The Chosen By Chaim Potok Essays - American Literature, Literature

The Chosen by Chaim Potok One of the most emotional scenes from Chaim Potoks The Chosen is when Reuven goes with Danny Saunders to talk to his father. Danny has a great mind and wants to use it to study psychology, not become a Hasidic tzaddik. The two go into Reb Saunders study to explain to him what is going to happen, and before Danny can bring it up, his father does. Reb Saunders explains to the two friends that he already known that Reuven is going to go for his smicha and Danny, who is in line to become the next tzaddik of his people, will not. This relates to the motif of Individuality and the theme of Dannys choice of going with the family dynasty or to what his heart leads him. The most developing character from the novel is Reuven Malter. One of the ways that he developes in the novel is in hus understanding of friendship. His friendship with Dfanny Saunders is encouraged by his father, but he is wary of it at first because Danny is a Hasid, and regards regular Orthodox Jews as apikorsim because of the teachings of his father. Reuven goes from not being able to have a civil conversation with Danny to becoming his best friend with whom he spens all of his free time, studies Talmud and goes to college. Reuven truly grows because he leans, as his father says, what it is to be a friend. Another way that Reuven grows is that he learns to appreciate different people and their ideas. He starts out hating Hasidim because its the pious thing to do, even though his father (who I see as the Atticus Finch of this novel) keeps telling him that its okay to disagree with ideas, but hating a person because of them is intolerable. Through his friendship with Danny, studies with Reb Saunders, brief crush on Dannys sister (who was never given a name), and time spent in the Hasidic community, he learns that Hasids are people too with their own ideas and beliefs that are as valuable as his. He learns why they think, act, speak, and dress the way that they do and comes to grips with the fact that he doesnt have a monopoly on virtue. A third way in which Reuven grows, though the book doesnt really talk about it a great deal, is in his appreciation of life, or chaim in Hebrew. He almost loses his vision, his father nearly works himself to death, six million Jews are butchered in Europe, and Dannys brothers poor health threatens Dannys choice to not become a tzaddik. When his eye is out of order he cant read, and indeed does remark that its very difficult to live without reading, especially with a voracious appetite for learning such as his. His father almost dies twice and he talks about how difficult it is to live all alone in silence (which is a metaphor alluding to Dannys everyday life) for the month while his father is in the hospital. He sees Reb Saunders and his father feeling the suffering of the six million dead, Saunders by crying and being silent, David Malter by working for the creation of a Jewish state and being a leader in the movement, in addition to teaching at a yeshiva and adult education classes. And of course Danny is very worried by his brothers illness (hemophillia?) because if he dies it will be even harded for Danny to turn down his tzaddikship. By the end of the book, Reuven Malter is a very changed character. Potok is an expert with using allusion and metaphor. Very subtly throughout the book he uses this for the purposes of renforcing his points, foreshadowing, and to make the book a better read when youve read it previously and know the outcome. One example of this, one that I missed the first time I read the book in 7th grade is the paragraph at the end of chapter nine where Reuven is sitting on his porch and sees a fly trapped in a spiders web with the arachnid builder approaching. He blows on the fly, first softly, and then more