At school, Jonas feels alienated from his friends because he can't discuss his training in the same way that everyone else does. By using rhetorical questions, as she did in Chapter 9, Lowry reveals Jonas' thoughts about how absurd it would be for him to try to explain his recent experiences to his peers, who could not possibly understand them because all that his friends know is Sameness. Jonas, however, knows that his life now includes much more than Sameness.
A quality that the Chief Elder believed Jonas possesses is the Capacity to See Beyond. Jonas saw the apple change when he threw it to Asher, and when he was onstage during the Ceremony of Twelve, the faces in the audience changed. One day, Jonas sees Fiona's hair change. When he asks The Giver about all of these experiences, The Giver explains that when the community chose Sameness, the people gave up color, and what Jonas saw was the color red. Because the community wanted to do away with all differences as a way to control the people and their environment, genetic scientists are still trying, as they have for generations, to eliminate any and all colors that exist in people and the environment to attain absolute Sameness. The Giver says, "We gained control of many things. But we had to let go of others." Jonas is angry that the people chose to give up colors and other wonderful experiences in order to attain Sameness. The Giver is surprised at the intensity of Jonas' feelings and the insight that Jonas already has about the philosophy of Sameness.
