To Kill A Mockingbird And The Chosen Comparison

This semester I read two books, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Chaim Potok’s The Chosen. To Kill a Mockingbird is about the life of a young girl, her father, and her brother in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama during the mid 1930’s. It focuses on the unfair racial discrimination towards blacks during the time. The Chosen depicts the contrasting worlds of two Jewish boys and their friendship through high school and college. The story illustrates the rivalry between the Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. Although both novels are masterpieces, I enjoyed The Chosen more because it has a more exciting plot, characters I can relate too, and thought provoking conversations.

To Kill a Mockingbird was good, but I did not find the plot nearly as exciting as The Chosen’s. I feel The Chosen has a more active story line. New problems often appeared and the characters acted on them. I found myself reading past the required chapters because the plot drew me in. When I read To Kill a Mockingbird, reading felt like a chore. During The Chosen however, I looked forward to reading before I went to sleep. Although To Kill a Mockingbird is an incredible novel, I found The Chosen’s plot more fascinating.

Considering Danny and Reuben are much closer to my age group, I found their lives much more relatable than Scout’s. Most of Scout’s problems are along the lines of annoying brothers, reprimanding teachers, and spooky neighbors. Conversely, Danny and Reuben dealt with hardships such as World War II, opposing religions, and Danny’s tzadik father. Scout’s situations seem petty compared to theirs. The troubles that the boys faced are what made the book