The Giver: Chapters 6, 7

Fours, Fives, and Sixes all wore jackets that fastened down the back so that they would have to help each other dress and would learn interdependence.

He had been given an unusual and special reprieve for the committee, and granted an additional year of nurturing before his Naming and Placement.

Each family member, including Lily, had been required to sign a pledge that they would not become attached to this little temporary guest, and that they would relinquish him without protest or appeal when he was assigned to his own family unit at next year's Ceremony.

The audience applause, which was enthusiastic at each Naming, rose in an exuberant swell when one parental pair, glowing with pride, took a male newchild and heard him named Caleb.

The entire community had performed the Ceremony of Loss together, murmuring the name Caleb throughout an entire day, less and less frequently, softer in volume, as the long and somber day went on, so that the little Four seemed to fade away gradually from everyone's consciousness.

But each such error reflected negatively on his parents' guidance and infringed on the community's sense of order and success.

Like the Matching of Spouses and the Naming and Placement of newchildren, the Assignments were scrupulously though through by the Committee of Elders.

The speech was much the same each year: recollection of the time of childhood and the period of preparation, the coming responsibilities of adult life, the profound importance of Assignment, the seriousness of training to come.

Finally the Chief Elder paid tribute to the hard work of her committee, which had performed the observations so meticulously all year.

The Instructors of Threes were in charge of the acquisition of correct language.

Asher nodded ruefully, and the audience laughed aloud.

He saw the others in his group glance at him, embarrassed, and then avert their eyes quickly.