How does the Giver change throughout the story?

The title character of Lois Lowry's The Giver is a seemingly old man living in a dystopian society where he is the Receiver of Memory. He holds all memories of the past, including everything ranging from the wonderful feeling of a Christmas morning to the horrible pain of war, and he advises the community's elders using his great amount of knowledge.
Throughout the course of the book, eleven-year-old Jonas, the protagonist, is chosen as the new Receiver of Memory due to his unique abilities. Therefore, the old Receiver becomes the Giver, passing the community's memories down to Jonas.
We learn a good deal about the Giver and his personal past during the course of the book, but there is one main change that happens with his character. At first, the Giver is adamant that the entire community should not be given the burden of the memories and that one person alone should continue to bear them. However, the more Jonas talks about the possibility of creating a better community by sharing the memories, the more the Giver is willing to try Jonas's plan to escape the community and consequently disperse the memories.