Throughout these chapters, Jonas' character grows in complexity as he gains wisdom from the many memories that The Giver transmits to him. Some days, The Giver sends Jonas away because The Giver is in too much pain to be able to train Jonas. Jonas spends this free time by himself, disappointed and worried about his future and about The Giver. Because The Giver must unload some of the pain that he carries, he shares memories of excruciating pain with Jonas. These painful memories, like the pleasurable memories, are lyrical. Lowry's descriptions and imagery are similar to that found in poetry.
In Chapter 13, The Giver transmits a painful memory of an elephant hunt to Jonas, during which an elephant is shot and killed for its tusks. Another elephant walks up to the dead elephant's mutilated body and seemingly comforts the elephant by stroking the dead animal with its trunk and then by covering the elephant with branches. Jonas has never before witnessed or experienced the raw emotional pain that is often felt as a result of the death of a loved one; Jonas has never experienced death.
In the next painful memory conveyed in these chapters, Jonas breaks his leg while riding downhill on a sled and learns about physical pain: "He gasped. It was as if a hatchet lay lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade. In his agony he perceived the word 'fire' and felt flames licking at the torn bone and flesh." After feeling such intense physical pain, Jonas knows that the people in the community don't really know what pain is. They all live overly protected lives.
