The Chosen
Inflective and Forward Personalities
In Chaim Potok’s The Chosen, two contrasting characters are introduced—Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders. They are opposites. While Reuven is forward—speaking his mind, Danny Saunders shows a stark contrast—an inflective soul, listening to silence, and growing from it. These characters set the stage for a lasting relationship to form, to be strengthened, and to be stressed.
Danny’s father’s name is Reb Saunders. The tzaddik of a small community within close proximity of Reuven’s home, he was born in Russia and later brought his congregation to America. When Danny is speaking to Reuven, he tells him the story of this occurrence.
“They bribed their way though Russia, Austria, France, Belgium, and England. Five months later, they arrived in New York City.”
This was the original catalyst for the relationship between Reuven and Danny. If Reb hadn’t brought his congregation to America, ever, Danny and Reuven would not have met in anything close to the same circumstances.
When introducing the reader to the novel, Reuven explains why the inter-parish softball leagues were formed by the Jewish parochial schools after World War II.
“…America’s entry into the Second World War and the desire this bred on the part of some English teachers in the Jewish parochial schools to show the gentile world that yeshiva students were as physically fit, despite there long hours of study, as any other American student. They went about probing this by organizing the Jewish parochial schools in and around our area into competitive leagues, and once every two weeks the schools would compete against one another in a variety of sports.”
This was the second factor in the friendship. It would be unlikely for the matter of a soft-ball league to be considered on the part of Reb Saunders if he had not seen any particular reason.
On Danny’s second visit to the hospital, Danny and Reuven talk about matters of common interest. While on the topic of the baseball game, Reuven asks how he learned to hit a ball. “‘I practiced,’ he said. ‘You don’t know how many hours I spent learning how to field and hit a baseball.’” After this statement is avowed, Danny makes the comment to Reuven that he could have ducked the ball. Reuven responds with:
“I remembered the fraction of a second when I had brought my glove up in front of my...
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...arefully of what you will say. Think what your father’s questions will be. Think what he will be most concerned about…’”
When David persistently asks Danny questions as Danny half-answers, anxiety is created as the significance of the questions is revealed.
All of these factors put stress on the relationship, initially, and in the end strengthened it. The first mentioned, was the difference between Danny and Reuven’s religions. Although they were both Jewish, the novel shows that there were perceptible differences. The next mentioned was Reuven’s inability to understand “listening to silence”. Although Reuven may not have seen significance, Danny found silence to be very important, even related to wisdom. The final stressor mentioned was David’s methodological questioning of Danny at the end of the novel. It created tension in an already stressful situation, although helpful.
Danny and Reuven’s friendship built throughout The Chosen had the roots to last a lifetime. It was apparent that Danny originally needed a friend and Reuven turned out to be the right one. Also, their fathers recognized this lasting friendship. So, each would most likely encourage it in the future.
In the novel, The Chosen, Chaim Potok successfully captures the strange customs of a Jewish community through wit and satire. Potok's novel focuses on two Jewish boys, who live in a world where their families expect high standards of achievement of them. The wish to become an insightful leader in the Jewish community was an always-predominant custom of the two families. But with hard work and perseverance, the two boys (Rueven and Danny), find out that they really are, and what lives they will lead in the future. The novel concentrates on the desire to conceive a person's personal wants while conforming to tradition.
During the final conversation between Reb Saunders, Danny, and Reuven, Reb Saunders defends his method of raising Danny by noting that, “...I did not want my Daniel to become like my brother...Better I should have no son at all than have a brilliant son with no soul” (285). Reb Saunders assumes that if Danny were raised in silence, then he would obtain a soul unlike Reb Saunders’ brother who did not have one. Reb Saunders raises Danny in isolation due to his assumption that having intellect without a soul would make a person indifferent and uncaring. By only wanting what he presumes is most beneficial for Danny, Reb Saunders forms a barrier between him and a meaningful relationship with Danny. This approach of bringing up a child is the only one that Reb Saunders has previous knowledge and he realizes that, “..a wiser father... may have done differently. I am not... wise” (288). Once Reb Saunders understands the consequences of his irrational decision, it is too late to make amends. Silence strains their relationship and forces both Danny and Reb Saunders to become depressed and miserable. Despite raising Danny with good intentions, Reb Saunders feels remorse for not establishing an affectionate relationship with his son while he still had the chance. Furthermore, Reb Saunders yearns for Danny to become a tzaddik and tries fulfills his desire through restrained communication between his son. If Reb Saunders had created a lasting relationship with Danny then the same hope could have been achieved. For Danny to become a tzaddik without feeling compassion during his lifetime is difficult to demand. It may have been possible for Danny to develop the traits that his father requires of him if he was raised in a nurturing environment. Overall, Reb Saunders’ rationalization of his parenting technique is rendered useless as he comprehends what an ill-advised approach it
The relationship between the two fathers and the two sons is a very important theme in this book. Because of their different backgrounds, Reb Saunders and David Malters approached raising a child from two totally different perspectives. Despite the obvious differences in the two men’s beliefs, both did what they thought was right for their sons. Reb Saunders was a Hasidic tzaddik and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. He raised Danny in silence, hoping to teach him to listen to silence, to learn compassion, and to develop a soul to go with his mind. Unless it had to do with religious studies, Reb never had an actual conversation with Danny after the age of 3. Reb wanted Danny to find things out for himself. On the other hand, Reuven’s father, Mr. Malters, felt it very important that he had good and frequent communication between himself and his son. The two would sometimes talk for hours about life, different religions, friends and anything else Reuven would want to ...
A silence exists between Reuven and Danny’s fathers as they never actually speak to each other, instead Reuven acts as the middleman between them. Reb Saunder’s gut reaction upon hearing David Malter’s speech on Zionism is to split Danny and Reuven like an atom, and a nuclear reaction occurs. Reuven wants to get into fights and scream at the anti-Zionists, and after his father’s heart attack Reuven has no one. “For the first few days the total silence inside the hospital was impossible for me to take….my schoolwork began to suffer.” (243) In his lonely apartment he labors studying the Talmud hoping one day that Rav Garshenson will call upon him in class to exhibit his knowledge and break the silence. Even Reuven’s father is silent when asked about the reasoning between the silence between Reb and Danny. Showing his dislike towards Reb, Reuven gives Reb the silent treatment by repeatedly declining invitations come over on the Shabbat. Silence is an unimaginable concept to Reuven, but it becomes a reality when only his thoughts accompany him due to the absence of his father and best
As the story evolves, Danny and Reuven become very good friends. This is a highlight for Danny, given that he has never had a close friend before Reuven. Danny has lived a very lonely life. He has not had any friends because he feels that no understands him. Reuven's father realizes Danny's loneliness, and gives Reuven some fatherly advice. He comments, "Reb Saunders' son is a terribly torn and lonely boy. There is literally no one in the world he can talk to. He needs a friend." (pg. 110) David Malter continues by saying, "The accident with the baseball has bound him to you and he has already sensed in you someone he can talk to without fear. I am very proud of you for that." (pg. 110) Reuven's father expresses his confidence to his son very openly which is an important aspect in comparing with Danny and his father's relationship.
During those five days, Danny came to visit Reuven and told him he was sorry. Reuven accepted his apology and they began to talk about different things. They became friends and kept seeing each other after Reuven got out of the hospital. One day Reuven went over to Danny’s house to meet his father. Danny’s father was a rabbi and raised his son by means of silence. They never talked except when they studied the Torah together. Reuvens’s father was a Zionist and Danny’s father was an anti-Zionist so neither was fond of the other but allowed Danny and Reuven to still be friends. Because Danny’s father was a rabbi, it was Danny’s inherited trait to also one day become a rabbi and take his father’s place. Danny, how ever, wanted to be a psychologist not a rabbi. Reuven did not have to be a rabbi but wanted to be one.
In all of their conversations, Mr. Malter seeks to pass his moral wisdom onto Reuven. At the beginning of the novel, after Reuven refuses to listen to Danny’s apology, his father visits him at the hospital to discuss his ignorance: “‘You did a foolish thing, Reuven,’ he told me [Reuven] sternly. ‘You remember what the Talmud says. If a person comes to apologize for having hurt you, you must listen and forgive him’” (96). Reuven’s father teaches him about applying the Talmud to his daily life and about becoming a better person. After Reuven and Danny begin to become friends, Reuven begins to look at the baseball game in retrospective. He tells his father he is shocked how such a strong friendship can emerge from such a meaningless occurrence. His father replies, “‘Reuven, as you grow older you will discover that the most important things that will happen to you will often come as a result of silly things, as you call them‘ordinary things’ is a better expression. That is the way the world is’” (110). Mr. Malter shares his wisdom of Jewish morals and way of life with Reuven so he may pass his knowledge on to his children, or perhaps his future followers. Mr. Malter tries to pass more wisdom to Reuven as the ...
Family is another big chunk of one's identity. Reb Saunders identity is changed through many experiences of his brother. This not only affects him but affects Danny as well, seeing as he was raised on his uncle's mistakes, "Reuven, I did not want my Daniel to become like my brother." His brothers mistakes challenged Reb to step up and follow in his fathers legacy, and when his son is caught in the same position it affects how he was treated. Family is also what you are taught by and things can be both beneficial and non. When first meeting Reb Saunders, Reb asks Reuven, "And you know Hebrew. A son of David Malter surely knows Hebrew." (Potok pg. 121) A normal child may not understand Hebrew, but in Reuven's case because his father is very religious he does. Your knowledge of the world is very much part of your identity and your family definitely affects that.
The way in which Reb Saunders and David Malter raise their children reflect the conflict between tradition and modernity in this story. David Malter raises Reuven with a modern approach. He encourages Reuven to learn about the modern world as well as hold on to his religion. Reb Saunders to shelter Danny from modern ideas. With the exception of teaching Danny about the Talmud, he raises Danny in silence. He has his own reasons for raising Danny this way. “I did not want to drive him away from God, but I did not want him to grow up a mind without a soul” (Page 266). Reb Saunders raises his son through a tradition that has been in his family for a long time. However, he accomplishes his goal. His method of raising his son is dramatically different from David Malter’s modern practice. The results are also different. Danny has gone through much more pain and suffering than Reuven, and he chooses to carry on this practice if he must. Modernity and tradition present in the different ideas of these men influences the lives and ideas of their children as well.
The source of Danny’s rage towards Jews seems to stem from his lack of respect for their passivity in regard to their worship of God and their lifestyle choices. From the opening scene, where Abraham’s submission to God is voiced by Danny as an extremely embarrassing base for Judaism, to the sensitivity meetings where the seeming indifference of the Jewish father over the death of his 3 year old son at the hands of the Nazis enrages Danny, he perceives Jews to suffer with no attempt to oppose their persecution. As a child Danny even says, “all that Jews are good at is being afraid, at being sacrificed...
It is during these discussions that they begin to learn more about each other. "For the first fifteen years of our lives, Danny and I lived within five blocks of each other and neither of us knew of the other 's existence." (Potok 1). Danny tells Reuven about his secret reading in the library and the man that recommends books for him. The boys realize that the mysterious man is in Reuven’s father.
...petitive sports can cause lasting harm and have no benefits for these children (Statsky 627), then examples of how childhood competition negatively affected individuals years after the fact would go a long way to proving her accusation. As Statsky's thesis rests on the assumption that adult imposition of competition and organization in children's sports makes the games neither satisfactory nor beneficial to the children, then lack of benefit must be shown along with lack of satisfaction. The existence of unsatisfied child athletes in organized sports is no indication that children are somehow unsuited to competition and team sports.
Sports programs have been an integral part of all schools. They support the academics of the school and therefore foster success in life. These programs are educational and help produce productive citizenship. They help students experience and build skills that may help them in their future, like interpersonal and time management skills. Education may kindle the light of knowledge, but sports help to maintain the proper physique. Sports are also an important means of entertainment and a use for energy after long hours of study. Sports increase a student’s performance not only in the classroom but also in their life.
The baseball game would never have occurred, the baseball would not have potentially blinded Reuven, and he and Danny would never have become friends. Despite the oppression faced by the Jews, the act of proving oneself to the world was obviously felt by the Jews through the example of organized athletics. The excitement of the baseball game, however, was never matched throughout the remainder of the book. Not only do the ideals of the two sects separate each from the other but also the clothing was completely different. The Hasidic Jews, from the creation of Hasidism in the thirteenth century to the time of the novel in the mid-twentieth century, had a constant uniform to differentiate their sect: …
In one historical moment from Pamela Grundy's book Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North Carolina, she writes about men's college athletics between 1880 and 1901. Grundy states that "metaphors of competition gained new prominence, particularly among the members of the state's expanding middle class, which was coming to dominate public affairs" (Grundy, 12). Male college students living in North Carolina began to excel in organized athletics during this time period. "The contests on the field seemed to mirror the competitive conditions prevailing in the society at large, and the discipline, self-assertion and reasoned strategy that sports were credited with teaching meshed neatly with the qualifies required for business and political success" (Grungy, 13). People who supported athletics wholeheartedly believed it taught good values such as discipline and good character, while there were some who opposed this saying that sports were a distraction for students and thus a hindrance to their educational goals. White college men perceived athletics as a way to show their superiority and justify their presence in business as well as politics. They believed athletic sports were essential in their "vision o...