Quote 2 particular lines or passages from within Chap 5-12: one that feels imp’t to the text and one that feels imp’t to you, and explain why they feel imp’t. End your post w/ a question. Your comment should be two paragraphs long, and you should note page #s. Skip a line between paragraphs, since you cannot indent on the blog.
Also, reply to at least one student's post.
One passage from the text that seems important to me is on page 180. News of the Holocaust has begun to reach the rest of the world, and Reuven is reeling from the sheer magnitude of the tragedy. “I couldn’t imagine six million of my people murdered. I lay in my bed and asked myself what sense it made. It didn’t make any sense at all. My mind couldn’t hold on to it, to the death of six million people.” I was struck by this passage because it’s true that it is very difficult—perhaps even impossible—to fully comprehend a loss that great. Six million is an unfathomably large number. I just can’t wrap my mind around all the suffering that was brought to those six million people and everyone who loved them. No amount of memorials could ever properly commemorate such an atrocity, but at the same time, it’s important to show that the world cares about what happened.
ReplyDeleteOne passage that seems important to the text is on page 185. Danny has continued to pursue his interest in psychology and is delving into the works of Freud. What he has read so far has truly overturned his understanding of the world and why people do what they do. His understanding of human emotion and will has been built through his religion up until this point in his life, and this exposure to a more scientific view of the subject intrigues him. Reflecting on the internal battle he can see being waged in his friend, Reuven speculates, “I began to wonder how it was possible for the ideas of the Talmud and the thinking of Freud to live side by side within one person. It seemed to me that one or the other would have to give way.” If Danny chooses to accept Freud’s ideas, however strange they may seem to him now, the contrasting ideas of his religion will begin to seem less credible and he will become even further removed from the life his father wants him to live. The more different perspectives he allows himself to see of the world, the more decisions he will have to make about which of them he wants to internalize and how they will affect his own life.
Reb Saunders knows that Danny has begun explore the secular world, but does he really know the full extent of how torn Danny is between his religion and the new ideas he has discovered? What will he do when he finds out that Danny is tentatively beginning to question his religion?
I think that Reb Saunders probably has a feeling that Danny is beginning to question his belief system, but I don't know if Reb Saunders really understands how conflicted Danny is feeling. He knows that Danny is reading books, but I don’t think he knows how much reading Danny is doing and how much it is starting to change him. I think that at first when Reb Saunders confronts Danny about his feelings, that he might be angry and questioning why his son would ever no believe in the ideas that he had been brought up with. I think after he would want to listen to what Danny had to say and maybe understand where he is coming from.
DeleteI think Reb Saunders is rather unaware of the extent of reading that Danny does. Yet, I assume he must suspect that he does a great deal of it, as he has noticed that he comes home late many evenings, which he has deduced is due to Danny being at the library. It would seem likely that he also knows that this would lead to Danny being conflicted about his religion, and I think this would be rather difficult for him to deal with. That being said, it seems that Reb Saunders is dealing with his own conflicts pertaining to this, as he recognizes how brilliant Danny is, and seems proud that he is delving into such topics as psychology. That being said, it also seems to terrify him, as he knows that his son is learning more about topics that he has little or no knowledge about, and this is creating distance between them, as they have always been intellectual equals. I believe in this sense he is proud of his son, but also scared and upset that it is not only distancing him from their religion, which I believe is extremely significant to him, but it is also strengthening the divide in their relationship. This seems to be building tension that neither of them are addressing, but if Reb Saunders were to know more about his son’s conflicts with their religion, it seems likely that this will become a larger problem that he will be very upset about, and it will force them to address it.
DeleteDuring chapter 8, I found a passage that I think is important to the book. Danny and Reuven are walking back from Danny’s house and they are talking about Danny’s dad. Reuven tells Danny that he should talk to his dad, but Danny gets angry and says that he can’t. When Reuven gets home he tells his father about the interaction and the information about Danny. In surprise his father says,“‘Silence? What do you mean, Danny is being brought up in silence?’ His eyes were wide” (161). I think that knowing that Danny’s father barley ever speaks to him, is helpful to understanding the relationship between father and son. There always seemed to be a barrier between the two, and that is probably partly because Danny’s father never talked to him. It also explains why Reb Saunders never really speaks to Danny’s younger brother either. I was also interested to find out later that Danny respects his dad. I was surprised because I would have thought that Danny was probably a little angry that he was never able to have a real conversation with his father unless they are talking about the Talmud. Danny’s relationship with his father fluctuates throughout the book and I think it could change later on.
ReplyDeleteA quote that I thought was important was during chapter 9. During this chapter, Reuven decides to call Billy, the boy he met in the hospital who is blind. He calls and is told that Bill’s surgery was not successful and that Billy has moved away. Reuven is shocked and doesn't know what to feel. He thinks back to when he was in the hospital, “I kept hearing Mr. Savo saying. ‘Crazy world Cockeyed’”(164). I interpreted this quote as saying that you can’t rely on anything because everything can change so quickly. Life is unpredictable and Reuven witnessed it with Billy as an example. I think that living life to the fullest is important and being ready for unexpected changes.
My question is a little unrelated but, will Danny’s little brother be okay? Also did they ever say what sickness he had? He has seemed sick a lot and I wonder if he will survive.
I too am very worried about his brother, as it seems Reuven is as well. Perhaps Reuven’s worry about Danny’s little brother is foreshadowing for something greater that will happen to the brother, or maybe the Saunders family as a whole. I don’t think the sickness he has has been revealed which is a little mysterious to me. I predict this topic will return later in the book, otherwise it would seem like an unnecessary detail.
DeleteI think you did a great job interpreting the quote about Mr. Savo. So much changed for Reuven in a relatively short period of time. The time he spent in the hospital really opened his eyes I think to how fast things can change. I’m not sure what will happen to Danny’s brother and it’s strange that we don’t know that much about it. I am optimistic for his brother. On page 158 it says “But at least his brother would be all right. It had something to do with his blood chemistry, Danny said, and the doctor had prescribed three different pills for him to take.” I think the issues with his brother will come up more in the book.
DeleteA passage that I found important, was after Reuven has learned of President Roosevelt’s death, and he is trying to comprehend what has happened. “He went into his bedroom and stayed there the rest of the afternoon, and I lay on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, my hands clasped behind my head, trying to grasp what had happened. I couldn’t. I saw only emptiness and fear and a kind of sudden, total end to things that I had never experienced before” (178-179). Reuven is still quite young, and this is evident during this time. A tragedy of this magnitude is new to him, and he doesn’t know what to do. The events that he has been exposed to, and is then forced to deal with and make sense of, are extremely tough, especially for someone his age. He is grappling with a lot of tough concepts, and he sees how it affects the people around him, including his father. This shows how hard it is for anyone to deal with world issues, especially when they affect you so personally, and the people around you. It is also hard for young people, who are trying to make sense of this and understand it, when they see adults, who they expect to know the answers, struggling with the same things. It is hard to deal with events like these, and this is made visible in this passage.
ReplyDeleteA passage that I thought was important to the text, was when Reuven and Danny were talking in the library about the book History of the Jews that Danny was reading, and he makes a comment about his father. “‘He really worries about his people. He worries about them so much he doesn’t have time to talk to me” (146). It becomes evident here how much of a strain there is on the relationship between Danny and his father, and how much of a toll it has taken on him. He is not happy with the fact that he does not talk to his father unless they are studying, and that he wishes that he had the ability to speak with his father about other things. This also may signify a resentment he feels for his father’s congregants, as they take up more of his time than he does. This also may have a correlation to the fact that Danny does not want to follow in his father’s footsteps, though there are other factors involved, this resentment may be a part of it as well. I think Danny’s relationship with his father is a constant source of conflict for him, as is his confusion about religion, and these are related, and will continue to be addressed through the novel.
Do you think that Danny will ever confront his father about how he feels about their relationship, or his conflicts with religion? If he were to do so, how do you think his father would react?
I think that Danny will have to confront his father at some time before he reaches adulthood. At this point it doesn’t seem like he will be satisfied with his life if he becomes a tzaddik as he is expected to, but he will have to have a serious conversation with his father if he wants to do anything about it. Confronting his father like that will take great courage, because in doing so Danny will simultaneously be bringing up an issue concerning his own life rather than one relating directly to the Talmud—something that he hasn’t done since he was a small boy due to the unspoken agreement they made together—and addressing the fact that he does not want to devote his life to his religion, or at least not entirely, though his entire childhood revolved around preparing him to do just that. If and when Danny finally decides to initiate that conversation, I think that Reb will be completely taken aback because Danny has never shown anything but submission and obedience towards him all his life. After that initial stage of shock, he might become angry that Danny would dare to reject the life that was so carefully planned for him. Alternatively, he might accept that someone as fiercely intelligent as Danny would be better suited to a career that would allow him to better the entire modern world and not just that of their religion. I predict that Reb will do both—he will become angry at first, but will eventually come to the same realization that Reuven’s father did as soon as he met Danny.
DeleteDanny’s eagerness to learn more about the world along with his religion’s relationship to the world, although eye-opening, has caused him some harm. He reflects on the feeling of experts writing about his identity by saying to Reuven, “It’s awful to have someone give you an image like that of yourself” (146). Although I can’t fully empathize with the context of this statement, I am still very compassionate towards it. I think it is safe to say that everyone has felt like they have been put into a box: assumptions have been made about them, maybe expectations, exaggerations, and other images created by others. It can be terribly plaguing to have those images imprisoned by your brain which then, through untamable motion, infect your seemable personality. You can see these images of Hasidism perplexing Danny to the point where he and Reuven can’t fully communicate their views.
ReplyDeleteOn page 115 of "The Chosen", Chaim Potok sums many themes of this book in one sentence: “The liquid streams of racing children, the noisy chatter of long-sleeved women, the worn buildings and blotched banisters, the garbage cans and the scrambling cats all gave me the feeling of having slid silently across a strange threshold, and for a long moment I regretted having let Danny take me into his world.” As well as the significance of this passages’ utter beauty, it is also important to the text. It encapsulates the conception of Danny and Reuven’s friendship and how both Reuven and Danny are entering entirely different worlds with entirely different ideals, language, and ways of thinking. Part of what makes their friendship so intimate is that both are being so willingly vulnerable exploring the different realms of not only their religion, but humanity. This novel, being gorgeously poetic, braids the concepts of friendship and religion in a way that makes the reader question the bigger picture. In what ways can we take what we learn from what might seem like simple friendships to better the world as a whole?
I feel like the main concept of this book is do not judge a book by its cover for you never know what lies in the depths of its being. On the outside, at first, Danny is perceived as a crazy, harming, person who hates Reuven. However, now, they are the best of friends and Reuven is even living with him and coping with his fathers death with Danny's support. I think that if we can do this at some point in our lives and take another perspective on things we can change the world as a whole bit by bit
DeleteOne passage that seemed important to the book was on page 140. Reuven passes Reb Saunders’ test by catching a mistake in something he said.
ReplyDelete“The followers of Reb Saunders obviously had obviously been pleased with my performance, because I could see they were no longer staring questions at me but were glancing at me admiringly. One of them, an old man with a white beard who was sitting in my row, even nodded at me and smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. I had clearly passed the test. What a ridiculous way to gain admiration and friendship!”
This part seemed important to the story because people are impressed with Reuven after he passes the test. Reuven mentions that it would be difficult for him and Danny to be friends because it would be awkward around their other friends. After Reuven proves that he is smart and Reb Saunders accepts him as Danny’s friend I think it will be easier for Danny’s other friends to accept Reuven.
A passage that was important to me is on page 98 and 99. Reuven was out of the hospital and was kind of shifting back into his regular life. He walks through his apartment and starts to think about the baseball game.
“Somehow everything had changed. I had spent five days in the hospital and the world around seemed sharpened now and pulsing with life. I lay back and put the palms of my hands under my head. I thought of the baseball game, and I asked myself, Was it only last Sunday that it happened, only five days ago? I felt I had crossed into another world, that little pieces of my old self had been left behind on the black asphalt floor of the school yard alongside the shattered lens of my glasses.”
I thought this passage was important to the development of Reuven’s character. He kind of realizes in that moment that there is so many more important things than that one baseball game. During the game he felt competitive and at the time that game was the most important thing on his mind. Things changed so quickly in that one week for Reuven and now that ball game seems so insignificant. One moment can seems so important, but with time it’s significance seems to fade.
Would you agree that fate is a big theme in this book?
A line that I found important to me was when Reuven’s father is talking to Reuven on page 103 about what Jewish individual is. I found it very interesting and factual the way he worded it, “We are like other people, Reuven. We do not survive disaster merely by appealing to invisible powers. We are as easily degraded as any other people.” Reuven’s father is explaining that it does not mean anything different to be a Jew other than religion. You can still be degraded and hurt just as much as any other people, there is not an “invisible power” to save you. This I think should be realized more in our world except by others putting down people they feel to be inferior, they are not shielded from any hurt.
ReplyDeleteA line I found important to the text was when Danny and Reuven went out for a walk over to Danny’s house. When they arrived, they came upon a group of people dressed in all black that immediately parted aside for Danny to get through, “Danny took my arm with one hand and tapped his other hand upon the shoulder of a man on the outer rim of the crowd… I saw his eyes go wide. He bowed slightly and pushed back, and a whisper went through the crowd like a wind, and it parted…” I feel this is very important in showing how “powerful” Danny’s family is in the Jewish culture he is apart of. The fact that he is regarded as almost saint-like it seems is interesting and further improves the story.
Will this power eventually scare Reuven? Like it did before he met Danny as an individual? Or will they prosper and become greater friends?