Chapter 14

The memory is very similar to the first one, but the hill is steeper and the weather is colder. It is not snowing as much because the ground is hard, not as soft. Jonas is excited as the sled moves down, but gradually, he becomes frightened, realizing that he cannot steer and that the sled is gaining speed uncontrollably. "The sled [hits] a bump in the hill and Jonas is jarred loose and thrown violently into the air. He [falls] with his leg twisted under him, and [can] hear the crack of bone. His face [scrapes] along jagged edges of ice...Then, the first wave of pain. He [gasps]. It [is] as if a hatchet [lies] lodged in his leg, slicing through each nerve with a hot blade. In his agony, he [perceives] the word 'fire' and [feels] flames licking at the torn bone and flesh." Chapter 14, pg. 109 Unable to move, he screams and cries, vomiting and bleeding. Suddenly, he finds himself on the bed in the Annex room. He still feels aching pain, but when he asks for relief-of-pain, The Giver denies his request. Realizing that he cannot take any medication and that he cannot discuss his training with his family at home, Jonas is lonely. He thinks to himself that his parents and Lily "have never known pain."