Character Analysis Of Danny Saunders In The Chosen By Chaim Potok

Many amazing and well fleshed out characters are in The Chosen by Chaim Potok. One of the most prominent and important characters is Danny Saunders. When Danny is introduced he is made out to be arrogant, mean-spirited, and an elitist. However, when Reuven talks to him he realizes that he is actually just a brilliant, inquisitive, and shelter kid.

Danny’s most prominent trait is his brilliance. When Reuven first meets Danny’s father Danny’s marvelous intellect is displayed when he and his father go into a game of sorts in front over everyone at the dinner. In this game, his father will say, something intentionally wrong about a religious text and Danny is to correct him from memory, out of the two times Danny and his father are shown to play this game Danny only messed up once. The sheer fact that he has only been shown to have messed up once is not the only way that shows his brilliance, later on, he says to Reuven “ I don’t mind it. I even enjoy it a little” (143). After reading that there is no argument for the lack of Danny’s brilliance.

One day when Danny visits Reuven in the hospital they start talking about books and Reuven asks what kind of books he likes to read and Danny replies “ I read anything good that I can get my hands on” (80). Danny and Reuven’s conversation about books Danny talks about how he has read books about evolution and is learning the German language. Near the middle of the book Danny’s book choice becomes a mini-conflict when Reuven and his father are not sure if they should tell Danny’s father about the books he reads. The conflict resolved when Danny’s father asks Reuven about the books showing he knew Danny was reading behind his back just that he did not know what. After Reuven tells him most of the truth leaving out the German-related books Danny’s father calmly accepts that he can not stop his son’s inquisitive