The Chosen By Chaim Potok Analysis

Is it necessary to know the author in order to fully understand his/her story? The question is answered through the example of Chaim Potok’s life. The Chosen is one of Potok’s most famous works, for both its eloquent writing and its addressing of pressing issues for Jewish people. Chaim Potok, in his novel, The Chosen, alludes to aspects of his own childhood, education, and career to reveal and further characterize both Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders.
The life of Chaim Potok is one which can be categorized as the typical life of a Hasidic Jew, but with interesting hints of modern culture as well. Chaim Potok was raised in a Hasidic family with similar experiences as a Jewish people. Chaim Potok, the son of two refugees, grew up in the Bronx …show more content…
Potok focuses both on the difficulties involving the integration of Jewish culture with American culture. The book begins with a baseball game between Reuven’s team and Danny’s team, which is the Hasidic team. Reuven is hit in the eye with a line-drive from Danny, and needs medical attention. At the hospital, he meets Billy Merritt and Tony Savo, both characters who lost their sight. Danny eventually visits Reuven in the hospital and becomes friends with him as he begins to study the Talmud with him and his father. Reuven Malter plays the role of the Jew who conforms to American culture, and Danny Saunders encompasses the Hasidic Jew. The cultural struggle exemplified here paints a bigger picture of the conflict, while Reuven and Danny’s situation is a more specific …show more content…
Chaim Potok’s sadness over The Holocaust is shown through the depression shared in the Malter family. Reuven reiterates his family’s depression over the Holocaust, “He talked of nothing else but European Jewry and the responsibility American Jews now carried” (196). With David Malter informing Reuven a great deal about the Zionist movement, Chaim Potok experienced more of Danny’s side, due to his Hasidic