CHAPTER SUMMARY WITH NOTES

CHAPTER FIVE

Summary

The next morning at the daily Dream-telling, Jonas relates a dream that he had. In the dream, he was standing by a tub without his tunic. Fiona was there and he was trying to talk her into getting into the tub so that he could bathe her. Father asks him what he felt. He felt a strong wanting. They do not discuss it further. After Father and Lily leave with Gabriel, Mother sits down and tells Jonas that his dream was his first Stirrings. He should start taking a pill for them. Jonas remembers that Mother and Father both must take a pill every day also. He remembers hearing announcements that Stirrings should be reported immediately so that they can be treated. Mother tells him that he must not forget to take one of the pills every day. In answer to a question, Mother tells Jonas that he will need to take them until he goes to the House of the Old.

Notes

Sexual feelings are not allowed in JonasÂ’s community. But, they are not tinged with shame as in many societies that try to control them. Sex is dealt with in a simple, matter-of-fact way, like one would deal with a headache.

The reason that sex is frowned on by the community is because it tends to create close relationships between people. If people became close to other people, they might put the good of those people ahead of the good of the community as a whole. The community would suffer as a consequence.

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