The Chosen: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Chosen: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the intricate relationships and personal struggles of key figures in Chaim Potok's novel, set against the backdrop of Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities in mid-20th century Brooklyn. Reuven Malter serves as the narrator, grappling with the tension between his father's progressive views on Talmudic criticism and the rigid beliefs of the Hasidic community, particularly those of Danny Saunders, who faces his own challenges in reconciling his intellectual ambitions with his community’s expectations.
Danny, a gifted individual destined to follow in his father's footsteps as a Hasidic leader, ultimately chooses a path in psychology, striving to understand and connect with others emotionally—a journey complicated by his father's strict upbringing. Reb Saunders, Danny's father, employs silence as a teaching method, aiming to foster spiritual sensitivity in his son while navigating his own trauma from the past. David Malter, Reuven's father, advocates for Zionism and promotes understanding between Jewish traditions and modern thought, embodying tolerance despite facing opposition from the Hasidic sect.
The narrative delves into the complexities of faith, friendship, and the struggle for identity within a divided community. This analysis highlights how these characters' interactions challenge their beliefs and lead them toward growth and understanding in a rapidly changing world.
The Chosen: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Chaim Potok
First published: 1967
Genre: Novel
Locale: the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York
Plot: Fiction of manners
Time: 1944 to the mid-1950's
Reuven Malter, a young Orthodox Jew who narrates his experiences during his high school and college days in Williamsburg and Brooklyn, among the Orthodox and Hasidic communities. Reuven's greatest challenge lies in coming to terms with the Hasidic Jews who consider his father's methods of textual criticism of the Talmud to be suspect. They also reject his father's quest to establish a new Zionist nation in Palestine. Reuven often is tempted to hate the Hasidic Jews for their intolerance toward his father, but Reuven's father continually counsels him to be loving and tolerant even toward those who are not so in return. Reuven and Danny Saunders meet first at a baseball game, during which Danny deliberately tries to hit the ball directly at Reuven's head while Reuven is pitching. the resulting injury nearly blinds Reuven in one eye but leads to a friendship between these two that enables them both to see and learn things they could not understand on their own. Through this friendship, Reuven helps Danny confront his religious community and come to accept his special gifts for helping others through psychology.
Danny Saunders, a brilliant young Hasidic Jew who is expected to take his father's place as the leader of their sect of Russian Hasidic Jews. His photographic memory enables him to be a quick learner, but his quest for knowledge outside his own religious community leads him eventually to pursue a career in psychology instead of the priesthood. His mind functions like a fine machine, but he struggles to learn how to identify with people's feelings. He keeps the Jewish laws of his sect with great care and honors his father's excommunication of the Malters, even though the resulting separation causes Reuven much pain.
Reb Saunders, a spiritual leader of a sect of Russian Hasidic Jews and the father of Danny Saunders. Reb Saunders is a complex man who readily identifies with suffering in the world, especially because his family in Russia had been killed before he led his people to the United States. He rears his son Danny in absolute silence, except when they are studying the Talmud together. Reb Saunders hopes thereby to teach his brilliant son to become spiritually sensitive. When he does choose to speak to Danny, Reb Saunders uses an intermediary such as Reuven Malter, who hates the silence imposed on his friend but comes to respect Reb Saunders' objectives. At one point, Reb Saunders excommunicates Reuven and David Malter because he opposes the establishment of a new Israel by anyone except the Messiah. After Israel becomes a nation, Reb Saunders suspends the ban on the Malters and resumes his friendship with them.
David Malter, an Orthodox Jewish teacher who is known for his many articles on the Talmud and his efforts to support the establishment of a Zionist nation in Palestine. As a widower, he rears his only son, Reuven, with the help of a Russian housekeeper named Manya. Being a tolerant man, David teaches his son to understand and respect the traditions of the Hasidic community, even though it bitterly opposes much of what David Malter advocates. He also helps Danny in his independent reading of Sigmund Freud and other thinkers not taught at his father's yeshiva or at parochial school. David's crowning achievement is to promote the establishment of a nation of Israel in Palestine, which he does as a means of reestablishing the Jewish community after the Holocaust of World War II. Throughout the novel, David struggles with a heart condition but is determined to promote his faith regardless of the personal price he must pay.
Rav Gershenson, a teacher of Talmud in Samson Raphael Hirsch Seminary and College, which Reuven and Danny attend. As a spiritual leader in his late sixties, he cautions Reuven against using the textual critical methods of his father, especially in class. He, like many others in his community, fears that identifying textual errors in the Talmud will undermine confidence in the authority of Jewish law.
Nathan Appleman, a psychology professor at Samson Raphael Hirsch Seminary and College who teaches Danny to move beyond psychoanalysis and use the newer methods of experimental psychology.