Jonas's+Community

  Jonas’s Community   In Jonas’s community there are many things that are not valued. One is to be a birthmother. There is no honor to be a birthmother. Jonas’s mother explains, “‘…there’s little honor in that assignment’…. ‘Three years,’ Mother told her firmly. ‘Three births and that all. After that they are Laborers for the rest of their adult lives, until the day that they enter the House of the Old.’” (21-22). This tells us that being a birthmother, brings no respect or pride to the birthmother or her family. There are also many valued things in Jonas’s community. It is valued to get an assignment when they become a Twelve. Jonas explains, “It was a secret selection, made by the leaders of the community, the Committee of Elders, who took the responsibility so seriously that there were never even any jokes made about Assignments.” (15). This is saying that it is so important to get a job, that there aren’t even jokes about it. If you do not get an assignment it is not valued.