Whereas the nightly sharing of feelings is intended to explain away and resolve the emotions of the day, Jonas learns that the most important emotions are those that cannot be explained or discussed but only felt, such as intense pleasure and pain. Jonas must learn the physical and emotional feelings of life. At times they are happy and at times they can be unbearably painful. Yet, by the end of the novel, Jonas has learned to embrace the full range of human emotion, including to an extent the negative ones, and he allows his emotions and instinct to inform his actions. In contrast, the other citizens of the community, such as Fiona and Jonas's father, have not learned to allow their emotions to reveal their character and help them develop a sense of right and wrong, so they feel no guilt at delivering lethal injections as part of their jobs.