The Chosen: Danny and Reuven's Friendship

In the novel, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, two jewish families from different sects are brought together through the blossoming of a deep friendship between their two sons during the 1940s. It focuses on the emotional bonds forged between traditional Orthodox Jew Reuven Malter and Hasidim Danny Saunders, that last well through their childhood adventures of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, and well into adult hood. It also follows their story of self discovery, parental acceptance, and how the boys attempt to fit into their modern ,popular American society as jews , all as World War 2 comes to a close. In their pursue of happiness, many problems are presented to them, which they eventually solve ,together, despite their differences. Reuven and Danny ,in Chaim Potok's ,The Chosen, manage to successfully create a beautiful friendship , aside from their different philosophical views, through perseverance, forgiveness, trustful communication, intimate listening and understanding, being supportive and present in times of need, and just setting aside their differences and accepting each other wholeheartedly.

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.

In The Chosen, Potok describes the Jewish culture during the period of World War I. Beginning with the affluence of Polish Jews before the war, Potok established a circle of relationships. In the book, there are three main relationships. The first one is father-son, between Danny and his father, Reb Saunders and between Reuven and his father, David Malter. The relationship between Reuven and Danny is the second main relationship in The Chosen. The third main relationship is Hasidism verses Zionism.

man appears in a variety of aspects throughout the book. When Reuven first meets Michael, Michael acts like a spoiled brat. However, the more Reuven gets to know him, he learns that Michael has a mental condition and has trouble controlling his anger at times. During Reuven's time at seminary, Rav Kalman repeatedly challenges him in his education; however, it turns out Rav Kalman needed someone to talk to and fill a hole in his heart. After Reuven and Rachel broke up, it must have been a tense situation, especially for Reuven, when Rachel started dating Danny. Surprisingly, Reuven and Danny's friendship remains as strong as ever. Even though the man vs. man conflict evidently arises in multiple situations, Potok resolves all of them quite

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

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.

Throughout the book, The Chosen, there are four major qualifying characters for the role of “The Chosen One”. David Malter is the father of Reuven Malter, and is an active Zionist. Reb Saunders is the father of Danny Saunders, and doesn’t talk to his son with the hopes of teaching him compassion. Reuven is Danny’s friend, and is a bridge among all the characters. Danny becomes friends with Reuven after hitting him in the eye with a softball, and also works with David in the library in secrecy. While all these characters have major roles, only one can be crowned with the winning title. Reuven Malter is “the chosen one”. Through the development of the character, Reuven, we see a sheltered young boy learn to find compassion in his heart all

Chaim Potok’s The Chosen is the story of a lasting friendship that blossoms between two Jewish boys, Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter, during and after World War II. On a deeper level, much of the plot focuses on the character of their fathers–Reb Saunders and David Malter–whose beliefs and ideals are rooted in two separate worlds. Reb Saunders is a zealous Hasidic rabbi who wants to impart his knowledge of his religion upon Danny and expects his son to follow in his footsteps. David is a professor and single father who comes from a liberal Jewish background. As the friendship between Reuven and Danny grows, both fathers try to reconcile their views with their sons and with their own

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

Reuven on the other hand does not have as much as a “strict” Jewish life. Reuven can date and wear clothes that are in trend unlike Danny. Reuven can pick his job, his life, his future unlike Danny. “I have no choice. It's an inherited position” (69).

Scout and Reuven’s compassion made them both a beloved character. Reuven’s compassion is especially shown as he grows up and learns more about the world. After his eye injury in the baseball game, he befriends Danny Saunders and begins to see the world in a different light, from Danny’s perspective. Since Danny’s world differs so greatly from his, he grows compassionate toward Danny for

Two career choices remain in the hands of Danny Saunders. A boy who does not know what to do with life, or more specifically with his career. Between taking his father's position or becoming a psychologist, Danny remains torn. In the book, The Chosen, Chaim Potok, shows readers how Danny remains in line to take his father's position as a rabbi, although he wants to adventure outside the world and become a psychologist. But despite his struggles in life, Danny represents a young man who remains determined, knowledgeable, and depressed.

In society today people can feel trapped by many different things like expectations and rules. In the book "the chosen," by Chium Potok Danny feels trapped by his strict religious rules and traditions and by the expectations of his father and his father's congregation. Reuven uses an analogy in the story about a spider and a fly. The fly is trapped in the web of the spider and can't get out. When Rueven sees this he thinks of Danny.

The first character that I feel most represents this for a start, is Cliff. I feel the eccentricity of his personality prohibits him from being happy with the kind of love he has in the relationship with his wife and I feel this is the main reason for the distance between the two characters. Cliff finds happiness in other ways by taking his niece to midafternoon movies and engulfing himself into his documentary work. Cliff is always questioning the intentions behind an action. For example, when he is walking out of the theater with his niece; he turns to her and gives her a simple yet profound piece of advice about teachers. He tells her not to listen to, not to pay attention anything they say, but just to study the way they look like because this is the way for her to see how life is really going to be like. Cliff also question’s the motives of his wife’s brother, Lester. This could be because he is successful and he got this success through unconventional ways that Cliff doesn’t agree with, but I feel deep down inside that Cliff is envious of Lester’s success. Cliff is always questioning and I know that we do not need to mention Aristotle, but he can be seen as thinking on this level, always questioning a motive, never accepting an answer and

These two characters with completely different personalities managed to take down egalitarianism of their farm. Both Jessie and Napoleon's behaviors and attitudes are dissimilar from each others. One loud and intimidating leader and one inaudible and bashful follower formed a crisis toward multiple individuals to live in