Eye color is an interesting phenomenon in Lois Lowry's The Giverbecause no one can see color at all, anyway. They can discriminate between contrasts with shading--lights and darks--but they don't know colors. In chapter three, the baby Gabriel comes to stay nights with Jonas's family and Lily notices that he has "funny eyes" (20). She says the word "funny" because she has no other words to describe the difference between the light shade in...
Eye color is an interesting phenomenon in Lois Lowry's The Giver because no one can see color at all, anyway. They can discriminate between contrasts with shading--lights and darks--but they don't know colors. In chapter three, the baby Gabriel comes to stay nights with Jonas's family and Lily notices that he has "funny eyes" (20). She says the word "funny" because she has no other words to describe the difference between the light shade in his eyes and her dark eyes. Lily further mentions that Gabriel's eyes look like Jonas's, which makes him feel awkward for being different. The text then explains that everyone in the community has dark eyes except for a limited few, such as Jonas. He even describes his eyes as "pale." Again, he does not know the names of different types of colors, so he can only use words associated with shading.
Lily does say that maybe Jonas and Gabriel have the same birth-mother, which is a very profound connection to make for a seven year-old girl. Other people, though, wouldn't say anything to Jonas about the shade of his eyes because that is a personal comment to make, and it would be considered rude. But if Lily notices that Jonas's eyes are lighter than everyone else's, then others might have noticed, but out of respect, simply have never said anything about it.
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