The Characters Of Talents In The Chosen By Chaim Potok

“No,” I said” (95). The significant part of this passage reads when Reuven says “No”. This remains important because four days earlier, Danny Saunders nailed him in his eye with a baseball purposely. And even though Danny Saunders did that awful thing, Reuven let him sit next to him. What an act of kindness and forgiveness! Because Reuven let Danny sit next to him, gesturing an act of forgiveness, his exhibited his unrelenting kindness. Overall, Reuven’s skill to forgive Danny even though he hurt him, designates his personality trait of kindness.

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

When Danny had hit the baseball, “My [Reuven] glasses had shattered...felt a sharp pain in my left eye when I blinked”(Potok 33). The “shattered glasses” symbolize the hatred between the two enemies, Danny and Reuven, will be broken, and Reuven’ perception has changed, leading to a friendship. As Reuven got home from the hospital, Reuven walked around his house “watching the sunlight and listening to the sounds on the street outside…tasting the room and the sunlight and the sounds” (Potok 96). Ever since Reuven’s eye accident and encountered Billy’s blindness, Reuven has developed an appreciation the gift of perception as he describes “watching,” listening to,” and “tasting” the world around him. Not only Reuven’s accident enhanced his physical awareness that was surrounding him, but also the symbolism of the world’s suffering and difficulty. On the day that Danny and Reuven were about to separate pathways, “we [Reuven and Danny] shook hands and I [Reuven] watched him walked away quickly, tall, lean and bend forward with eagerness and hungry for the future.” Reuven emphasizes his subjective perception of Danny’s departure of vision, touch and taste. This multisensory perspective reflects the way Reuven’s perspective has broadened, which symbolize Danny and Reuven

Things like symbolic logic come easily for him. As a teenager, he "went over the propositional calculus" as well as "visualizing truth tables for conjuction, disjuction, equivalence, and material implication" (Potok, 234) in his head. The other main characters lack this kind of intelligence, making Reuven unique in his ability. That fact broadcasts his intelligence even

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.

Without their friendship there would not be much of a plot. At first Danny and Reuven can not stand each other, but as the book goes on they become best friends. They begin to trust each other very quickly and right when they are beginning to become friends Danny shares his biggest secret. Danny tells Reuven “I’ve never said that to anyone before… I’ve never told this to anyone before… All the time I kept wondering who I would tell it to one day… If you had ducked the ball I would still be wondering” (Potok 84). When Danny tells Reuven this, it is one of the first times they share their feelings with each other. Their friendship is very important for the development of the boys’ opinions on the two denominations of Judaism and for their

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 Saunders and Reuven Malters could not be more different in appearance. Following Hasidic traditions, Danny had long earlocks, wore a tzitzit, and wore shoes with a metal bottom. Also, by he is in college his beard is full-grown. The only aspect, appearance wise, that the boys had in common in the beginning of the story were their black skullcaps. Reuven had always worn glasses, but after spending countless years reading every chance he got, Danny needed them too. The stress caused by the reading and from the pressures of his family became too much on his eyes and they started to turn red and develop bags underneath them. As the firstborn son, Danny had known, for as long as he could remember, that he was to take his father’s place as tzaddik and lead his own congregation. But Danny knew that he did not belong up on a podium preaching, just like Reuven knew that he was not meant to be a math professor. Reuven’s father, David, was one of his best friends. He talked to him

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.

After Reuven initially wakes up, Danny visits him in the hospital to apologize. “‘I am sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll just bet you are,’ I told him. He…turned and walked slowly away.” After Reuven tells his father of the events, his father tells him that he should have listened. This response on David’s part initially caused Reuven to listen to Danny when he returned the second time.

Reb confides in Reuven in hopes that Reuven will share his wisdom with Danny. Reuven doesn’t understand how Reb is using him until the end of the book. Reb attempts to shine light on Reuven when he says, ‘It is never pleasant to be a buffer Reuven’ (Potok 170). Reb continues to speak to Reuven, “You have become a

On the other hand, Reuven and David mutually support the notion that the lines of communication between them should always be open. Whenever Reuven struggles with a problem or simply a question, regardless the significance, he comes directly to his father for assistance. David listens intently and offers a few suggestions or delivers a thorough answer to his son’s query. For example, when Reuven wonders about Danny, David answers with a lengthy and detailed account. This demonstrates not only the comfort they bear in talking to each other but also the patience they’ve developed that has stemmed from their communication. Despite their lack of communication, Reb Saunders and his son share the same admiration, respect, and trust for each other that are consistent with Reuven’s and David’s relationship.

The great opportunity also developed Danny a sense of compassion and sympathy for Reuven at the hospital room. “Before you tell me how much you hate me,' he said quietly, `let me tell you that I'm sorry about what happened.” (62). Reuven refused to accept the apology, because of how much Danny wanted to kill him. However when Mr. Malter visits Reuven, he tells him to accept the apology because it was a genuine one.

In all of their conversations, Mr. Malter seeks to pass his moral wisdom onto Reuven. At the beginning of the novel, after Reuven refuses to listen to Danny’s apology, his father visits him at the hospital to discuss his

The thesis found in the story is we are all born with a unique gift or talent.