“The way of the fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.” In his novella, The Chosen, Chaim Potok describes two contrasting Jewish families in the 1930’s and 40’s. As members of a moderate Jewish sect, the Malters practice their religion with reverence, but also avail themselves of modern entertainment forbidden by strict Jews, such as watching a film at the theater. Contrastingly, the Saunders lead the Hasid sect in the area, one of the most conservative and strict orders. Quiet Reb Saunders displays, zeal, sorrow, and contemplation while guiding his flock of Hasid Jews.…
The Chosen is a phenomenal book so far. In this novel, I can really appreciate Chaim Potok’s creative mind. I find it so interesting how hate can turn to friendship. I also find it interesting that two Jews living in the same area can hate each other. How do two young men who come from similar backgrounds…hate each other? The author does a wonderful job of explaining how they do not believe in exactly the same things, but indeed are similar. Danny’s family is more “traditional” while Reuven’s family is more “modern”, but both are Jews living in a relatively tense time.…
In Proverbs 18:15 “The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.” In the book The Chosen by Chaim Potok, The similarities or the characters through the entirety of the book, in the book, David, Danny, and Reuven all share the love for knowledge and wanting to know more and more every day about everything and anything they can get their hands on. The love and pursuit of knowledge with these three men is a very interesting, in how much they love to learn and they want for more and more knowledge.…
“The Chosen” by Chaim Potok inspires a story of a relationship between two friends. In the novel Potok shows the change in motives that the main characters build up to make new connections. The protagonist, Reuven Malter experiences changes that later on will have an effect at the end. Communication and relationships were very important in the novel as it played a major role. The author shows a motive for each character in the novel. The novel also shows that the quote “True happiness consists not in multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice” can be stated as the theme for the book.…
Chaim Potok in his novel, The Chosen, uses parallels between characters to compliment one another by sharing knowledge and contrasting one another. There are two particular characters that are especially prominent. Reuven and Danny are both raised as American Jews and are the same age, at times they build and learn off of one another as they grow up together. Danny’s photographic memory makes memorizing things easy, but at times he struggles with other subjects. Potok writes, “Two blatt?…
The Chosen is a novel written by Chaim Potok that centers around two Jewish teens growing up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940s, and their struggle to reach adulthood and determine what their personal beliefs and goals are. Through a conflict revolving around the relationship between a father and son, supporting details about the life and beliefs of members of the Jewish community during the 1940s, and by describing the growth of a character through the eyes of his best friend, the author illustrates the importance of relying on loved ones during hard times.…
Chaim Potok’s book The Chosen takes place in the 1940s and is the story of two boys trying to become and stay friends even though they are from two different Jewish sects. It is not that To Kill a Mockingbird is an awful or terrible book. While reading To Kill a Mockingbird, readers will enjoy a well-written book, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and a classic. Yet, high school students will relate more to the two main characters of The Chosen as they are 15 and in high school at the beginning of the story. The Chosen stands apart from To Kill a Mockingbird by reason of Potok’s writing style, the developed characters, and the story line.…
Throughout relationships, it is conflict and resolution that brings two people closer together. The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, focuses on this idea of enhancing companionships with differences. Throughout the novel, there are various types of relationships which all go through a conflict of some sort that needs to be solved in order to survive the bump in the road. Reuven and Danny at first hate each other but then grow to like each other when they learn how much they have in common. The Malters, Reuven and David, have a strong and healthy connection including many lessons from his dad. The Saunders, Danny and Reb have a harsher relationship but Danny later finds out it is out of love and teachable moments. Chaim Potok suggests that relationships need conflict to develop and strengthen.…
“…Endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” This verse, Romans 5:4, explains the importance of good character. A person’s character, as defined by The American Heritage Student Dictionary, is the combination of qualities or features that makes one person, group, or thing different from another. In The Chosen, author Chaim Potok describes the personality of all of the characters skillfully. Danny, the son of Reb Saunders, demonstrates interesting characteristics. His intelligence, athleticism, and composure all distinguished him from the rest of the characters.…
Hardships sorrowfully fall on every one, whether it be your age or size. Handling these hardships takes respect, kindness, and perseverance to both who withstand and overcome these difficult obstacles. In Chaim Potok`s The Chosen, a young man Revun Malter represents a character of a true role model. He intelligibly shows strong signs of honor, sympathy, and courage when dealing with these such problems, and uses his finest ability to correct learn from his mistakes. Therefore, each and every day Revun has to make big steps to construct himself to become a fine young man. Throughout the book, Revun inspires to act as an honorable son and person and help his friends and family through these hard times and occurring hardships. He leads himself by respecting others, acting kindly, and asking God for perseverance to help him become a trustworthy role model.…
Sometimes, life appears backwards. Loving, caring people have terrible things happen to them, while others practice wickedness and seem to get away with it. In his novel The Chosen, Chaim Potok provides such a character: a sweet, innocent boy named Billy who has a sad story. Throughout his small part in the book, Billy demonstrates joy in the midst of blindness and a rough family situation. While recovering from his injury in the hospital, the young boy makes a lasting impression on Reuven, the main character, with his kind heart and sunny personality. Even though he could choose to turn angry or bitter over the sad events of his life, Billy decides to display kindness, optimism, and innocence during his stay in the hospital.…
Throughout life we adapt and change depending on societal norms, our environment, and many other aspects that influence us. Adolescence is a critical time in our lives, where we are first introduced to the real world and prepare ourselves for the future. Whether it be a teen who joins a new group of friends to experiment what it’s like to be an outcast, a teen who runs away and gets out of his comfort zone to figure out how he will deal with growing up, or a hermaphrodite who learns to accept who he is and is not willing to change himself to be normal. We will always have to be adapt to the situations we are put in and accept who we become. In many works of literature, the adolescent change as they mature…
Transitions to adulthood are usually positive events, be they quinceneras, bat mitzvahs, or just getting older. Most people see transitioning into adulthood as something beautiful and amazing. Unfortunately, what people fail to understand is that not everyone’s life is exactly the same, and we all manage to fall into that assumption that it happens at the same time for everyone, and nobody ever comes out with any negative results.…
Jeffrey Arnett presents 4 main reasons as to why she believes society has placed a negative label upon today’s emerging adults. The first one reflects the notion that the average time for adolescents to take on adult roles has changed dramatically over the past three decades. Today’s emerging adults have taken this time of life to continue developing themselves and building a stronger independent foundation rather than binding relationships, which in turn appears “selfish” to most adults. The second possible reason for the negative outlook of adolescents embodies the idea that the time emerging adults take to become more self-aware is now seen as worldwide suffering. The confusion and disorientation that tends to come along with exploring one’s identity, often tends to be misinterpreted as “suffering.” A third potential reason for disparaging todays youth is due to their expectation of work to not only be a source of income but also an exhilarating experienced that is tied to their identity. Emerging adults today aspire to work in an environment that offers fun and creativity, contrary to the popular belief of 21st century adults.…
According to Erik Erikson, adolescence is marked by the child’s questioning his or her identity during what he refers to as the identity versus identity confusion developmental stage. During this phase, the adolescent becomes mindful of his or her identity and seeks his or her purpose in life, as well as the answer to the eternal question, “who am I?” In their quest to find their sense of self, adolescents experiment with different personalities and roles. Some teenagers display rebellious behavior, which is normal, as they experience a flood of countless emotions. The teens that are able to cope with the differing identities are able to form a new identity that they can accept. On the other hand, those who cannot cope during this experimental period suffer what Erikson calls identity confusion, where they either withdraw themselves from everyone else, or they lose themselves in their peers.…