The way that characters change in a text makes it worth reading. It is the way that characters change in a text that makes it worth reading, particularly when the change is driven by one of the text’s major themes. The Chosen, a novel by Chaim Potok, illustrates this by showing the change in Danny’s life through how he interacts with the theme of silence. Potok shows through the changes in Danny that the way we relate to an aspect of our lives affects our future. Through Danny’s life, this essay will examine how his view of silence changes his character, from the reluctantly dutiful acquiescence of his fate, through his years of silent rebellion, to his final understanding of silence and its effect on him. Danny's early life …show more content…
Danny’s pain and bewilderment and its transition into a sad acceptance of his reality were toppled by the introduction of Reuven into his life and his silent rebellion through book reading. Through secular books banned by his father, Danny learnt of the secular version of freedom, where everyone can make all the decisions influencing them. He was no longer willing to accept silence as part of his father’s plan for the greater good. Instead, Danny viewed silence as a wall opposing his freedom. The realisation of what silence kept him from is made clear in his conversations with Reuven, “‘Had I ever sat in a bus with my father for hours and not exchanged a single word of conversation…I didn't know how really lucky I was,’ he added, a little bitterly.” Danny’s bitterness becomes more apparent as he begins to resent and rebel against his father’s mandate of silence. Despite his rebellion, however, he still admires and respects him. “I respect and trust him completely… I don’t ever want to be trapped the way he’s trapped… [I want] to say the things I want to say.” During this difficult phase of his life, Danny is wrestling with the conflict between his enormous respect and trust in his father and his detestation of the intellectual strangulation brought about by silence and his culture. Danny’s heart-wrenching internal strife grips us as we watch his character change and react to his ongoing battle with his view of