What are Jonas's inner desires in The Giver?

Jonas’s inner desires do change throughout the novel The Giver by Lois Lowry. As a child, it would appear that his inner desires align with those of everyone else (all the other "contributing citizen[s]") in the community where he lives—namely, to uphold the community standards and expectations for its members. For instance, Jonas understands and is taught from a young age that to be "released" from the community, in the jargon thereof, is a very negative thing, "a final decision, a terrible punishment, an overwhelming statement of failure," and when he jokes about it as a child, he is firmly reprimanded and feels "guilt and embarrassment" (2–3) accordingly at not having acted in a way that aligned with his inner desires (his integrity, if you will) to behave as a citizen would behave.Just before he becomes a Twelve, Jonas surveys his younger sister, Lily, with something like disapproval for the fact that she seems not to take the rules of the community very seriously, such as this one: "ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER TO FEMALES UNDER NINE THAT HAIR RIBBONS ARE TO BE NEATLY TIED AT ALL TIMES." Jonas looks at Lily and sees "to his satisfaction that her hair ribbons were, as usual, undone and dangling" (23). That he feels satisfied by having affirmed her apparent disregard for the community rules seems to indicate that he prides himself on being a rule-follower.More than anything, though, perhaps what Jonas most desires inside is to understand, to comprehend the ways of the community and why things are the way that they are. Most people in the community take everything for granted: the rules, the jargon, the expectations. Jonas, however, ends up pressing back against that single-mindedness in pursuit of his desire to really "get" the community, its setup, and what goes on there. For example, he asks Larissa, one of the Old, "What happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?" (32), referring to one of the Old whose release had been celebrated (release is celebratory for the Old, disappointing for the Newchildren, and a disgrace for anyone else). It seems to matter to him, more than to almost anyone else in the novel, to be able to grasp the why behind the existence he has known all his life and not only to be content with taking it for granted as the rest do.