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Danny And Reuven Friendship Analysis

546 Words3 Pages

The Importance of Friendship

If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you- Winnie the Pooh. In literature and movies, society repeatedly stresses the importance of friendship. The Chosen by Chaim Potok is no exception. Two Jewish boys, Danny and Reuven, grow up only two blocks from each other but lead parallel lives. When they finally meet as two teenagers on a baseball field, their lives change forever. The importance of friendship shines through its unique impact on Danny and Reuven, when they are together, and the toll it takes on them when they are forced to be separate.

The comradeship of friendship likely saves Danny from depression. Because Danny is so smart, the only way his father sees to teach him compassion is to stop talking to him and hope that through the pain of silence, he will learn sensitivity and empathy for others. As his father predicts, Danny hurts incredibly from this silence. Danny struggles to process his life without anybody to guide him so when Danny and Reuven meet, Danny pours out his intimate concerns and hurts. Throughout their friendship, Reuven listens and gives advice to Danny as Danny make major life decisions. Reuven also cheers Danny up, an important …show more content…

Unlike Danny, Reuven’s dad talks to him all the time. However when Reuven’s dad suffers from a heart attack, Reuven feels like his soul is torn apart. Coming to the rescue Danny invites Reuven to stay at his house in this tough time. The boy’s friendship also influences Reuven’s life by teaching him to be unprejudiced towards those who differ from him. If the boys had continued their lives on separate paths, Reuven would have always thought the Hasidic sect was weird and extreme. Through actually learning, what it is like to be Hasidic, Reuven’s perspective of the world changes and he grows in understanding and sympathy. The effects of friendship in Reuven’s life are far

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Important Events In The Friendship Of Reuven And Danny

176 Words | 1 Pages

While Reuven is in the Hasidic synagogues, he sees how the Hasidic men treat Danny and Reb Saunders like their God. Reb Saunders Reuven about gematriya as a way of proving if he is worthy to become Danny’s friend. Reuven feels like he passed the test by pointing out a mistake in one of the gematriyot. The Hasidic

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Apikorsim Book Summary

573 Words | 3 Pages

His father told him to talk to him that he needed a friend because he was special. The time Reuven was in the hospital they learned about each other and became friends. Reuven learned that Danny wasn’t allowed to read any secular books and his father would not like it (who was the rabbi of the Brooklyn sect of Hasidism), and that Reuven’s father had been recommending those books. Shabbat dinner Reuven asked his father more about Danny, his father used history from as far backs as the early 1800s of the first Jews in

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Differences And Similarities Between Malter And Reb Saunders

1866 Words | 8 Pages

The difference in views between the two faiths and fathers are very evident and a driving point of the movie. It also was very evident how they raised their children and the effects it had on them. They are different but also have similar goals for their sons. Reuven is raised to be independent, mildly observant, and to act like his father because his mother died when he was young. On the other hand, Danny is raised under the microscope of his father and community.

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Comparing Danny And Reuven In The Chosen, By Chaim Potok

1116 Words | 5 Pages

In the historical fiction novel, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, people from all different backgrounds in judaism, decide how they will choose to live their lives. Reb Saunders, the Rebe, raises Danny in silence while David Malter, raises Reuven as an orthodox Jew. Each at some point question their part in their religion and the world, struggling to accept the life they have. After crossing paths at a baseball game, Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter seem to both evoke daunting opinions, clearly condescending each other. When Reuven injures his eye, ending up in a hospital both their fathers, David Malter and Reb Saunders try to bring them closer.

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Comparing Reuven And Danny's Culture

902 Words | 4 Pages

Due to the fact that Reuven and his dad have frequent conversation, they have a much closer relationship and Reuven loves and admires his father very much. Danny is showing Reuven his house, “Danny took me to the third floor rooms. They were identical with the ones in which my father and I lived” (161). Because they grew up in the same neighborhood, the places where their families lived are basically the same. While they may have their differences, because Reuven and Danny grew up in the same area, family living dynamics are very

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Friendship Between Reuven And Danny In Antigone

270 Words | 2 Pages

Reuven was glad that Danny came to visit again despite their previous encounter. after sending Danny away, he was surprised at his own actions and had come to regret it at the end. His own father reminded him that the Talmud says that if a person is willing to apologize for his own wrongdoing, then you must at least try to understand and forgive him and that is exactly what Reuven intends to do after feeling angry and depressed with himself from what he had said to Danny. Throughout this chapter, an unlikely friendship between the two boys develop. They begin to talk and learn more about one another rather than dwelling in fateful day of the ballgame; in other words, they let bygones be bygones.

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Reb Saunders Relationship Analysis

871 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, readers are introduced to Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders and the relationships between the teenaged boys and their fathers. David Malter, Reuven’s father, is a teacher and a voice of reason to Reuven throughout the novel. Reuven and David have a very close relationship that involves them talking often and questioning what the other is doing throughout their lives. Reb Saunders, Danny’s father, is a rabbi for Danny’s group of Hasidic Jews in their neighbourhood and is raising Danny to be the next rabbi for their people. Danny and Reb Saunders speak only while they are studying the holy books together and Reb Saunders has not spoken directly to Danny since he was four years old.

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Blindness In Chaim Potok's The Chosen

569 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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Spiritual Conflicts In The Promise By Chaim Potok

1558 Words | 7 Pages

These people along with Reuven’s ranting teacher, Rav Kalman, form the intricate web of conflicts and friendships in The Promise. After the summer Reuven continues his course under Kalman; Michael enters a center for mental treatment, and Danny becomes his therapist. Even

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Danny Saunders In The Chosen

462 Words | 2 Pages

Although Danny did not always agree with his father’s teachings, he made sure that Reuven never became his father’s

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Theme Of Children In Silence In Chaim Potok's The Chosen

943 Words | 4 Pages

As Reuven and Danny walk through the hallways of Danny’s family’s brownstone, all of Reb Saunders’s supporters step aside for Danny. Danny explains to Reuven, “Number one on our catechism: Treat the son as you would the father, because one day the son will be the father” (122). Reb Saunders’s supporters treat Danny very well, believing that Danny will continue the dynasty and take over his father’s position as a rabbi eventually. Later in the book, when Danny and Reuven are in college, Reuven is shocked to learn that Danny’s future wife has been promised to him. Danny says to Reuven, “That’s another reason it won’t be easy to break out of the trap.

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Reuven Malter And Danny Saunders In The Chosen By Chaim Potok

624 Words | 3 Pages

This irony continues throughout the book; specifically in their extraordinary friendship, their diametrical fathers, and their exchanged careers. When Danny and Reuven first meet, their schools play against each other in a baseball game. Evident tension bordering on hatred simmers between the Hasidim on one team and the Apikorsim on the other. Danny hits the

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Reb Saunders Character Analysis

442 Words | 2 Pages

Instead Reuven immediately jumps to the conclusion that something is bad when intended to be fun and enjoyable because of the unfamiliarity. This theme continues to occur when Reuven learns that Danny’s father, Reb Saunders, only speaks to Danny in silence and while studying the Talmud, he does not understand. This issue affects Reuven’s view of Reb Saunders by the way in which he chooses to raise his son. As Reuven learns that Danny does not quite understand the silence either, Reuven chooses not to accept silence as the way things must be. Reuven is in close relationship with his father and believes that Danny should be among the same environment.

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Similarities Between Danny And Reuven

648 Words | 3 Pages

That Reuven is no longer a little boy and is finally finding his place in the world. Danny’s father then goes on how his son has grown as well. Though a small part of the book, it just goes to show that the boy’s friendship ultimately changed and shaped their future

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The Chosen Character Analysis

719 Words | 3 Pages

His distinctive characters are shown throughout the incidents that had happened in the book. Many people appreciate Reuven because of his warm and kind conversations with his family and friends. To many readers, Reuven did demonstrate sympathetic, polite and generous throughout the story. After reading two-thirds of the book, one can quickly grasp that Reuven is quite different in character when compared to other teenage boys. Reuven to many followers of the book can be characterized as a sympathetic boy.

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