History Headscratchers / Son

* Jonas has his first Stirrings at Eleven. But not all children would have reached puberty yet. Do they wait longer to send some girls to the Birthing Center for their Assignment so they aren't all around fourteen when they give birth?

*** Why can't both options be true? Lily is only eight when she says the above remark, and might not fully understand how the community's impregnation and birth process works--she also mistakenly thinks the Birthmothers get to care for the babies, which her mother corrects. It's likely that the community would want to ensure ''some'' kind of genetic diversity, given that there's only one new Birthmother every year. Claire might very well might be Gabe's biological mother, but there are probably also cases when the Birthmothers are impregnated with an egg donor as well.

** It stands to reason that the community which regulates every aspect of its population would also pratice eugenics. Girls are selected as Birthmothers if they did not perform well enough in school to be assigned a career suited to demonstrated aptitudes--in other words, incubating products is all that they're deemed good for. If that is the case, then these aren't the kind of community members that the Elders would want putting low-achieving genes back into the population. It is more likely that both egg and sperm are obtained from other carefully-selected members of the population (as they already do for the sperm donors) and that in vitro fertilization is standard procedure.

*** Not only that, but in ''The Giver'', Lily at one point teasingly suggests to Jonas that he and Gabe may have the same Birthmother since they both have "light" eyes- which would seem to confirm that the Birthmothers are in fact the biological mothers of the children they birth.

*** Not only that, but in ''The Giver'', Lily at one point teasingly suggests to Jonas that he and Gabe may have the same Birthmother since they both have "light" eyes- which would seem to confirm that the Birthmothers are in fact that biological mothers of the children they birth.

** Why wouldn't he be? The fact that Claire was a poor student doesn't necessarily mean that Gabe couldn't be related to her. Because, well... even if they do genetically engineer the babies, it didn't seem to work for Claire. So the relative skill levels don't seem to be ''that'' damning of evidence (because "good" genes still produced a "subpar" result), and it's still pointed out within the book that ''someone'' has to do the job of Birthmother, anyway (even if ''everyone'' was a spectacular student, it wouldn't matter).

*** So Lowry goofed by trying to make it seem like Gabe is biologically Claire's son. But granting that Gabe isn't Claire's biological son doesn't need to change the plot: Claire could still genuinely feel attachment and love for the child that grew within her, whether or not it had her genetics.

** It stands to reason that the community which regulates every aspect of its population would also pratice eugenics. Girls are selected as Birthmothers if they did not perform well enough in school to be assigned a career suited to demonstrated aptitudes; in other words, incubating products is all that they're deemed good for. If that is the case, then these aren't the kind of community members that the Elders would want putting low-achieving genes back into the population. It is more likely that both egg and sperm are obtained from other carefully-selected members of the population (as they already do for the sperm donors) and that in vitro fertilization is standard procedure.

** It stands to reason that the community which regulates every aspect of its population would also pratice eugenics. Girls are selected as Birthmothers if they did not perform well enough in school to be assigned a career suited to their demonstrated aptitudes; in other words, incubating products is all that they're deemed good for. If that is the case, then these aren't the kind of community members that the Elders would want putting low-achieving genes back into the population. It is more likely that both egg and sperm are obtained from other carefully-selected members of the population (as they already do for the sperm donors) and that in vitro fertilization is standard procedure.

*** So Lowry goofed by trying to make it seem like Gabe is biologically Claire's son. But granting that Gabe isn't (or shouldn't be, according to continuity) Claire's biological son doesn't need to diminish the plot: Claire could still genuinely feel attachment and love for the child that grew within her, whether or not it had her genetics.

** It stands to reason that the community which regulates every aspect of its population would also pratice eugenics. Girls are selected as Birthmothers if they did not perform well enough in school to be assigned a career suited to their demonstrated aptitudes; in other words, incubating products is all that they're deemed good for. If that is the case, then these aren't the kind of community members that the Elders would want putting low-achieving genes back into the population. It is more likely that both egg and sperm are obtained from other carefully-selected members of the population (as they must already do for the sperm donors) and that in vitro fertilization is standard procedure. So Lowry goofed by trying to make it that Gabe is biologically Claire's son (mentioning that they both have curly, bright-colored hair).
** But granting that Gabe isn't (or shouldn't be, according to continuity) Claire's biological son doesn't need to diminish the plot: Claire could still genuinely feel attachment and love for the child that grew within her, whether or not it had her genetics.

** It stands to reason that the community which regulates every aspect of its population would also pratice eugenics. Girls are selected as Birthmothers if they did not perform well enough in school to be assigned a career suited to their demonstrated aptitudes; in other words, incubating products is all that they're deemed good for. If that is the case, then these aren't the kind of community members that the Elders would want putting their low-achieving genes back into the population. It is more likely that both egg and sperm are obtained from other members of the population and that in vitro fertilization is standard procedure. So Lowry goofed by trying to make it that Gabe is biologically Claire's son (mentioning that they both have curly, bright-colored hair).

** It stands to reason that the community which regulates every aspect of its population would also pratice eugenics. Girls are selected as Birthmothers if they did not perform well enough in school to be assigned a career suited to their demonstrated aptitudes. In other words, incubating products is all that they're deemed good for. If that is the case, then these aren't the kind of community members that the Elders would want putting their low-achieving genes back into the population. It is more likely that both egg and sperm are obtained from other members of the population and that in vitro fertilization is standard procedure. So Lowry goofed by trying to make it that Gabe is biologically Claire's son (mentioning that they both have curly, bright-colored hair).