Chapter 2 - The Giver

Jonas feels something complicated beyond the words which he can describe as the Ceremony of Twelve is coming. His parents have private conversation excluding Lily to reassure Jonas.
The main thing regarding the ceremony of Twelve is that each kid of Twelve group obtains an assignment which one will do for the rest of live but they don't have any idea about which occupation is given to each of them and it's just committee members' decision.

Up to now, I could get some info about Jonas's world which seems quite different from ours.
To summarize things, children have ceremonies every year until Twelve. After the ceremony of Nine, kids can get bicycles openly but girls need to remove hair ribbons and older kids than 8 can't get comfort objects anymore.

Someone says that Communism is perfect in its theory but it was proved to fail because it excluded the fact that man is a creation of desire. Everyone can create an ideal world but it would not be realized but be limited to armchair theory as long as the plan does not consider the desire of human beings seriously.
However, let’s look into Jonas’s society. It seems perfect, peaceful and stable. What makes it continue even though people still have the same desire as people’s in real? What makes people keep the rules? For now, I can say that the key secrets are brainwashing education and punishment called “Release” which strikes people with terror as they don’t know what exactly happens. These two things seem to be able to be implemented in real world as well but what made the difference? I guess I could find the other factors at the end of the story. Or It could be determined that it’s just a fiction! Well. I hope not.
Once when I was young, I also have dreamt that kind of world whenever I had a fit of anger on the unreasonable aspects in your society but now I got to know how boring and meaningless the life would be in that world. Nevertheless, Jonas’s world is still very attractive to me.


Some were already walking, wobbly on their unsteady legs.

Wobbly ˈwɒblɪ
[ADJ] Something that is wobbly moves unsteadily from side to side.
The table is so wobbly that I can hardly write.

"I could have sneaked a look at the list prior to the ceremony," Father confided.
confide (kənˈfaɪd)
[VERB] If you confide in someone, you tell them a secret.
I knew she had some fundamental problems in her marriage because she had confided in me a year earlier.

they would simply fret and argue about it themselves for years
fret (frɛt)
[VERB] If you fret about something, you worry about it.
Fretting about the lost ring isn't going to help.

she stopped fidgeting and was very still and attentive when my turn came.
fidget (ˈfɪdʒɪt )
[VERB] If you fidget, you keep moving your hands or feet slightly or changing your position slightly, for example because you are nervous, bored, or excited.
She was fidgeting nervously with her pen.
The kids began to fidget with boredom.

attentive (əˈtɛntɪv )
[ADJ] If you are attentive, you are paying close attention to what is being said or done.
she was always attentive to his needs.

I don't think you need to worry about that," his father reassured him.
reassure (ˌriːəˈʃʊə ) reassure somebody about/of something
[VERB] If you reassure someone, you say or do things to make them stop worrying about something.
I tried to reassure her, 'Don't worry about it. We won't let it happen again.'
assure (əˈʃʊə )
[VERB] If you assure someone that something is true or will happen, you tell them that it is definitely true or will definitely happen, often in order to make them less worried.
'Are you sure the raft is safe?' she asked anxiously. 'Couldn't be safer,' Max assured her confidently.

Jonas and his mother rolled their eyes
roll one's eyes
to turn one's eyes around in different directions or in a circle, especially as an expression of disbelief, annoyance, or impatience:
He rolled his eyes when he heard the stupid joke.


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There was one sentence which made me think for the exact meaning.

The fact that his father had broken a rule at all awed him.

At first, I was very confused of usages of "at all" as it is usually written in negative sentence.
in another way, i've tried to think what "at all awed him" means.

Finally, i got it!

The fact that his father had broken a rule at all / awed him.
(Subject = the fact, Verb = awed)

+ at all - anyway, even so (in spite of that)
I'm surprised you came at all.
There are a lot of spelling mistakes; even so, it's quite a good answer.