In his book The Promise Chaim Potok leads the reader on a heartbreaking journey full of spiritual conflict and decision. As a sequel to The Chosen, The Promise picks up with Reuven Malter, the main character and a Jewish man now in his mid-twenties, attending Hirsch University, a Jewish seminary in Brooklyn, New York. Reuven keeps his friendship with Danny Saunders, whom he met on a baseball field during his teenage years and later went to college with, even though they now go their separate ways as Reuven becomes a rabbi, and Danny practices psychology. During the summer Reuven dates Rachel Gordon, the niece of Abraham Gordon, a man excommunicated from the Jewish society, and meets Abraham’s son, Michael, a stubborn teen with a mental issue. Also, over the same summer Reuven’s father, David Malter, wrote a controversial book about the Talmud. These people along with Reuven’s ranting teacher, Rav Kalman, form the intricate web of conflicts and friendships in The Promise. After the summer Reuven continues his course under Kalman; Michael enters a center for mental treatment, and Danny becomes his therapist. Even …show more content…
With many problems stemming from each other, the book keeps readers interested in how the ordeal will work out. For instance, the conflict between Reuven, his professor, and the Gordons keeps people reading eagerly and with trepidation– will Reuven follow his professor’s warning that he should “not set foot in that school,” or will Reuven continue to see the Gordons? Also, Potok makes the reader contemplate religious questions. From questions like “[d]o you believe the world was created in six days” to less obvious questions about how a person should treat others with different beliefs, The Promise causes the reader to view his or her life and beliefs through the book’s questions. Undeniably, Potok draws the reader in through the many problems and the questions that stem from
While silence is not considered to be the absolute best way to rear children, one cannot deny the effect and impression it made on not only Danny, but also the Malters. Even Reuven’s father at times remained silent when he could have mentioned things about which he had prior knowledge, not completely dissimilarly to Reb Saunders’ approach. One could assume that he desired for Reuven (and Danny, by default) to come to certain realizations himself. Regardless of the motivations behind any character’s choice of silence, this epigraph genuinely depicts the alleged value of silence
Last but not least another important event is Reb Saunders finally speaking to his son, while telling Danny about why he has not spoken to him since childhood. Danny and Reuven's friendship starts
Reuven was glad that Danny came to visit again despite their previous encounter. after sending Danny away, he was surprised at his own actions and had come to regret it at the end. His own father reminded him that the Talmud says that if a person is willing to apologize for his own wrongdoing, then you must at least try to understand and forgive him and that is exactly what Reuven intends to do after feeling angry and depressed with himself from what he had said to Danny. Throughout this chapter, an unlikely friendship between the two boys develop. They begin to talk and learn more about one another rather than dwelling in fateful day of the ballgame; in other words, they let bygones be bygones.
In his novel The Chosen Chaim Potok uses vision as a motif to show the reader that someone’s perception of things can change. In the novel, vision symbolizes the ability to see the world. The importance of perception is shown throughout the book. One of the main examples of this is after Reuven leaves the hospital. He says that “everything looks different”, but he doesn't mean this literally.
In their own unique ways, all three men show the importance of a strong friendship. Danny Saunders portrays a young man waiting to leave for college and do as he pleases. His father, Reb Saunders, loves Danny very much, but he never shows his affection for Danny openly. As a young teenager, Danny starts to assume his father does not talk to him because he is too busy. Progressing into the book, Danny meets a young teen around his age named Reuven Malter.
Once he becomes friends with Danny, he finally has someone he can open up to outside of his father, and some he can spend a lot of time with. Despite the close relationship with his father, Mr. Malter is not at home very often and is not able to spend much time with his son. Once Reuven meets Danny, he has another extremely close friend who he can talk to and share his feelings with. His friendship really allowed him to learn more about Hasidic Jews, it helped him grow as a person by teaching him to accept other people groups, and it helped him learn more about the Talmud through conversations with Danny and his father.
The main protagonists of the story, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, represent the two opposing sects. The story depicts how these two sects looked at each other on unfriendly terms at beginning, but learned to set their differences aside and got along very well at last. Reuven and Danny experienced multiple hardships, as their cultures clashed and nearly destroyed their friendship. The author
The Saunders, Malter, and Merrit family all demonstrate their own ways of family loyalty. To start, Reb Saunders loves his son very much, but displays his love in a way that the characters and even the readers do not understand. He raises Danny up in silence. At the end of the book, Mr. Saunders reveals his reasons for not regularly talking to Danny and explained, “‘He taught me to look into myself, to find my own strength, to walk around inside myself in company with my soul’ (284)”. Reb Saunder’s believed silence would help teach Danny to grow up with both a mind and soul.
He is not interested in the novel until his instructor mentions the critics of the novel and where it should end. Similar to these critics, the class debates whether Twain’s ending draws away from his critique of Racism and Graff found that even famous authors were capable of mistakes that could be found at his level. Now that the author has controversies to watch out for, he is able to draw a personal engagement form the books he reads as the arguments of critics guided his reading. Due to the controversy over Twain’s novel, the author then has a realization that reading and intellectual discussion could have an effect on his life, and he became less embarrassed about doing such
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.
Darl burns the barn to free his mother’s body from the injustice that Anse selfishly keeps going. Jewel refuses to give this to his mother because his love blinds him from the logic. He instead saves her reeking, decaying corpse. The Bundrens declare Darl insane. Not because any member of the family thinks him insane, but because of their own selfishness.
This book leaves the reader hanging with many thoughts and ideas as well as having to read more
While Reuven was at a hospital, after getting hit in the eye at a baseball game, Danny, a Jewish boy who is also Reuven’s best friend, went to visit him .When Reuven saw Danny, he immediately dismissed Danny out of his room in a rude way. Danny left immediately. He understood that Reuven doubted Danny’s innocence. By the actions that the author made Reuven commit of being rude, he revealed that Reuven is a mean and rude person.
Growth or Fixed Mindset In Carol Dweck’s article “The Perils of Praise and Promise” she explains the difference between a growth and fixed mind-set. Dweck says” In a fixed mind-set, students care first and foremost about how they will be judged; smart or not smart. Repeatedly students with this mind-set reject opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes.
The Champion’s Mind by Jim Afremow imparts the knowledge of proven winners, in their respective sports, into your life, so that you too may accomplish set goals with proven mental exercises. In this novel, Afremow focuses on the psychological aspect of sports, singling out tested and proven techniques of strengthening the mind in order to strengthen your game, whether it be on the court, in the classroom, or in the office. Time after time, Afremow shows us how to train our minds through various exercises, and teaches us how to use our newly trained minds to achieve success in our field. By establishing a step-by-step plan that targets daily progress, rather than big picture improvement, Afremow helps us discover how to turn our dream performances into reality. As the