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The Chosen By Chaim Potok: A Literary Analysis

838 Words4 Pages

What separates a good book from a bad one? Well, the choice lies in the hands of the readers. One can learn about a book from reading other people’s reviews, but the only way of deciding wether the book becomes a forgotten piece of literature lying in a dark corner or a prized and beloved treasure added to a beautiful shelf would be opinion. One book treasured by one could seem as a worthless story by another simply because the same book with the same plot is viewed by people with different opinions. By deciding that one book seems better than another, the person judging does not and should not ignore the value of the other. Looking at two wonderful pieces of literary art, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and The Chosen, by Chaim Potok with personal opinion, I would come to the conclusion that The Chosen exceeds To Kill a Mockingbird in many ways. The Chosen proves more preferable to me due to it having a more relatable theme, an easy-to-follow storyline, and a better sense of completion. An undeniable fact is, both books have great themes. However, my preference, The Chosen, contains a theme more relatable and important to people today. To Kill a Mockingbird was first written to bring awareness to racial discrimination and support the civil rights movement which was at its height during 1960, …show more content…

However, my opinion on the books places The Chosen over To Kill a Mockingbird due to the relatable theme, easy-to-follow plot, and the sense of completion it offers. Although, there are many aspects of To Kill a Mockingbird that exceed aspects of The Chosen. For example, the theme of racial discrimination in To Kill a Mockingbird, though not as relatable, addresses a much bigger and important message to its original audience. In different eyes, the books could seem very different. After all, the value of books are not decided by the book themselves, but by the readers with their own

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To choose or to be chosen; which is better? The gift of choice is something not bestowed upon everyone, and this is especially true for the main character of Chaim Potok’s The Chosen. The novel describes the life of two boys, Danny Saunders and Reuven Malter, one of which has been granted the freedom to choose his own destiny, and the other has already had his life mapped out since the day of his birth. Throughout his childhood and much of his adolescence, Danny struggled between the life he wants and the one chosen for him by his father, Reb Saunders, the rabbi a Hasidic congregation. As the eldest son of his family, Danny has been born into the position of the future rabbi of his temple, however, he yearns for something much different.

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To Kill a Mockingbird is famous for its controversy. In fact, it has been banned from being read at many schools for its use of racial, sexual, and political content, all of these aiding the book’s “big ideas”. To Kill a Mockingbird has many themes. For example, one is about racial injustice. You would think a jury would establish their final decision based upon the facts, but in this book, the jury had already made up its mind once it heard that the case was a white man versus a black man.

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Friendship is a wonderful yet confusing thing. This concept is brilliantly displayed in Chaim Potok’s The Chosen. In the book, the main character, Reuven, and Danny Saunders become friends through an interesting turn of events during a baseball game, the short version being that Danny ended up putting Reuven in the hospital with a baseball in the eye. After Reuven gets over some feelings of bitterness towards Danny, the two grow to be great friends. There are many difficulties when it comes to friendship, but the beauty of a good friendship is that good friends can power through them.

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