The Giver by Lynn Hall

First published: 1985

Type of work: Psychological realism

Themes: Coming-of-age, emotions, family, friendship, and sexual issues

Time of work: The late twentieth century

Recommended Ages: 13-15

Locale: Cora Grove, a small town near Rockford, Illinois

Principal Characters:

• Mary McNeal, the middle child among three daughters, who yearns for self-assurance
• James Flicket, a respected high-school teacher, who lives with his elderly, possessive mother
• Vira Flicket, Mr. Flicket’s mother, who is in her eighties and has always controlled her son’s life
• Rosemary McNeal, Mary’s mother, a tolerant, understanding wife and mother, and a teacher of handicapped children
• Mackie McNeal, Mary’s father, an insurance salesman and former high school football star who now seeks love in the wrong places
• Annette McNeal, Mary’s older sister, a college student
• Beth McNeal, Mary’s elementary-school-aged sister

The Story

Mary McNeal is a sophomore at Cora Grove High School, and it is the fall of the year, time for football games and golden trees and Homecoming floats. As Mary is walking to school, however, she has something else on her mind. Mr. Flicket, her homeroom teacher, seems to know her desperate need to feel special. She thrives on his greeting her as “merry Mary” and on exchanges of looks between them. The fact that her class is building its homecoming float in Mr. Flicket’s barn provides Mary the opportunity to see where he lives. As Mary enters his kitchen to volunteer help with food preparation, she meets hostility from Mr. Flicket’s mother, a wizened, sharp-tongued woman who appears to dominate the place. Later in the evening, as Mary enters the house again under the pretense of using the bathroom, Mrs. Flicket catches her peering into James’s bedroom, and Mary flees, running abruptly into Mr. Flicket at the door. Knowing that she is upset, the teacher offers to show her where he really lives, his workshop, and her serenity and sense of special worth are restored as she admires his beautiful wood carvings.

James Flicket’s loneliness is explored through the third-person, omniscient-author point of view of the novel. An only child, James learned early to obey and even anticipate his mother’s every wish and to ignore his father, whom his mother scorned, and who eventually committed suicide. Mr. Flicket knows that he is drawn toward the affection and adoration Mary McNeal displays toward him. He recalls the one relationship of love his life had contained: with his senior high classmate, Grace. As he escorted her to the prom he had envisioned their future together after they both completed teacher-training programs at the university. After Sunday dinner and an afternoon visit with his mother, Grace had never communicated straightforwardly with him again. He did not understand until years later at a teachers’ convention, when Grace with embarrassment confessed that his mother had explained his preference for men over women but his need to have a marriage to make his life look respectable. Now Mrs. Flicket is at it again, infuriating her son by her intimations that Mary McNeal is making calf eyes at him.

Mary’s own life has been complicated by the revelation that her father has been having extramarital affairs for years and that her mother has knowingly tolerated that behavior. Her mother seems to understand that for Mackie McNeal the best part of his life ended when he was graduated from high school and was no longer the adored local football hero. Twenty years as an insurance salesman have reduced him to daily despair, masked by the jovial facade required by his work. The opposite is true for Rosemary McNeal, who as a high school student had been a nobody but as an adult has grown into a self-assured, competent professional who enjoys teaching her classes of handicapped children and does it well.

As domestic problems are reaching crisis point, Mary takes increasing risks in her relationship with Mr. Flicket. He is moved to action. Without condescension, he explains to Mary that giving her what she desires would destroy both his teaching and the respect she has for herself and for him. Acknowledging the attraction between them, he sets limits on the ways they may act upon it. They will cherish the knowledge of their love, be careful not to injure each other with it, and give it up when she has outgrown her need of it.

Swiftly told in the novel’s epilogue are Mary’s blossoming into womanhood, Mrs. Flicket’s demise, and James Flicket’s dancing with Mary at her first return for homecoming several years following her graduation. As the dance ends, she whispers, “Thank you,” and he bows and returns her to her husband.

Context

Lynn Hall is a prolific author of modern realistic fiction for young adults, her forte being the creation of believable and satisfying characters and situations. While her themes are basic and powerful, such as the quest for identity, meaningful values, and a sense of belonging, her style is deceptively simple and straightforward. Her works are therefore accessible to young adults on several levels.

The Giver is regarded by critic Zena Sutherland as Hall at her best because of its poignant presentation of love that is wise and altruistic; the novel also received a starred review in School Library Journal. Hall’s earlier novel The Horse Trader (1981) also explores a teenage girl’s infatuation with an older man during her growth toward maturity. The treatment is reminiscent of Katherine Paterson’s portrayal of Louise and the Captain in the Newbery Medal-winning novel Jacob Have I Loved (1980). The subject matter of a girl’s sexual awakening and shifting relationships among family members places these novels among what some critics have called “problem novels.” The designation seems somewhat simplistic, as any novel in which there is conflict in the plot addresses a problem. The designation may also appear to be condescending, since it is used almost exclusively about youth literature, not about adult fiction similar in message or focus.

Hall addresses with integrity themes that mirror adolescent development concerns, such as separation from parents (The Leaving, 1980), achievement of individual goals (Danza!, 1981), rivalry between siblings (Half the Battle, 1982), and the influence of peers (Uphill All the Way, 1984). The Giver provides subtle but powerful reassurance that in the normal course of life the ambivalence of adolescence is ultimately replaced by self-knowledge and understanding.