Meaning Of Life In Chaim Potok's The Chosen

If you let people control your own destiny, then you’re not the boss of where you

“Things are always how they seem, Reuven? Since when?” This quote represents the constant reoccurring concept that appears in The Chosen. It’s brought up in many ways where the reader or Reuven’s perception is altered because they don’t know the entire story. Reuven works well as a narrator because we share his position as an outsider looking in on the unfamiliar Hasidim ways. Reuven’s view of Danny Saunders, and his perceptions about Freudian psychology are examples of views that were changed throughout the story.

What is the meaning of life? According to Chris McCandless living free and not conforming to the natural way of life is the meaning to life, as shown in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Similar to Chris McCandless, Ralph Emerson believes that following your dreams and making your own trail is the meaning of life according to his short story “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Emerson. The purpose of man's existence is to avoid conformity and following one's own instincts and ideas.

Tim Winton’s funny and sprawling saga, Cloudstreet is an Australian classic novel which shows a tightly structured narrative that charts twenty years of cohabitation of two contrasting working class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, thrown together in misfortune to live under one roof in No.1 Cloudstreet. Winton paints a nostalgic picture of Australia’s post-war past, evokes a time and place that no longer exists. Winton’s characters are a “restless mob” who individually are finding one’s place in the world or in society and each are searching for the meaning of life. We learn about Fish’s and Rose’s characters through a flexible, shifting narrative (cyclical) structure and omniscient point-of-view that gives us access to their thoughts and feelings.

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.

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

The book Knight by Elie Wiesel is about a Jewish kid who was sent to a concentration camp during a war. He was separated from his mother and sisters during the first selection. The only family member he had left was his father. They went through many hardships including going on a long train ride where only 12 out of 100 people survived. In the camps Elie found his meaning of life through his father. His meaning is similar to Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning.

The beautiful unrepayable gift of life we receive at the moment of birth has to be one of the most complicated things to understand. People go through so many experiences in a lifetime to learn and grow up to be unique individuals. Life is an incredible experience, but why do some of us spend our time following uneventful lifestyles that restrain us from attaining happiness? Using a transition from a black and white world to one of color, both the novel The Giver and the film Pleasantville, suggest the importance of living a life of meaning as each narrative’s main character embarks on a quest to discover the beauty of emotions and the individuality of which they have been deprived.

The Chosen highlights Rueven Malter and Danny Saunders and their childhoods. They live a few blocks from each other in Brooklyn, New York. The Chosen elucidates family relationships, friendships, and trials of growing up. The author, Chaim Potok, began writing at age 16. David Malter, Rueven’s father, possesses many positive characteristics that people should strive for. During his life in Brooklyn, Mr. Malter plays several roles, such as a father, teacher, and friend. Within these different roles, Mr. Malter displays his support, forgiveness, and care numerous times.

"The Gift of Life" is a book written by Bonnie Glass-Coffin. This book is a make up from what Ms. Glass-Coffin experienced while she was in Peru. She observed male and female shamans who did many different types of healing rituals. Ms. Glass-Coffin stated that she believes that women shamans are more often know to involve their patients into what they are doing in their healings where as men get in and out to do the fight. In this though I will be looking at an overview of the chapters and going into some detail about what that chapter was about or explaining.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” In order to come to a complete understanding of what life is it must first be lived through. In order to live through life fully to gain the best understanding there must be many experiences that are both good and bad that help characters discover themselves and life. Carol Shields’ Larry’s Party, and Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men both illustrate and individuals journey of self discovery uniquely as their characters start a journey, where they learn about who they are through trials and failures that lead them each to a clearer, individual, definition of what life is.

a) According to Barthelme, life gives the meaning of the fundamental datum which is taken for granted mundanity of the everyday may be transcended in the direction of. The author Barthelme uses the cliche of the death of the class pets and he also pushes beyond this to the death of trees, parents, and even classmates. He is implying that the children themselves are responsible for all the death. Edgar the teacher assumed the kids had sabotage the plants by overwatering and were careless. In addition, the meaning of life ties the story together nicely as it explains the continuation of life and death. In result, the classroom dynamic changed and taught the students something.

What Life Should Be by Pat. A Fleming and A Fleeting Image by Avi Fleischer both explore the meaning of life in different ways each with ten stanzas. Fleming opens the paragraph by saying we are not sure what life is but we know it goes beyond ourselves, life does not stop when we pass away, it continues on for many generations. Fleischer introduces his poem by describing life as a “fleeting image” where we live a life, not knowing why we do what we do if life is just going to disappear from us one day. Fleming uses imagery throughout the poem especially when writing “To still stand up with courage, Though standing on my own.

Happiness and the meaning of life are such elusive topics to some; A goal one strives to throughout their entire lives. It is the cornerstone to one’s life, whatever one pursues always relates towards their happiness. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most influential philosophers and leaders of all time, once said “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in perfect harmony.” People who are truly happy demonstrate reverence towards themselves in that there is no doubt, no hesitation in what they feel and what they do or say. Truly happy people aren’t embarrassed by themselves by any means. Take Morrie Schwartz, a dying man from the memoir Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, for example. He accepted his life and himself

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life published November 2006, was a book about a young boy, who receives a mysterious wooden box with 4 unique locks in the mail with the words "The Meaning of Life-for Jeremy Fink to open on his 13th birthday’ traced across the box. But, the keys were nowhere to be found with the rest of the packaging. In order for Jeremy and his best friend Lizzy to find the keys to the box. They have to search high and low throughout Manhattan ,for clues. In my opinion, I did not like this book because I feel it could have been more exciting and interesting. For example, the way they found the keys could have been more interesting and the author should have given an better understanding of how the keys were there in