The Power of Chaim Potok’s The Chosen

The Power of The Chosen

Throughout the book, 'The Chosen', Chaim Potok used the way of the Jewish lifestyle to teach his readers of the Jewish people. Potok used a variety of techniques including diction where he introduced Jewish terms, the theme of silence, and conflict between father and son to make the novel appealing. Furthermore, this novel tells us of the life of Jews and their commitment to religion; "We are commanded to study His Torah! We are commanded to sit in the light of the Presence! It is for this that we were created!

Chaim Potok has an outstanding way of using descriptive words to understand a situation. After Reuven reached home form the hospital he presented me with this depiction, " I stood in that room for a long time, watching the sunlight and listening to the sounds on the street outside. I stood there, tasting the room and the sunlight and the sounds, and thinking of the long hospital ward. . .. I wondered if little Mickey had ever seen sunlight come though the windows of a front room apartment. . .. somehow, everything had changed. I had spent five days in a hospital and the world around seemed sharpened now and pulsing with life." Potok right away uses his attention to detail to tell the appreciation of perception through his character Reuven Malter. Finally, I have found a book where the words speak to the reader and enlighten the reader through words not known.

Next, Potok introduces his theme of silence. Silence in this novel serves as both the theme and a conflict between characters. Potok shows us that like Reuven Malter, Danny Saunders life in silence develops a high respect of physical senses. Danny says this about his silence, "My father taught me with silence. . .to look into myself, to find my own strength, to walk around inside myself in company with my soul. . .. One learns of the pain of others by suffering one's own pain ... by turning inside oneself. . .. It makes us aware of how frail and tiny we are and of how much we must depend upon the Master of the Universe.