Blindness In Chaim Potok's The Chosen

Seeing Through Another’s Eyes In Chaim Potok’s book, The Chosen, blindness is a reoccurring theme throughout the book. The first example of blindness is Danny and Reuven live within five blocks from each other for fifteen years and have no idea that the other person exists. Because the boys have such a different culture, they live in their own world and are blind to each other. When they meet at the baseball field they judge each other based on rumors they have heard or by the actions of the team. Reuven thinks of them as the “whole snooty bunch of Hasidim” (Chosen 62).
Reuven thought Danny was a malicious person because he knew that Danny purposely tried to hit him. But later when Reuven opened up to Danny and stopped being so judgmental, Reuven realized that Danny was kind and just needed a friend. When Reuven is hit with the baseball, there is a chance he might be blind. This really makes Reuven realize how lucky he was to have good eyesight

Danny became angry and frustrated because he did not see the value in experimental psychology or the scientific method and he was not open to those concepts. He strongly believed in Freud’s ideas because he had been studying them for two years and felt that experimental psychology contradicted what Freud believed. Danny even became angry with Reuven when he attempted to show the value of experimental psychology. Once Danny spoke to Professor Applewood and understood that he felt Freud’s conclusions had value, his eyes were opened and he was willing to learn the scientific method.
David Malter states this fact of life that “People are not always what they seem to be” (74). In The Chosen, blindness is a theme woven throughout the book. When a person makes a hasty judgement about someone else, they are blind to who the person truly is. When you take the time to listen and understand him, your eyes will be open and you will be able to see the