The Ending of The Giver      

 Lois Lowry has never revealed to anyone what the ending of The Giver actually is. She herself didn't really think of one. Someone asked her how the ending of the book really happened and all Lois Lowry said was this, "It ends with Jonas and Gabriel going downhill in a sled toward a house with welcoming lights. Ho ho ho. Aren't I a mean author, not to be more specific? I like it when you argue. It makes you think." Some people think Jonas dies and is going to heaven. Some people thinks he made it to an actually house and him and Gabe survived. When another person mentioned the ending she just said that either are correct. Lois Lowry wants people to be able to debate about her book. She has succeeded in doing so.
      I personally think that Jonas and Gabe both slide down to a neighborhood where there are people celebrating Christmas who take them in and save them. So in my opinion Jonas lives. Jonas never received the memory of music, so how did he hear it. He didn't remember it so obviously people must have actually been playing music meaning that was there were people waiting for Jonas and Gabe. Some people think that the "elsewhere" was heaven and Jonas and Gabe died and were on their way to heaven, but I disagree with that theory. I or anyone else will never know if Jonas lives or die because Lois Lowry never really thought of an ending. So I will just have to live without knowing the truth.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lois-lowry-interview-transcript
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/1789/the-giver