Category: The Chosen

In The Chosen, the setting of each scene contributes to our understanding of the book’s central themes. The baseball field reveals the theme of conflict between two opposing forces, the hospital brings about different perceptions of the world, the library represents the characters’ expanding minds, and so on. The combination of settings and the sub-themes that develop within them help develop the book’s central theme – conflict between the secular and theological.

The central theme of The Chosen is apparent from the beginning and takes place on a baseball field, inherently a place of competition that, if taken too far, can turn into outright conflict. A simple baseball game becomes a virtual holy war. Reuven’s team, secular Americanized Jews, and Danny’s team, extremely religious Hasidic Jews, compete in a brutal game of ball. The major underlying theme of The Chosen, conflict between two opposing forces and their different approach towards Judaism, secular and theological, reveals itself in this scene. At first Reuven notices nothing in particular about Danny’s team other than that they wear the proper yeshiva regalia: “There were fifteen of them, and they were dressed alike…in the fashion of the very Orthodox, their hair was closely cropped, ….Some of them had the beginnings of beards, straggly tufts of hair that stood in isolated clumps on their chins, jawbones, and upper lips. They all wore the traditional undergarments beneath their shirts, and the tzitzit, the long fringes appended to the four corners of the garment, came out above their belts and swung against their pants as they walked. These were the very Orthodox, and they obeyed literally the Biblical commandments.” Davey Cantor continually expresses that they have a “murderous” way of playing baseball, but Reuven ignores him. Finally, when Danny walks past Reuven with scorn and blatant arrogance, Reuven realizes and despises the “Hasidic-bred sense of superiority” that Danny carried.

As the game goes on, both teams try their hardest but Danny’s team takes it to an extreme level. Danny tells Reuven “We are going to kill you apikorsim,” and means it almost literally. Danny’s Hasidic team places great value on their religious beliefs and its members always keeps to themselves. Very disapproving of anyone who has different beliefs than them, they have a “fanatic sense of righteousness” and believe that “every other Jew was wrong, totally wrong, a sinner, a hypocrite, an apikoros, and doomed, therefore, to burn in hell.” This, along with Reb Saunders’ order to never lose because losing shamed their yeshiva, explains their win-at-all-costs mentality. At the end of the game, Mr. Galanter puts Reuven in to pitch. When Danny comes up to bat, he hits the ball straight at Reuven, hitting him in the eye, smashing his glasses, and causing him immense pain.

Another one of the central themes relating to conflict in The Chosen involves different ways of seeing and perceiving aspects of the world. Reuven’s injured eye, broken glasses, and hospital visit begin to suggest that he will perceive the world differently from then on. In the hospital, he meets two people also suffering optical injuries, Tony Savo and Billy. After the doctors examine Reuven, they discover a piece of glass in his eye that could become covered in scar tissue and cause Reuven to go blind in that eye. When Reuven receives this news, he ponders what the world would be like with only one good eye and feels empathetic for Billy for being blind in both eyes. This empathetic feeling sparks compassion in Reuven as he thinks about Billy before himself and deals very patiently and kindly towards Billy. He even shortens his name to Bobby just for that young, innocent boy.

When Danny comes to visit Reuven in the hospital, Reuven seems surprised. Furious despite Danny’s apology, Reuven tells Danny to “go to hell, and take your whole snooty bunch of Hasidim along with you!” After Danny leaves, Reuven feels regretful about his own behavior. When Danny comes back the next day, Reuven greets him with pleasure. Reuven apologizes for his harsh behavior towards him. This scene reveals the real Danny. Since the start of the book, it seems that Danny and Reuven will be great enemies because of their totally different views of the world and approaches towards Judaism. In this key scene, Danny and Reuven actually become friends. This scene also shows Danny as human after all, with interests beyond his religion, and reveals Danny’s difficult situation. Secular literature and psychology interest Danny but his father, very disapproving of such things, wants Danny to succeed him as a rabbi and the leader of the Hasidic sect. Ironically, Reuven is interested in becoming a rabbi while his father wants him to pursue mathematics

The different father-son relationships become evident in the hospital, a very important location in this book. Reuven and his father have a close relationship, talk freely, and communicate very well. In addition, Reuven’s father advises, but does not dictate, the profession his son should pursue. Danny and his father, on the other hand, live in silence except when discussing the Talmud. Danny’s father, Reb, is an authoritarian figure who demands strict obedience at all times. Reuven asks, “What would have happened if you’d lost?” and Danny replies “I don’t like to think about that. You don’t know my father.”

Because of Danny’s father’s authoritarian behavior and strong disapproval of any secular literature, Danny goes to the library in secret. He reads books by Hemingway, Darwin, Huxley, Freud, and many others concerning psychology and other ideas about humanism: “I read in the library so my father won’t know. He’s very strict about what I read.” Danny says that he met a man at the library who gives recommendations on books to read. When Danny finishes the books, the man discusses the books with him and gives further recommendations. Very soon, Reuven’s father, actually the man in the library, begins giving even further recommendations. In the library, a very significant location in The Chosen, Danny gets educated, or e-duked; every book that Danny reads teaches him more and brings him further into the mainstream. This causes Reuven to have mixed feelings about Danny: “I’m really mixed up about you…You don’t sound like what my father says Hasidim are supposed to sound like.” Danny, confused, says “What do I sound like?” Reuven replies “Like a—an apikoros.”

Danny continues to read secular literature in secret. Later, Reuven and Danny start to spend Shabbat afternoons together with Danny’s father and study Talmud together. One afternoon, Reuven and Danny go to Reb Saunders’ office to study and discuss Talmud. They have a Talmudic text open and as Reb reads it out loud, Danny and Reuven take turns explaining each passage. Slowly, the Talmudic study session develops into a heated debate, “a pitched battle between father and son about each passage. Reb Saunders’ office and what takes place there exemplify the book’s theme of conflict. Danny and his father agree on most ideas in the text, yet they argue over it without remorse. This conversation, though ostensibly about the Talmud, is really a way for them to discuss what they cannot elsewhere. Danny observes: “There was no tension here at all but a battle between equals… [and] Reb Saunders was far happier when he lost to Danny than when he won. His face glowed with fierce pride and his head nodded wildly.” Shortly thereafter, Reuven ends up telling Reb Saunders about Danny and his secular reading. Reb expresses his fear that his son will not follow a path towards Hasidic leadership in one succinct message: “You will not make a goy out of my son?”

Later in the book, Reuven and Danny both go to the Hirsch College. One of the only institutions that gives both secular and religious education, Hirsch College is another place of conflict. Zionism becomes a heated issue on campus, with most of the college supporting it and the minority in opposition. Reuven’s father, an active Zionist, wants to make a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Reb Saunders disagrees; he wants to wait for the Messiah before establishing a Jewish homeland. Reb bans Danny from seeing Reuven because of their fathers’ conflicting views and forces them to not speak to one another. This act, caused by a difference of opinion, almost breaks Reuven and Danny’s great friendship. Reuven discovers his capacity for hatred: “I never knew myself capable of the kind of hatred I felt toward Reb Saunders… It was black, it leered, it was cancerous, it was death. I hated it.”

The Chosen’s central subject – conflict between the secular and the theological – depends upon strong sub-themes such as compassion, different perceptions of the world, and father-son relations. The evocative nature of the places in which the plot of The Chosen unfolds – baseball field, hospital, library, Reb Saunders’ office, and Hirsch College – support development of its themes and contribute to the whole, a meaningful commentary on how religious belief can transcend – and destroy – friendships.

In Chaim Potok’s The Chosen, a quote by psychologist Karl Menninger appears in the dedication. It goes, “When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape… It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one.” In terms of Potok’s novel, Menninger’s words hold substantial significance. Not only can Danny — with his future decided for him — and Reuven, who is able to choose his own path, be taken as the novel’s hooked and free fish respectively, but the quote itself also parallels one of the story’s morals. Being dragged ceaselessly towards a predetermined future, Danny symbolizes the hooked fish, as he must become a rabbi and take over when his father steps down. In the hospital, for instance, Danny and Reuven converse briefly about what they plan to be when they are adults.

Reuven asks, “Are you going to take your father’s place?” leading Danny to respond, “I have no choice. It’s an inherited position”. With this particular exchange, it becomes quite clear that Danny has been “hooked” by his father’s expectations of him. His inability to escape these expectations is one of the facets of his character that defines him as a hooked fish. Furthermore, during Reb Saunders’s sermon, Danny must realize and point out any errors his father makes. Danny says, “It is written in the name of Rabbi Yaakov, not Rabbi Meir,” and everybody in the synagogue murmurs and marvels at his intelligence. Clearly, the other synagogue attendees look upon Danny’s correction with a sort of reverence, as if their murmurs are saying, “Yes, he’s the one who should be our next rabbi.” However, what they don’t understand is that he does not wish to go down that path; he wants to trek — or in this case, swim — a route of his own making. Their blindness to his struggles against the hook that is his future is another aspect of why Danny represents the hooked fish; they others do not understand what he is going through. With the freedom to swim whichever way he chooses, Reuven represents Menninger’s free fish.

It is during the same scene in which Danny expresses his lack of choices that Reuven says that he wants to become a rabbi. “I may become a rabbi,” Reuven proclaims, and when Danny asks him why, he responds, “Why not?”. Reuven’s willingness and desire to be a rabbi, in tandem with his ability to do so, directly contradict Danny’s trapped state. Thus, the presence of freedom characterizes Reuven as a free fish. Additionally, when Reuven talks to his father about being invited over to Reb Saunders’s house, he finally realizes that it is all in an attempt to talk to Danny through him (as he cannot do it himself due to the silence between them.) “He wants to talk to me about Danny,” Reuven eventually understands. Up until this point, Reuven misinterprets the reasoning behind being invited to the Saunders’s residence, just as a free fish misinterprets the struggles of the hooked. Reuven cannot see that Reb and Danny need him there in order to reconcile and break free from the hook. As per Menninger’s quotation, the free fish — Reuven — misunderstands the hooked fish’s — Danny’s — ordeals.

Although it would be easy to simply say Danny is the hooked fish and Reuven, the free, the significance of the quote extends past merely categorizing the characters, also representing and elaborating upon the story’s moral. For example, Danny and Reuven are having a conversation when Danny asks if Reuven has ever felt trapped. Danny describes being trapped as “the most hellish, choking, constricting feeling in the world,” and he vows to someday escape it. His words relate to the quote in that both he and the fish will never quit fighting; they will wriggle and writhe, strain and struggle, until finally, they are either free or unable to continue the fight. Eventually, Reb Saunders, Reuven, and Danny sit down, and Reb reveals that he knows of Danny’s true desires. He tells Danny through Reuven, “Let my Daniel become a psychologist. I have no more fear’. Just as in the quote by Menninger, Danny struggles and pulls against the destiny that hooks him, and in the end he breaks free. Therefore, the quote is relevant in terms of the moral, as both it and the story are saying the same thing: Keep fighting and someday, the line might snap and a hooked fish can become free.

Menninger’s hooked fish is, ultimately, represented by Danny, and his free fish by Reuven; his quote is significant because of that, as well as because of its relation to the moral of Potok’s The Chosen. As he has no say in what he will become, Danny is hooked. Since Reuven does have a choice, he is free. Furthermore, the quote itself relates to the story’s moral since both protagonists indicate that if a hooked fish fights, then there is a chance that it will escape. The thing about being a hooked fish, though, is that only those that struggle against the line will ever have a chance of becoming free. Thus, what does it matter whether or not the other fish understand? What does it matter if there is still the possibility that the fisherman will win? In the end, the only thing that matters is that a fish that fights garners the chance to become free, and freedom is worth fighting for.

These words from the headstone of a Jewish holocaust victim perfectly define Chaim Potok’s use of light as a symbol of knowledge and truth in a world of tradition. Potok uses Reuven’s observations of light to give the reader clues of Danny’s awakenings to the truth and knowledge of the outside world in The Chosen. Danny’s surroundings particularly show the lack of acceptance toward society and the feelings of his family, friends and himself toward the outside world. Light also helps demonstrate the growth and maturity Danny gains during the novel. Finally, it also shows his constant struggle with the importance of religion versus knowledge in his life. Danny has a brilliant mind, and finding a way to integrate the supreme emphasis his family places on their hasidic religion with his ravenous hunger for knowledge, is a battle he fights throughout the book. Whether or not he wins this battle is entirely up to the judgement of the reader, but Potok expresses his opinion by using the constant theme of light.

Light comes into play primarily while Potok describes the surroundings of the characters. He shows how secluded Danny’s life is by comparing it to the complete opposite lifestyle of Reuven Malter. Reuven enjoys an open and aware childhood, whereas Danny is brought up under the silent lips of his severe father. The Malter home is described as having three wide windows through which sunlight pours. This light ties to the fact that David Malter, Reuven’s father greatly stresses the importance of modern ideas in his son’s life. David Malter is always studying, trying to find new and better ways of doing things. He disagrees with strict obedience to the sometimes-vague laws of the Talmud. Instead he uses his own logic to discover and become an example of the true meaning of this Holy Scripture and it’s commandments. This explains the constant visualization of light the authors uses when in reference to Reuven and David. This light symbolizes the Malter’s openness to the knowledge and philosophies of the outside world. Following the trend, the Malter’s synagogue shows similar characteristics. Unlike others, the Malter’s synagogue is flooded with sunlight, further proving Reuven’s exposure, even through his orthodox religion, to modern society. In comparison, Danny’s street is shaded by protective sycamore trees, which allow for very little light. The windows in his synagogue are carefully curtained with black velvet, deliberately keeping the light out. Instead of natural light, “naked bulbs on dark wires flood the synagogue with harsh light.” The absence of light in Danny’s environment directly contradicts the openness and acceptance of the Malters and proves the sheltered, isolated lifestyle of the Saunders. The ideas of the world are curtained from Danny as literally as the black velvet covering the windows. Danny is raised by strict tradition and blind obedience. For Danny there is no need for light. He is expected to follow directly in the footsteps of his father, finding his own path seems impossible. Danny’s father, Reb Saunders, is a firm believer in following the culture of his ancestors and using the same methods of raising his son. The Saunder’s live by the rigid rules of the Talmud, refuse to make exceptions, and remain perfectly faithful in following the structure of their firm religion. Danny’s family is unwilling to acknowledge the light of the modern world, and strongly discourages Danny’s curiosity toward secular knowledge. Instead they encourage the ancestral custom of Danny becoming tzaddik after his father.

As the novel progresses, light fluctuates depending on the circumstances of the characters. Other examples of light prove its use as a symbol of secular knowledge and truth. Because of its diversity, the hospital windows allow plenty of sunshine. It is also appropriate for the library, a center of learning and innovation, to be described as having “huge windows through which sunlight streamed.” On the other hand, Danny’s house is lit by the same sparse light used in the synagogue, closed off to the rest of the world.

As Danny Saunders grows and is exposed to life outside of Hasidism, he changes the light within and around him. Thus we see how one small light is able to affect the surrounding darkness. This maturity begins to grow profusely immediately after Reuven meets Danny. Reuven’s first real encounter with Danny is while he is staying in the hospital. He is alerted to Danny’s presence because of the absence of light. Danny blocks the sunlight from the hospital window, foreshadowing Danny’s ignorance of the outside world. The significance of Reuven in Danny’s future is also exposed in this scene. Reuven is irritated at once by Danny’s shadow, and helps him discover the light he has been shadowing. As Danny matures, not only does the light change in him, but he is also able to transform the sparse light of his childhood. The morning Danny and his father break the silence, light has penetrated the protective sycamore trees, indicating that Danny has overcome his upbringing and accepted the outside world into his life. The most poignant example of light in The Chosen is Reuven’s final encounter with Danny. There is a light in Danny’s eyes, which Potok appropriately defines as ?almost blinding’. The knowledge and understanding of others is such a huge part of Danny that there is light within him for the entire world to see; a light to illuminate the darkness.

The symbol of light in The Chosen signifies the acceptance and understanding of the outside world in the lives of a people who live by ancient traditions. They struggle with the balance of present ideas versus primeval commandments. Light shows us Danny’s awakening to the world outside Hasidism, and his battle to find balance and acceptance. The environments of Danny and Reuven emphasize the extreme nature of Danny’s upbringing. This comparison also proves how difficult it was for him in overcoming the expectations of his father so he could use his mind to its full potential. The light of The Chosen shows how an individual can overcome the greatest of trials, and emerge not only victorious, but stronger and wiser. Finding his way through the dark and searching for his place in the world was a grueling battle for Danny Saunders, but by the light of others, and the fire in his heart, he was able to conquer it all.

Key Facts about:

• Full Title: The Chosen
• Author: Chaim Potok
• When Written: from 1960 to 1967 in Philadelphia, Israel, and Brooklyn
• Where Written: The United States of America
• When Published: in 1967
• Genre: a coming-of-age novel
• Setting, time, and place: June 1944, Williamsburg, a part of Brooklyn.
• Point of View: The story is told from Reuven Malter’s point of view

1. Title (in italics) + explanation in keywords (about 20-30 words). The Chosen: Jews; chosen by God; Danny; is chosen to take over his father’s position. Reuven; chosen by Danny’s father to become Danny’s friend(23 words)
2. Major characters (describe 2); give their names and a short description (about 25-35 words per character). Reuven Malter: One of the protagonists. lives with his dad in Brooklyn goes to a Jewish school and studies the ten commandments. He is an intelligent boy and sees his dad as a wise man. (33 words) Danny Saunders: The other protagonist, the son of a Hasidic Jewish Rabbi, is very intelligent, has a photographic memory, is very interested in science, does not want to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Has a special friendship with Reuven. (29 words)
3. Minor characters (describe 2); give their names and a short description (about 15-25 words per character). Reb Saunders: Danny’s dad, a Rabbi of the Hasidic community in New York. only speaks to his son during church services, and encourages his son to befriend Reuven. (24 words) David Malter: Reuven’s dad, a faithful and confident jew, has a big influence on Danny and Reuven. He chooses books for Danny to read. (21 words)
4. Main events (about 100 words). The story starts off with a softball match between Reuven’s team and Danny’s team. Reuven pitches a ball and Danny hits it. The ball shatters Reuven’s glasses and nearly blinds him. Danny apologizes and they become friends after Reuven is released from the hospital. They discover that Reuven’s dad is the one that suggests books for Danny to read. Reuven meets Danny’s father and finds it strange that Danny and his father rarely talk. The tension rises when Reuven’s father wants to create a Jewish homeland. The boys aren’t allowed to speak to each other. Eventually, Danny’s father approves the friendship and explains the years of silence before excepting Danny’s decisions. (111 words)
5. Climax (about 30 words). World War 2 ends and reveals how many Jews were killed. Reuven’s father suggests making a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Reb is strongly against this idea and forbids Danny to have contact with Reuven. (35 words) 6. Conclusion (about 30 words); do not mix info about film and novel; use the novel only. Danny decides not to be a rabbi and studies psychology instead.He is afraid to tell his father, but in the end, Reb has accepted Danny’s decision. (26 words)

Choose a theme.

Themes: World war II & war; Choosing & being chosen; Judaism & tradition; Silence; Friendship; Fathers, sons & rebellion; Eyes & blindness.

1. Find quotes that go with your theme. A minimum of 10 and a maximum of 15 quotes with an explanation. Make sure your quotes cover the entire novel. Include page numbers from the digital version on SOM.

page 108 ‘I thought you said your father never talks to you.’ ‘He doesn’t. Except when we study Talmud. But he did this time. I got up enough courage to tell him about you, and he said to bring you over today. That’s the longest sentence he’s said to me in years. Except for the time I had to convince him to let us have a ball team Here Reuven is talking with Danny about the fact that he doesn’t speak to his father. This is one of the first times the silence between Reb and Danny is very clearly stated. The part shows that Reb finds the friendship between Danny and Reuven very important. Reb finds it important enough to even speak to his son about it and tell his son it is alright to become friends with Reuven. The part that states that it is the longest sentence in years is also an important part because it shows the length of the silence between father and son.

page 116 The noise inside the synagogue ceased so abruptly that I felt its absence as one would a sudden lack of air. It stopped in swift waves, beginning at the rear of the synagogue and ending at the chairs near the podium. I heard no signal and no call for silence; it simply stopped cut off as if a door had slammed shut on a playroom filled with children. The silence that followed had a strange quality to it: expectation, eagerness, love, awe. This quote depicts the power that Reb Saunders has on his followers. His presence alone can make the whole room go quiet. You can clearly tell how much admiration his followers have for him.

page 158 From the moment he entered• the room and saw my face, I knew he was aware that something had happened during his absence. We sipped our tea in silence, and I saw him glance at me from over the rim of his glass, He knew, all right. He knew something had happened between his father and me. Here you can see that silence can speak many words. Reuven didn’t have to say a word and Danny could figure out that something had happened between Reuven and Reb, in this case, that his father figured out that he was reading books in the library he wasn’t supposed to read. The silence and the looks on their faces were enough to convey the message.

page 160 Silence? What do you mean, Danny is being brought up in silence?’ His eyes were wide. ‘They never talk, abba. Except when they study Talmud. That’s what Danny told me.’ In this part of the story, David Malter finds out that Danny is growing up without his father speaking to him. David is very shocked by this information and is trying to figure out Reb’s reasoning, but he can’t form a clear explanation for this method of raising children. David’s reaction shows that raising your children in silence is very uncommon in his Jewish religious movement.

page 189 You want to know how I feel about my father? I admire him. I don’t know what he’s trying to do to me with this weird silence that he’s established between us, but I admire him. I think he’s a great man. I respect him and trust him completely, which is why I think I can live with his silence. Danny explains that his father is a very important part of his life and that he loves him. He also greatly admires him, enough to live with the fact that his father only rarely talks to him. Although he doesn’t know why his father is raising him is silence. This shows that the bond between Danny and his father is very strong.

page 205 Poor Danny, I thought. Professor Appleman, with his experimental psychology, is torturing your mind. And your father, with his bizarre silence–which I still couldn’t understand, no matter how often I thought about it–is torturing your soul. This quote shows how Reuven thinks about the silence Danny’s father is using to raise his son. He believes Reb is using the silence to punish his son and despises Reb for it. Reuven cannot understand the reasoning behind the raising in silence and so says that the silence is torturing his soul. Danny doesn’t like the lessons because he finds them too scientific, thus torturing his mind.

page 216 I hated the silence between us and thought it unimaginable that Danny and his father never really talked. Silence was ugly, it was black, it leered, it was cancerous, it was death. I hated it, and I hated Reb Saunders for forcing it upon me and his son. Reuven and Danny aren’t allowed to speak to each other, because Reb doesn’t agree with the suggestion David has. David wants to create a Jewish homeland, but Reb says that they have to wait until the Massiah leads them to the state. Reuven cannot handle the sudden silence and really hates it. He cannot comprehend how Danny is used to this silence and has read nothing else from his father since he was eleven years old. In this quote, Reuven tries to sketch how the silence feels for him. All the words he uses are negative. This clearly states that he really doesn’t like it.

page 223 I was tempted more than once to scream at the groups of anti-Zionist students huddling together in the halls and classrooms that they ought to go join the Arabs and the British if they were so opposed to the Jewish state. But I managed somehow to control myself and remain silent. In subsequent weeks, I was grateful for that silence.Their pain over this new outbreak of violence against the Jews of Palestine outweighed their hatred of• Zionism. They did not become Zionists; they merely became silent. I was glad during those weeks that I had restrained my anger. This part describes how Reuven discovers that silence can be a good thing too. He chooses to stay quiet instead of becoming angry and starting to yell at them. If he did lose control, it was likely to put him even more in the spotlight and them bad things could happen to him. When Reuven discovered that silence can have a good side, he began to understand a little bit of Reb’s way of raising Danny.

page 260 My father himself never talked to me, except when we studied together. He taught me with silence. He taught me to look into myself, to find my own strength, to walk around inside myself in company with my soul. When his people would ask him why he was so silent with his son, he would say to them that he did not like to talk, words are cruel, words play tricks, they distort what is in the heart, they conceal the heart, the heart speaks through silence. Here Reb Saunders explains why he taught his son in silence for so many years. He didn’t do it to punish his son or to make his son miserable. He did it because he loved his son and wanted him to learn compassion, love and how to find the way to his own soul. Danny understands why his father taught him in silence and isn’t angry. He now understands why his father had to do it.

page 266 Danny,’ he said softly, ‘when you have a son of your own, you will raise him in silence?’ Danny said nothing for a long time. Then his right hand rose slowly to the side of his face and with his thumb and forefinger, he gently caressed an imaginary earlock. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘If I can’t find another way.’ Reb asks Danny if he would raise his own son the same way he did. Danny answers that he would if he didn’t have another choice. Danny understands his father and believes that it is not the best and most pleasant way to teach love and compassion, but if he had too, he would use this method to teach his son. This again, shows how strong the bond between Danny and Reb is and how much they love each other. Even years of silence between them couldn’t stop them from loving each other. (1390 words)

2. What information from the novel is new to you? Mention three specific instances of this new information and what it taught you.

The first thing that was new for us was the strict Jewish faith. We did not know a lot about the Jewish religion before we had read the novel. The Jewish faith is one of the main themes of the novel and there were a lot of new things that we didn’t know. For instance, we didn’t think that the Jewish faith was so strict. You may only be friends with someone who is also Jewish. In the novel, Danny is allowed to become friends with Reuven. The fact that Reuven is Jewish plays a big role in the decision that Reuven and Danny may become friends. The second thing that we learned is that there are separate classes for studying the Talmud at Jewish schools and that it is a big part of daily life. When Danny and Reuven are studying psychology they spent the entire afternoon studying Talmud and following Talmud lessons. There are also a lot of explanations for a couple of sentences and its hard to explain them as thoroughly as possible. The third thing we learned is that sometimes it’s important to just observe, stay quiet and listen. In the book, Danny visits Reuven in the hospital, but Reuven sends him away immediately. David told Reuven that he should listen to Danny and give him a chance. This advice is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between the two. This friendship couldn’t exist if Reuven didn’t give Danny a chance even though he was angry at him. (252 words)

3. In what way is the theme of your choice expressed in the film and in what way is that different from the novel?

Silence is mentioned a couple of times in the film, but the novel mentions it frequently. The most important silences are clearly mentioned in the film, such as the explanation that Reb gives at the end. Here he explains why he raised Danny in silence. One of the differences in the explanation is that at the and of it Reb hugs Danny, but in the novel, Reuven hugs Danny. The silence that was forced by Reb was also in the novel as well as in the film. The novel spends more time building up the confusion as to why Reb raised Danny in silence. The film didn’t achieve this as well as the book did. (115 words)

List of sources

1. SparkNotes Editors. (2002). SparkNote on The Chosen. Retrieved February 22, 2019, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chosen/
2. A.Justesen.(2015). The Chosen movie vs book. retrieved March 1,2019, from https://prezi.com/nqutfonqtz9a/the-chosen-movie-vs-book/
3. Wikipedia contributors. (2017). Talmud – Wikipedia. retrieved March, 5,2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud