Asher | |
Jonas's Friend | |
Age | 11/12 (book); 18 (film) |
Gender | Male |
Hair | Brown (Movie) |
Allies | Jonas, Fiona |
Portrayed by | Cameron Monaghan |
Asher is a character in The Giver. He is known to be silly but good-natured and playful, never intending to hurt anybody. He is Jonas' best friend, having a great sense of humor.
Personality
Asher is very energetic, clumsy, careless, and imprecise with words, but cheerful and good-humored, but this results in him being hard to work with. He is a bit excitable sometimes which results in him speaking too fast and imprecisely, like when he was a three, and mixed up snack with the word "smack", receiving many blows of the "discipline wand" on his hand and legs. This resulted in a silent Asher for a while, but after a while he learned and began to talk with greater precision. Asher is usually late for school, and uses multiple excuses to explain this. On the other hand he is described by most as fun to be around.
History
The Giver Quartet
The Giver
WIP
The Giver (2014)
In The Giver (2014), Asher is portrayed by Cameron Monaghan, and the character's age is changed from 12 to 18. Asher's assignment is Drone Pilot instead of recreation director, which was never mentioned in the book. Asher helps Jonas with his escape, though in the book Jonas did everything on his own.
Job Assignment
Asher was assigned the job of Assistant Recreational Director in the book, and assigned Pilot in the movie. (He was the fourth one to receive his job assignment as his birth number is #4, meaning that he was the fourth child born in his year out of 50 children.
Relations
Family
Asher has a father, a mother and a baby sister called Phillipa, who Asher's family gained when Asher became an Eleven. Phillipa is a One in the book, although not much is said about her.
Gallery
Film Screenshots
Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. More books than SparkNotes.
The Giver
answer in detail
Asked by on 5/22/2019 11:14 PM
Answered by jill d #170087 on 5/23/2019 12:06 AM
When Asher is assigned as the Assistant Director of Recreation. It will be his job to develop games and oversee playing. Jonas thinks the assignment is perfect, because it is wha for Asher because it's something he does naturally.
"I worry a little about Asher's Assignment," Jonas confessed. "Asher's such fun. But he doesn't really have any serious interests. He makes a game out of everything."
The Giver
Jonas’s friend Asher demonstrates the community’s inability to truly enforce Sameness, and provides an example of a person for whom life in the community is not entirely comfortable. Although Jonas considers Asher his best friend, Jonas looks down on Asher’s distractibility, even speculating that Asher’s parents delayed applying for another child because Asher is so exhausting. Asher’s foibles involve small issues, such as word confusion, that appear to stem from an underlying issue, possibly a learning disability. The community’s methods of shame and physical discipline cannot force Asher to better fit the mold. While Asher never trespasses enough to warrant release, his inability to fit neatly into the community’s rules nevertheless vexes the elders. Even when Asher receives his assignment, a moment meant to celebrate his achievements, the Chief Elder tells a humiliating story of a teacher hitting Asher. Asher responds with a “rueful” expression of discomfort. Given Asher’s continued language issues, the story appears less a fond anecdote and more a public humiliation.
While everyone treats Jonas differently after his selection as Receiver, Asher’s awkwardness in particular hurts Jonas, and suggests jealousy. When Jonas stops his friends from playing a game of war, Asher quickly asserts his newfound expertise in game-playing as Assistant Director of Recreation, emphasizing that he has knowledge that Jonas does not. Asher’s insistence that Jonas’s Receiver assignment does not grant him authority over games shows how uncomfortable their different statuses make him. When Asher apologizes, he doesn’t apologize for making Jonas uncomfortable with the game of war but for not respecting Jonas’s position. Asher cannot understand Jonas’s attempt to explain the horrible reality of war, and Jonas’s inability to explain the terrors he has received from The Giver widens the gap between them.