Danny Hucker

Silence is hard for Danny and Reuven. Because of the silence, Danny wasn’t able to properly communicate.in “the chosen” by Chaim Potok it Reuven’s father says, “Reb Saunders son is a terribly lonely boy. There is literally no one he could talk to.”(110). The way Danny was raised made him feel like he can’t depend on people and ask for help. The silence also hurt Reuven in his college grades and his attitude. “It was an ugly time and it began to affect

At the beginning of the novel, their whole friendship wouldn't have started if one, Reuven didn't listen to his urging father and forgave Danny, and two, if Danny didn't stubbornly persist in visiting Reuven in the hospital, where he patiently waited for him to vent his anger. "Also, yesterday I hated him; now we were calling each other by our first names. I sat and

To the South is the Mississippi River. To the North is highway 61. West of Nahant Mash is highway 22. Lastly to the East of the marsh you will see the railroad and the Mississippi.

      Danny and Reuven’s friendship went through many trials and after one challenging block in their relationship, it silenced them both. And even though there friendship was banned, it withstood till the end. Danny and Reuven’s friendship wasn’t only beneficial for them, so they could talk and be open, but it was beneficial to Reb Saunders as well. Because of Danny and Reuven’s relationship, Reb Saunders could talk to his son, through Reuven.

The relationship between Danny and Reuven is a very big theme in The Chosen. Danny and Reuven are two boys who have grew up within a few blocks of each other, but in two entirely different worlds. They meet for the first time in at a school baseball game between their two Jewish schools. Even though at first their only feeling for each other is one of hatred, they eventually get over their differences and become the best of friends. They learn a lot about each other and about the others life and religion. The boys’ fathers have very different views and that’s gets them in trouble. Danny’s father disagrees with Reuven’s father’s point of view on a certain topic, and forbids Danny from ever seeing Reuven again. After some time Reb gets over himself and permits Danny to see Reuven again. This situation goes back to the fathers’ ways of raising their child and their view on their religion.

Danny is angry and disappointed in what he has done. He stays in Sofia’s cot all day and digs his nails into his forearm because he is so nervous. “Because all he’s felt like doing for the past five days is hiding out in Sofia’s bedroom, on his cot, digging into the inside of his forearm with his nails to remind him he’s a real person.”(De la Pena, Ch.4). This is a pivotal moment in Danny’s development because he is at his lowest point in the book. He feels like he will never have any friends and his life is ruined. He traps himself in Sofia’s room to try and escape all of life’s problems. However this experience teaches him you can run away from your

To the reader it seems at first that Danny is an arrogant, uptight son of a rabbi. We learn as the novel progresses more about Danny and that he is a less than perfect

As he talks to Reuven about the silence between him and his father, he remarks, “…you can listen to silence and learn from it… I feel myself alive in it. It talks. And I can hear it… It has a strange, beautiful texture… sometimes it cries, and you can hear the pain of the world in it. It hurts to listen to it then. But you have to” (249). Danny begins to understand what silence teaches him. He learns to listen to the pain of others because he suffers himself. Moreover, as Danny is about to leave to Columbia for college, Reuven describes, “His beard and earlocks were gone, and his face looked pale. But there was a light in his eyes that was almost blinding… There was a long, gentle silence” (270). Reuven notices that Danny is excited from the light in his eyes, and he now understands that silence is gentle. Because Danny realizes why Reb raised him in silence, he is no longer confused about his future. Likewise, when Reuven’s father asks Danny if he will raise his own child in silence, he replies, “Yes, if I can’t find another way” (271). Although Danny anguishes, he plans on raising his child the same way. He understands how silence taught him compassion, and he learns Reb’s purpose for raising him this way. Due to suffering, Danny understands how to listen to the world’s problems through

Danny’s father feels like this silence will make Danny become a better individual and teach him about compassion. However, Danny’s father does not realize how much this silence hurts Danny and how it causes him suffering. Even though Danny isn’t suffering physical pain like Reuven did in the beginning of the book, he is however, suffering emotionally, which to some extent, hurts just as much, if not more than physical pain. For a long time, Danny doesn’t understand his father’s methods of interacting or treating him like the reason why he won’t talk with him outside of their faith. Danny asks himself the “why,” but still doesn’t have any answers. Throughout the book, both Reuven and Danny go through suffering. Even though their suffering is different, it does not lessen the pain that they each face throughout this book.

One of first things Danny did when he talked to Reuven was insult him and call him an ‘apikorsim’, which is a Jew that is not following the basic rules of their faith. After the accident, Reuven refused to accept Danny’s apology and wanted to make him feel as bad as possible. He insulted him multiple times when Danny visited him in the hospital and told him to leave without even listening to him. But when he told his father about what he did, he was told to make Danny his friend and not to push him away. The next day, Danny came to visit him again. He apologized for his behavior the previous day and accepted Danny’s apology to him. After Reuven put aside his anger at the Hasidic boy they were able to become friends. It turned out that their difference of religion did not make any noticeable difference in their friendship at all, contrary to what both once

Danny and Reuven represent deeply committed friends. Their live intertwine when historical circumstances , religious realities, and their father's differences in child rearing dramatically affect their respective senses of security and happiness.

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.

… “Why don’t you ask Appleman? I said quietly. “I think I will,” Danny said. “I think I’ll do just that. Why not? What have I got to lose? It can’t make me any more miserable than I am now” (Potok 211). Reuven helps Danny make decisions about his future encouraging him to follow his heart and become a psychologist. It would mean deviating from the expected career of following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a Rabbi. This would be frowned upon. Danny’s father states, “For six generations now we have led our people. I will not live forever. Daniel will one day take my place ---” (Potok 166). Danny lives his dream in silence until his father finally realizes that Danny wants to attend college and pursue a career outside of the faith.. ”And my son, my Daniel, he will - he will go another way. I saw Danny’s mouth fall open…’I know Reb Saunders murmured’…” (Potok 282). If it wasn’t for Reuven’s kindness, encouragement, and compassion for Danny, then Danny would have followed in his father’s footsteps and lived a life of misery in silence. Reuven’s character demonstrated a level of maturity by his actions. This newfound maturity continued to grow.

In the novel, Danny was shown to constantly manipulate conversations in his own favor: “Danny leant forward. ‘Can I ask you what you think – no, sorry what you feel – about the trial?’ ‘What I feel? I don’t think my feelings are relevant.’ ‘oh I think they are!’” (Pg 76) and “No, it didn’t have any impact at all. It was too different. Anyway, it’s the … It’s not the trial I want to talk about.” (Pg 101). His manipulative features likely stems from his past experiences, needing to adapt to the environment quickly and efficiently in order to survive, whether it’s abusive father or imprisonment. At a young age, Danny’s father forced Danny to wring a pullet’s neck off and he did, this showcased how Danny was forced to adapt to the surroundings and thus affected by negative

the younger brother Danny is forced to write a paper about his brother 's influence on him. The