Chaim Potok’s The Chosen explores the idea of parental pressure. Potok’s subtext suggests that feeling trapped by one’s family can drive one to abandon them and their ideals, leaving one’s roots behind. Throughout the story, Danny Saunders, one of the main characters, feels that he is not free to make his own decisions, as he is in line to inherit his father’s position as a tzaddik. Danny feels like an ant, powerless in the face of what others have planned for him. Ultimately, however, Danny chooses to pursue a career as a psychologist in the secular world, rather than carry on the legacy of his religious family.
Danny feels that he is trapped by his father’s legacy without escape. He is the son of Reb Saunders, the leader of a Hasidic …show more content…
The only conversations they hold are about the Talmud. The emotional distance between Danny and his father leads him to live under a veil of secrecy. For example, Danny “sneaks” to the library every day after school to read secular books. Luckily, he finds a guide in the father of his new friend, Reuven Malter, who encourages Danny to read about the history of the Jewish people, advising him that: “The first important step in anyone’s education is to know your own people” (154). The historical accounts Danny reads astound him, changing his perspective on his own identity as a Hasid: “It’s awful to have someone give you an image like that of yourself” (153). His father’s censorship of resources that challenge the Hasidic traditions only leads Danny to seek them out even more. Not only does Danny consume the information with deep interest, he believes it as well, as his father is not available to give any of his own insight. “It feels terrible to have a great scholar like Graetz call Hasidism vulgar and disgusting. I never thought of my father as a priest of Baal” (153). Danny’s desperate hunger for knowledge outside of the confines of his father’s boundaries makes him quite impressionable. His father’s silence creates such a distance between them that Danny finds more comfort in the secular …show more content…
Though he has no idea how, he knows he must leave the Hasidic life, and his family, behind. The very fact that Danny feels he doesn't have a choice in life only motivates him all the more to defy his father’s wishes. As Reuven’s father observes: “Danny is now like a person waiting to be let out of jail. He only has one desire. To leave the jail. Despite what may be waiting for him outside” (270). By the middle of the story, though Danny decides he is going to become a psychologist, he hasn't fully planned out his future. While he is known throughout the story for his impeccable mind, his desperation for freedom and his fear of facing his father impedes his ability to make any tangible plans. When Reuven’s father learns that Danny has decided to become a psychologist, he stresses the need for a solid strategy: “it is important that Danny know exactly what he will tell his father” (270). As it turns out, however, Danny’s chosen path was perhaps known well before Danny himself was aware of it, by his
Danny feels that he is trapped by his father’s legacy without escape. He is the son of Reb Saunders, the leader of a Hasidic …show more content…
The only conversations they hold are about the Talmud. The emotional distance between Danny and his father leads him to live under a veil of secrecy. For example, Danny “sneaks” to the library every day after school to read secular books. Luckily, he finds a guide in the father of his new friend, Reuven Malter, who encourages Danny to read about the history of the Jewish people, advising him that: “The first important step in anyone’s education is to know your own people” (154). The historical accounts Danny reads astound him, changing his perspective on his own identity as a Hasid: “It’s awful to have someone give you an image like that of yourself” (153). His father’s censorship of resources that challenge the Hasidic traditions only leads Danny to seek them out even more. Not only does Danny consume the information with deep interest, he believes it as well, as his father is not available to give any of his own insight. “It feels terrible to have a great scholar like Graetz call Hasidism vulgar and disgusting. I never thought of my father as a priest of Baal” (153). Danny’s desperate hunger for knowledge outside of the confines of his father’s boundaries makes him quite impressionable. His father’s silence creates such a distance between them that Danny finds more comfort in the secular …show more content…
Though he has no idea how, he knows he must leave the Hasidic life, and his family, behind. The very fact that Danny feels he doesn't have a choice in life only motivates him all the more to defy his father’s wishes. As Reuven’s father observes: “Danny is now like a person waiting to be let out of jail. He only has one desire. To leave the jail. Despite what may be waiting for him outside” (270). By the middle of the story, though Danny decides he is going to become a psychologist, he hasn't fully planned out his future. While he is known throughout the story for his impeccable mind, his desperation for freedom and his fear of facing his father impedes his ability to make any tangible plans. When Reuven’s father learns that Danny has decided to become a psychologist, he stresses the need for a solid strategy: “it is important that Danny know exactly what he will tell his father” (270). As it turns out, however, Danny’s chosen path was perhaps known well before Danny himself was aware of it, by his