Silence In The Chosen

Danny and Reuven’s relationship was a link between father and son, but this grew into something more, something life-long and unchanging. This friendship was true, it meant a lot to both of them, and their parents. However, after large disagreements in both Danny and Reuven’s religious lives and families, Reb Saunders excommunicates Reuven from the Hasidic community and Danny’s life.

When one loses someone or something valuable to them, the grief can be intense. But what happens when what they lose is actually a piece of them? Novels depicting a witness account of The Holocaust (1941 - 1945) paint a picture of the violence and moral anguish, which is accompanied by a loss to the protagonist. The plot shows a process of events that ultimately leads to death and devastation. Both protagonists in Elie Wiesel’s Night and Wladyslaw Szpilman’s The Pianist gradually fall into the abyss of inhumane behaviour. Post Holocaust, they embark on a new life free from social restraints and become either unmindful or compliant to the losses they faced on their journey. Elie and Wladyslaw

The Holocaust, yet another unpleasant time in history tainted with the blood and suffering of man. Human beings tortured, executed and starved for hatred and radical ideas. Yet with many tragedies there are survivors, those who refused to die on another man’s command. These victims showed enormous willpower, they overcame human degradation and tragedies that not only pushed their beliefs in god, but their trust in fellow people. It was people like Elie Wiesel author of “Night”, Eva Galler,Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser, and Solomon Radasky that survived, whose’ mental and physical capabilities were pushed to limits that are difficult to conceive. Each individual experiences were different, but their survival tales not so far-reaching to where the fundamental themes of fear, family, religion and self-preservation played a part in surviving. Although some of these themes weren’t always so useful for survival.

The terrors of the Holocaust are unimaginably destructive as described in the book Night by Elie Wiesel. The story of his experience about the Holocaust is one nightmare of a story to hear, about a trek from one’s hometown to an unknown camp of suffering is a journey of pain that none shall forget. Hope and optimism vanished while denial and disbelief changed focus during Wiesel’s journey through Europe. A passionate relationship gradually formed between the father and the son as the story continued. The book Night genuinely demonstrates how the Holocaust can alter one's spirits and relations.

The Saunders share dinner each night, shrouded in Reb’s silence, whereas the Malter clan discusses the day and the Zionist movement. Towards the end of the novel, Danny reveals to Reuven, “you can listen to silence and learn from it” (267). Reuven cannot comprehend the meaning behind Danny’s statement because of the parenting technique David Malter utilizes; even with just father and son, conversation is constant. Reuven remains unsure of the point Reb Saunders tries to prove until the man orders an end to the boys’ friendship. Only then does he understand, as the boys communicate through looks instead of words. Not only do the parenting styles of each family differ, but the dynamics diverge. It is clear that Reb Saunders will not tolerate anything than what he declares, while David and Reuven act as an equal pair in their family dynamic. Both boys learn from the other’s father. David gives Danny knowledge through reading and books, proving that life involves more than just religion; Reb helps Reuven understand how to overcome differences and understand different points of view. Reb Saunders and David Malter interact with their sons in different ways, yet teach the boys invaluable

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.

In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie Wiesel is a young boy who struggles to survive after being forced to live in the brutal concentration camp of Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, death and suffering is rampant, but due to compassionate words and actions from others, Elie is able to withstand these severe living conditions and overcome the risk of death in the unforgiving Auschwitz. As shown through the actions and words of characters in Night, compassion, the sympathetic pity for the suffering or misfortune of others is critical to the human experience because it enables humans to empathize with each other, empathizing which allows us to feel the need to assist others which can often be vital for survival.

“Where there is no human connection, there is no compassion” (Susan Vreeland). Perhaps no time in history was more devoid of human connection, and therefore compassion, than the Holocaust. Individuals had to fight starvation, gas chambers, forced labor, and often each other. This struggle for survival led to the loss of compassion in the camps. In Elie Wiesel’s Night, the author uses the struggles of Madame Schachter, the executed prisoner, and Elie’s father to prove that when people have to fight to survive, they often fail to show compassion to others.

The silence is first seen between Danny Saunders and his father Reb Saunders. Beginning when Danny was a child Danny’s father never spoke to him except when discussing the Talmud. Most of their conversations consist of arguments about passages in the Talmud. This strange silence between the father and son causes Danny many hours of suffering. Danny wonders why his father will not speak to him, but will speak to Danny’s younger siblings. Why is it that Danny is treated so differently? This question haunts Danny everyday of his life.

In The Chosen’s final chapter, Reb Saunders, Danny’s father, finally reveals the motives behind his silence, showing the reader he is, in reality, a conflicted character at heart. Throughout the story

Reuven later learns that Reb Saunders believes in raising his son in silence. Except for discussions of Talmud, Danny’s father never speaks to him directly, though he begins to use Reuven as an indirect means of talking to his son. Emily Dickinson's quote can be related to the novel in several ways. "Silence is all we dread," can relate to Danny's lifestyle and how he cannot stand the silence in which his father lives. Reb Saunders, chooses to raise his son in silence because Danny is next in line to be the Tzaddik.

In the novel Sophie’s Choice by William Styron, Stingo, Sophie and Nathan approached their guilt in different ways that ultimately lead them to depression or contentment. Sophie’s guilt explained why she allowed herself to be continually abused in her dysfunctional relationships, and her attempts to commit suicide. Sophie’s choice forced her to choose between condemning her son or daughter to death. Through Styron’s character Sophie, he suggested that the burden of guilt can make a person’s life vastly difficult and seem like an impossible situation to conquer the situation, but that it is not impossible to overcome. The Holocaust becomes an incredible personal drama with guilt used as a major theme, in the middle of a massive catastrophe,

In Paradise Now, the silences and gazes of the characters are utilized to express resistance. It is a non-violent act that conveys disapproval, in a way passivity has become active. For example, the film begins with Suha entering Palestine through a checkpoint. Both the soldier and Suha rarely loose eye contact with each other as he searches her bag, only looking down for a second in the process. In this interaction, Suha is expressing her resistance to the occupation and puts her in control of the situation. Additionally, the soldier staring back indicates his distrust and disapproval towards the Palestinians. With this in mind, when Jamal gives instructions to Said and Khaled on what to do at the checkpoint, he mentions to “always look them

When one thinks of great playwrights that have changed the theatre the first name that one may think of is Shakespeare. Everyone will agree that he was great at what he did. One person’s work that many people may not recognize is August Strindberg. “The Stronger” by August Strindberg is one of his best one-act plays. Not only is “The Stronger” a great one act, it also only uses the voice of one actor. Strindberg’s “The Stronger” is based on the conversation between two women. The names of the women are never mentioned, so reader and interpreters just give the characters the names “Mrs. X” and “Miss Y.” During the one act play, Mrs. X speaks the entire time. Mrs. X first runs into Miss Y at a bar/restaurant. The conversation starts off pretty innocent as Mrs. X tells Miss Y about the gifts that Mrs. X bought for her children and husband. When Mrs. X mentioned her husband, she began to tell Miss Y that she could have had a husband and children by now. As their one-sided conversation escalates into Mrs. X telling Miss Y about all the women who try to seduce her husband, she informs Miss Y that she knows about Miss Y’s and Mrs. X’s husband’s affair. Mrs. X slowly realizes that her husband’s new fixations come from the intimate time that he had spent with Miss Y. This realization could be a possible lead to why Mrs. X unconsciously changed herself to become as much like Miss Y as she could be. One may

The book Silence, by Shusako Endo follows a theme of a silent God who accompanies a believer in adversity. The main character of the book is Sebastian Rodrigues. It tells of Sebastian Rodrigues’ arduous journey halfway around the world to Japan in the 1630s, in order to track down a rumor that his mentor Father Ferreira had abandoned his faith, at a time where the Japanese leaders were extremely hostile to foreigners and Christianity and also suspicious of their intentions. He travels with two other missionaries but one of them falls sick whilst travelling and is deemed unfit to carry on to accompany him. The book is not fast paced, but immensely character driven. For example, we see the growth of Sebastian Rodrigues as a priest. At one point he labels Kichijiro a coward. “Was it possible that he was of our faith – this wretch.” Here we see him being judgmental. However, later in the novel we see him for the first time-sharing a proper