Theme Of Wisdom In Chaim Potok's The Chosen

All humans naturally desire wisdom. She reveals important truths about life, and leads those who follow her to godlier conduct and well-being. A good example of some of the teachings of wisdom can be found in The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. In Potok’s novel the protagonist, Reuven, a young Jewish student living in Boston during the Second World War, learns much about the world he lives in through the instructions wisdom gives him each day. Reuven’s life is not fast-paced or dangerous, but the lessons he learns throughout it are of much worth to any reader. In this award winning piece of literature wisdom teaches Reuven valuable lessons on judgement, knowledge, and silence through the life of his friend Danny Saunders. Danny and Reuven’s first steps towards friendship were not smooth. The first impression of someone like Danny was not particularly inviting. Reuven’s Orthodox Jewish background conflicted with Danny’s Hasidic …show more content…
Up until the very end of their college years Reuven does not see Rabbi Isaac Saunders talk to his son even once outside of Talmudic studies. As a result of his friend’s strange and slightly disturbing upbringing, Reuven sees an important aspect of silence. “I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all its own.” (262) Silence is…silent, yes, but it has a “noise” of its own to those who are willing to listen. Thoughts that cannot be put into words, raw emotions that lose their power once said out loud, even the quiet shining worth of life itself: all of these things express themselves through silence. Reuven learns that silence, though it has dangerous potential, is not empty. Reuven does not come to a clear conclusion on whether or not he agrees with Isaac Saunders’ methods of parenting, but his previous thoughts that Danny’s father was a cruel, merciless dictator are wiped away by the last chapter of the