Chapter 2 of The Giver

In Chapter 2, we find out what "the ceremony" is all about. We learn that each age group has it's own ceremony where they receive whatever they may need for their new age. We also learn that The Ceremony of 12 is the most important because they give you your Assignment at that age. Their Assignment is a lot like what we would call their job. But, they get assigned what job would be right for them, in the real world, we have to pick for ourselves and that can be a very difficult decision-what you want to do with the rest of your life. So, Jonas is turning 12 in December and he is going to find out what his job will be for the rest of his life-until he goes to the house of old. The jobs are assigned by the Council of Elders who watched the children their whole lives and then decide what they would be best at.
We also learn that there is a job called a "birthmother". In this job, you give birth to 3 children over a time period of 3 years and then for the rest of your life, you have to do hard labor. We learn that this is not a respected duty. No one can have a child except for a birthmother.
In Chapter 2 we also learn that Jonas's father is a nurturer. His job is to look after newborns and make sure they are healthy. One of his newborns isn't too healthy, so the father thinks about bringing it home to help the newborn get better. Families are only allowed to have 2 children-one male and one female- so it would be a special occasion to bring this newborn into the household.