As the December Ceremony progresses and the Elevens receive their Assignments, the Chief Elder skips over Jonas' name. At first, Jonas thinks that the Chief Elder has made a mistake, but he quickly corrects his thinking because the Chief Elder would never make a mistake. Unfortunately, Jonas feels as though he has unknowingly done something wrong and is being punished. In describing the situation, Lowry writes that Jonas "tried to make himself smaller in his seat. He wanted to disappear, to fade away, not to exist." Jonas' feelings of humiliation and terror because he has been skipped over, as well as the confusion that everyone in the Auditorium feels, create suspense in the book. Lowry makes it obvious that Jonas is different, which in Jonas' community is not a positive attribute.
After all of the other Elevens except Jonas have been assigned, the Chief Elder apologizes for causing everyone, and especially Jonas, such discomfort by skipping over Jonas' name. Jonas now goes onstage, and the Chief Elder announces that Jonas has not been assigned but, rather, has been "selected" to become the new Receiver of Memory, the most honored position in the community. She explains that as a new Receiver trains, he is to be "alone, apart," so the person selected must be perfect for the position because he can't be observed — except by the current Receiver of Memory, who will train Jonas. During the selection process, if anyone on the Committee of Elders would have had "dreams of uncertainty," the candidate would no longer have been considered for the position of Receiver. When considering Jonas, there were no such "dreams of uncertainty."
