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Bluefard Annotated Bibliography

Decent Essays

Annotated bibliography
Bluefard, Sam. “The Head, the Heart, and the Conflict of Generations. In Chaim Potok’s The Chosen.” Children’s Literature Review. Ed. Scot Peacock. Vol. 92. Detroit: Gale, 2004.

In his review, Bluefard talks about the differences that the two Jewish families have. One family are Hasidic Jews and the other Orthodox. Bluefard states that the Hasidic Jews (Danny’s family) revert to earlier scholasticism, mostly used in Europe, by teaching through “silence.” Basically meaning that he doesn’t speak of anything but religion and scholastic subjects. Bluefard talks about how strict Danny’s Hasidic father is and how Danny is forced and pressured into being a Rabbi, thus influencing Danny to rebel. The Orthodox Jews on the other hand, are quite the opposite. Bluefard talks about how Reuven’s father is much nicer, more open, and understanding. He lets Reuven be what he wants to become, and is not pressured. Bluefard says that the difference between the fathers is from “their respective visions toward the holocaust” (Bluefard, 2) …show more content…

Malter and Reb Saunders (the fathers of the two boys) differ from each other. Abramson says that the malters are more “Americanized” by taking part in scientific studies, organizing a baseball league (a popular american sport), and becoming zionists. The Saunders's are “un-Americanized” according to Abramson because they use a more traditional Eastern European method of teaching. Reb Saunders is the opposite of Mr. Malter because Mr. Malter is very open to discussion whereas Reb Saunders prefers to teach in “silence.” Using an older, stricter method of learning, this pressures Danny and makes him even “scared” to talk to his father. Abramson also talks about despite their different fathers, the two boys have a lot in common and share an important set of ideals. Abramson also talks a lot about other critic’s reviews on the novel, and a bit on the movie based on this

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