appalled by the deception of his community and by the elders' disregard for human life, jonas comes to believe that everyone should have memories of the past. eventually, the giver and jonas decide that the only way to help the community is for jonas to travel past the border of their land into the area called "elsewhere". doing this would release memories and color back into the community. when jonas tries to leave his neighborhood, he encounters asher. asher tries to stop jonas, but jonas punches him. jonas retrieves gabriel—who is to be "released" for having failed to meet developmental markers—at the nurturing center; fiona kisses jonas and helps him escape with gabriel.