach the destination. He knows only that the destination welcomes him and is important: "Always, in the dream, it seemed as if there were a destination: a something — he could not grasp what — that lay beyond the place where the thickness of snow brought the sled to a stop." Jonas' dream foreshadows the ambiguous end of the book, when Jonas and Gabe are poised finally to reach the place that Jonas cannot yet grasp here in his dream. He has a good feeling after the dream, but he can't figure out why he has this emotion, nor can he forget the feeling as he prepares for school.
