As the protagonist , Jonas, learns that his society has destroyed the humanity of its members, we discussed how and why both Jonas' father and Jonas' best friend are able to murder fellow members of the community without remorse . This led to an interesting class discussion- initiated by Atticus - as to how politicians likewise manipulate citizens to behave irrationally and destructively. We then read through Jonas' plan of escape after which Atticus wrote a summary of the plan using the phrases:" first, second, next ,and last."