Wednesday, January 11, 2017

What happened when the woman was released?

I am unsure of which "woman" the question is referring to.  It's possible that the question is referring to Edna.  She is an elderly woman who Jonas doesn't interact with during the events of the novel.  Jonas is told by Larissa that Edna was released recently.  Larissa says that the "telling" was nice, but it was also boring enough that people fell asleep during it.  After the telling, Edna was released.  
The woman in the question could also be Larissa.  Jonas finds out from Fiona that Larissa was released, and he is told that it was a "wonderful ceremony."  At this point in the novel, Jonas still doesn't know what release actually is, so he thinks that Larissa is off somewhere in the "Elsewhere" enjoying a "quiet and serene" life. 
The woman in the question might also be Rosemary, but I don't think so.  She wouldn't be classified as a woman yet.  She's the previous receiver of memory, so she was young when she was released.  
In all three cases, the end result of "release" is the same.  Jonas finally comes to realize that release doesn't mean removal from the community to live somewhere else.  When someone is released, they are killed by lethal injection.  What happened to each possible woman is that each woman was killed. 

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