Son

Complications arise during Claire’s pregnancy, and Claire gets scared but the doctors are focused instead on the Product. They give her anesthesia and complete a C-section. Claire awakens to throbbing pain and realizes they have carved the Product out of her. She is “suffused with a desperate feeling of loss” (10). Claire’s C-section results in her being decertified as a birthmother; she thinks about how all the Vessels look identical but their personalities distinguish them. She and the girls discuss Nancy, who has delivered her third product and therefore has been reassigned to a job she wanted. Claire worries about her own future, asking another girl about her soreness and if she has a scar. Claire realizes she is the only one with a scar from childbirth. Claire gets called to the office to be told of her decertification. They assure her the problems were not her fault, and she asks after her Product, which she learns is number 36 but is completely healthy. A committee member makes a mistake and informs Claire that her Product is a boy. She is reassigned to the fish hatchery, and while she packs, thinks about her son.

Dmitri, Claire’s hatchery supervisor, issues her a bicycle, which she previously had not needed as a Birthmother. When she walks past the school, the children stare because most people are at their jobs. She looks at her old house, and thinks about how a new couple might live there now. She looks away from the Nurturing Center, wondering if 36 is there yet. She is both afraid and fascinated by the river that borders their community. When she reaches the Hatchery, she wonders if she will be assigned a spouse and eventually a Product as well. At night, Claire thinks about the other people she works with, especially wondering if one girl remembers that Claire was originally assigned to be a Birthmother. Claire thinks about her future in the Hatchery and how she will become friends with the other workers and quickly learn her new job. Another worker explains that Claire will be separating the live fish eggs from the dead ones, which have no eyes, to prevent contamination. Claire worries about 36. Claire tours the rest of the facility and eats with her coworkers, who discuss their activities during recreation time: “It was aimless, pleasant chat, but it served to remind Claire that she was freer than she had been in a long time. She could go for a walk after lunch, she thought, or in the evening” (25). Instead, Claire decides she wants to find Sophia, another girl her age who was assigned to the Nurturing Center, where 36 probably is.

Claire waits until the right time because she does not want to attract undue attention. She goes on a picnic with her coworkers, and they talk about where they would have preferred to have been assigned, rather than to the Hatchery. Claire talks about her brother, whom she no longer speaks to, but remains silent about her previous life as a Birthmother. They watch two schoolboys watch the supply boat come in; one comments about how he’d like to be a boat worker so he could see other places. Claire and her coworkers discuss what other communities might be like, but one girl reminds them that wondering is against the rules. They vaguely discuss traveling, and Claire thinks about how secret speculation cannot be controlled, beginning to plot her visit to the Nurturing Center.

Claire volunteers to collect the demonstration posters Dmitri loaned to the biology teacher, pretending that she has another errand to run so she can look for Sophia: “That wasn’t really a lie, she told herself. Lying was against the rules” (33). The biology teacher is slightly annoyed that Dmitri wanted the posters back so soon, and Claire thinks about her time spent at school. Claire’s old language teacher remembers her and is surprised to see her but refrains from asking about Claire’s apparent reassignment because it would be rude. Claire feels weird that she is back in the community again. She wonders about the lives of her parents and her older brother, imagining the secret disappointment her parents must have felt when she was assigned to be a Birthmother. Claire thinks about how her mother often tried to make the best of unappealing situations.

Claire goes to the Nurturing Center, thinking about how she refrained from volunteering there as a child because she did not like how much work infants were. Claire decides to lie again, offering the woman who works at the front desk of the Nurturing Center the biology posters that Claire alleges are extras to decorate the rooms. Luckily, the woman declines them, saying that all their decorations are specially calibrated to engage infants. Claire admits she has never toured the Center and asks after Sophia, and the receptionist immediately calls Sophia to give Claire a tour. Claire and Sophia chat about old classes and classmates; Claire realizes that Sophia has luckily forgotten that Claire was assigned to be a Birthmother. Sophia shows Claire the various groups, explaining the numbers associated with the newchildren correspond to when they were born that year. Claire had been number 11—the 11th newchild born in her year. Sophia describes how the eldest, numbers 1-10, can already walk, which makes them difficult. The newchildren are arranged in groups of ten, and only fifty are born every year. Sophia explains how the Nurturing Center keeps the newchildren until the Ceremony, where the newchildren are given to couples, because the couples want to be able to play with their children once they are assigned. Sophia introduces all the groups to Claire; 36’s group is last. Claire asks if she can go in, and one of the male workers suggests she help feeding them. The male worker explains how Claire can help burping the newchildren, and Claire looks for 36. 36 starts screaming, and the man asks Claire to pick 36 up, so he strops shrieking. Claire finds her maternal instincts and “gently Claire picked up her son” (47). 

Claire feels like both nothing and everything has changed, as she now only thinks of 36. At the Nurturing Center, Claire asks about the newchildren’s names, and the attendant discusses how 36 might be kept for another year because he is failing to thrive. The male attendant says he already knows 36’s name because he has been concerned about 36, but the male worker refuses to tell either the attendant or Claire 36’s name. Claire asks if she can continue visiting, which the workers notice as a weird request because only children volunteer; once you are assigned a job, you only work your assignments. Claire tries to play it off as though she has a lot of free time and just wants to help. The workers suggest she get official permission, which Claire knows she can’t do without arousing suspicion. However, 36 starts screaming, and the man says that on a casual basis, Claire can come and help. Claire feigns lightheartedness and leaves, but cannot stop thinking of 36.

Each family unit only gets two children and because Claire was the youngest, she had never interacted with infants before and finds her yearning for 36 to be a new feeling. She asks her coworkers about their siblings and whether it is usual to be fond of newchildren. Dmitri explains that infants of all species are born with big eyes and heads, as evolution has made them appealing to adults, thereby ensuring infant survival. He explains that it’s the same for most mammals, which no longer exist in their community because mammals are not needed for a healthy diet, nor are they efficient. Claire asks what people would do with pets, and Dmitri explains. Another worker talks about how no one in the community is lonely anymore, but Claire believes she is. Claire asks her other coworkers how attached their parents were to the infants, which surprises her coworkers, and Claire decides to stop thinking about 36.

Claire tries not to think about 36, but ends up dreaming about him; in one dream, she keeps him hidden in a drawer at work: “Secrecy was forbidden in the community, and the dream of the hidden newchild caused her to wake with a feeling of guilt and dread” (58). Children recount their dreams to their parents at breakfast, and sometimes Claire’s coworkers do the same, but Claire does not join in. Claire feels restless now, realizing she has never yearned for anything before, and more than anything wants her child.

Claire finds time to return to the Nurturing Center, even though she has been busy. Claire suggests to the male attendant that he ask to be assigned 36, even though he has a complete family. 36 screams, and Claire picks him up, walking him in the hall so that his screaming doesn’t wake the others. Claire sings and talks to him, thinking about stealing him from the NC. The male attendant compliments her on getting 36 to calm down, then waves to his son, who rides past on a bike. The male attendant explains that 36 refuses to sleep and will not be assigned a family at this year’s Ceremony, but that the male attendant takes him home with him at the end of the night so that 36 doesn’t affect the other newchildren’s sleep schedules. Claire finds a security bracelet around 36’s ankle, and the male attendant explains that an alarm would sound if 36 were to be removed from the building. The male attendant thinks that the precaution is silly because infants are too much work and no one would want to steal them: “Claire thought she heard the nurturer whisper a name. But she couldn’t quite make out what it was […] It sounded, she thought, like Abe” (64).

Claire volunteers to stay at the Hatchery while everyone else attends the Ceremony, even though she has missed the previous two Ceremonies because she was a Vessel. Because Claire knows 36 will not be assigned, she doesn’t care about missing the Naming and Placement of Newchildren, the Matching of Spouses, the rituals of growing older, or the Ceremony of Twelve, when children get their lifetime job assignments: “It seemed odd, the silence with everyone gone for the day” (68). She sees a supply boat dock and thinks about how the workers will have to wait to unload until after the Ceremony is over in two days. She finds herself wondering about the workers from Elsewhere, who dress and speak differently than her community members.

Claire’s coworkers discuss the disappointing lunch at the Ceremony and how all the children behaved. They also explain that Dmitri is upset because he was not assigned a spouse this year and might not be assigned one for several more years to come. One of the young men says that Dmitri only wants a spouse so he does not have to live in the dorms anymore. Dmitri agrees. Claire talks about the boatmen, and she and her coworkers discuss whether it is against the boatmen’s rules or their own to speak to each other. Claire briefly thinks about checking the huge lists of community rules to see if she can obtain a spouse, but then decides it is too much work. Claire curiously watches the boatmen smoke, wondering about their odd custom. Claire asks about the Naming of the Newchildren, and one girl admits that she was surprised to hear one boy being named after her father, who she did not know had died. Claire tries to make her coworker feel better by saying that they only reuse names of people they respect.

Restless, Claire takes a walk, wondering about the land beyond the forbidden bridge and the people who live there. On her walk, she feels pulled by an invisible force towards the NC, and finds the nurturer on his bicycle with 36 in a carrying basket. The nurturer admits he finally got 36 to sleep and is taking him home for the night. They make smalltalk about the Ceremony, and the nurturer admits that he is glad the Elders decided to let 36 stay in the NC because the nurturer feels 36 is special. The nurturer says he must go, because his son will be participating in the Ceremony of Twelve tomorrow. He asks Claire to come visit the NC soon, and Claire says she will.

The second day of the Ceremony takes longer because of the Ceremony of Twelve, which highlights accomplishments and outlines the assignments of all fifty 12-year-olds. When her coworkers return, they explain that the Chief Elder skipped 19, explaining that he has been selected for something to do with the Giver and Receiver, which no one has ever heard of before. Everyone called out the boy’s name in recognition: Jonas. While telling the story at dinner, Claire’s coworkers begin calling his name again, and everyone else nervously joins in. Then the buzzer signals the end of dinner, and everyone falls silent.

Claire takes another evening walk to the river; everyone else is too tired to accompany her. She thinks about how boring she finds the required Hatchery manual, although she has memorized one phrase that she repeats out loud. A boat worker asks her if she is speaking another language and she laughs, explaining herself. The boat worker walks beside her and they have a conversation. Claire asks him questions about the boat, mentioning all the rules her community has, and is surprised when the boat worker doesn’t understand living with so many rules. He relates a story about his father throwing him in a pond so that he could learn how to swim. Claire is abhorred that someone would treat their child so cruelly, and the boat worker mentions not wanting to swim in the river because it moves too quickly. Claire thinks about the child who died after falling into the river and how his parental units were chastised for their inattention; she thinks of how strange it is that this man now laughs about how his father treated him: “They chatted. He asked about her job and they discussed fish aimlessly for a while” (87).

The boat worker offers to give Claire a tour of the boat, but she doesn’t think she’s allowed to. The man talks about the sea; Claire does not know what the word means. He misunderstands her and starts talking about visibility. He wishes she could meet Marie, the ship’s cook, and talks about the differentiation between women’s work and men’s work, like boating. Claire is confused by this distinction. Claire suggests that maybe she take a tour of the boat another time, if the rules change. They say goodnight to each other, and Claire repeats the word, sea, to herself over and over, wondering what it means.

Claire finds every day the same and is only invigorated by the time she spends with 36, as no one in her community has any surprises in their lives. She finds the routine, rituals, and work to be inescapably dull. She thinks about Jonas being singled out, and wonders what he is doing differently. She can’t visit the NC because all the newchildren have been assigned and all the nurturers are on break or volunteering. Claire refrains from asking after 36, although she wants to. She sees the male nurturer on bike rides with a car seat on the back of his bike, and begins planning her walks so that she purposefully runs into him: “Finally her timing was right. There they were” (93). She makes conversation with the nurturer, trying not to look at 36, but then the nurturer mentions him and Claire sees that he is eating a leaf. The nurturer explains that he still takes him home every night, and his daughter wants to apply for a variance so that they can keep 36 for good, but his wife refuses. Claire asks if they can use his name in public, and the nurturer admits they use it at home, but can’t tell Claire what it is. Claire compliments the nurturer on his daughter’s name, and he says to be equal, he has to compliment his son, Jonas, on his name as well.

Claire has “arranged her days so that she would see them often, the man and the infant on the back of the bicycle” (96). The nurturer talks about how 36 is learning to walk at almost 10 months old. Claire advises caution, and the nurturer asks her to retrieve 36’s comfort object, a hippo he calls Po. The nurturer suggests that she stop by the NC to volunteer again because they just got a batch of newchildren.

She sees the boatworker again, although only from afar, because the boat docks and unloads quickly. The next time the supply boat comes, the boat-worker isn’t there, and Claire asks her coworker about him, but her coworker says that they change boatworkers all the time because the boatworkers decide if they want to stay or not. She sees a large, sarcastic woman with a stained apron, whom another worker calls Marie, and Claire explains to her coworker who Marie is. She asks her coworker if she would take a tour of their boat if offered, and her coworker responds as long as it is permitted. Claire wonders what the inside of the boat looks like and all the different hairstyles the boat workers have, which is so unlike the prescribed hairstyles of the community. Claire reflects on how Marie is larger than anyone else in the community, whose weights are all monitored, and thinks about how embarrassed her mother was when she was put on special weight-loss meals. Claire informs her coworker that she’s going outside, secretly to get a closer look at the boat, and her coworker gives her words of advice, to which Claire responds sassily, in the manner Marie would. Claire feels drawn to the boat just like she is drawn to the NC. She watches the boat crew work and leave, thinking about how boring her ordinary life is and deciding to go visit 36 tomorrow.

Claire teaches 1-year-old 36 to say her name, but the nurturer worries about 36’s refusal to sleep because then the community won’t know what to do with him, as they won’t be able to place him. Claire suggests the nurturer keep taking 36 home, but the nurturer says his wife is annoyed, although 36 sleeps in Jonas’s room. Claire thinks about offering to take him, but knows it would never be permitted and wonders why she feels such a strong attachment to him, when no one else in the community has these feelings. Claire says goodbye to 36, who waves at her happily, and Claire has to choke back tears: “More and more she despised her life […] She wanted only to be with the child […] It was not right to have these feelings, which were growing stronger as the weeks passed” (107). Claire occasionally sees Jonas, who looks preoccupied with worry. She remembers that Jonas had been selected at the Ceremony although she doesn’t know what that means. One day, she sees him ride his bicycle to the House of the Old. When she follows him, she sees a new building, the Annex, she’s never seen before and wonders if therein lies the reason for Jonas’s oddly-solemn behavior that may somehow be tied to his selection.

Claire watches her coworkers, finally realizing how differently she feels than they do, but no one else seems to notice. She thinks about their youthful joking and lighthearted foolishness, remembering how she and the other Vessels used to joke like that: “But here she had always felt separate. Different. It was hard to identify why” (112).

At breakfast, she notices that they are all taking pills, which she remembers being prohibited from as a Birthmother, although her family members all took these pills. Claire remembers asking the other Vessels about the pills, some of whom had been taking them before they were assigned as Birthmothers. One of the girls explained that the pills prevented her from feeling emotions or physical reactions to things. The other girls explained that Claire would be put on pills after she produces her first Product, and until she is ready to produce a second. One of the other vessels says that taking the pills prevents you from having fun. Now, Claire realizes that someone made a mistake: she should be taking pills, just like her coworkers. Claire realizes that she’d rather die than stop feeling connected to her son.

The Ceremony approaches as the supply boat docks on the river. Claire can’t believe how fast the time has flown. Claire tries to think of how she will continue her relationship with 36 after he’s been assigned to a couple, although she is concerned that he still does not sleep well because the community does not handle nonconformity well. She visits the NC, hoping to secretly learn 36’s placement. But the nurturer is very abrupt with her, which she chalks up to tension before the Ceremony. She tries to play with 36 but an attendant snatches him out of her arms and tersely tells her to play with another child, which Claire obliges. She listens to the nurturer angrily say that he has a headache and will leave early, planning to take 36 with him. The nurturer suggests Claire ride with him. He doesn’t speak for a while, then asks if Claire’s going to the Ceremony this year, admitting that 36 will not be assigned. Claire is confused and asks repeatedly where 36 will go. The nurturer refuses to answer but tells her to say goodbye and that 36’s name is not Abe. Stunned, Claire watches him bike away to his house.

Years later, Claire has trouble piecing together the shattered memories of what happened after. She remembers the supply boat had not yet left but alarm bells sounded, and everyone was looking for Jonas along the river. She remembers the nurturer telling her that Jonas took 36; then, “through the blurred confusion of the memories, she found that she was on the boat” (127). Marie hugs her and Claire knows they are going Elsewhere. A storm breaks out on the sea, and the men shove her out of the way. She slips and falls overboard into the sea, and that is the last thing that Claire remembers.