Analysis Of The Chosen By Chaim Potok

Differences between people often cause resentment and anger. In chapter one of Chaim Potok’s novel “The Chosen” the main character, Reuven, is confronted with an unfamiliar Hasidic baseball team. Potok uses Reuven’s first person point of view to reveal Reuven’s conflicting emotions towards Danny and his baseball team.

Potok begins his novel with a striking sentence to set the tone for the first chapter acknowledging that the main character, Reuven, and another boy Danny live “within five blocks” of each other, but have never met or even known of the other boy before. This single sentence indicates that the Jewish community is very isolated, even between specific Jewish sects. Reuven’s inner dialogue continues to reveal that Danny’s “block” of the neighborhood is populated with Hasidic Jews who all follow Danny’s father. Further describing them as “Russian Hasidic Jews” who were very traditional and whose “habits” came from their “homeland” Reuven’s narration takes on a tone that suggests he thinks of them as radical and different then his own sect of “Orthodox Jews”. Reuven’s view of Danny’s Hasidic sect is one of an outsider who doesn’t understand their lifestyle.

He again shows another difference between Danny and himself by pointing out that they attend different schools because each sect had a specific school they went to. By also mentioning that his school was “looked down upon” by other Jewish parochial schools because it offered more “English subjects” and taught Jewish subjects in “Hebrew”, Reuven hints that his particular sect is substantially more relaxed and open to change than other Hasidic sects like Danny’s. By listing all of the differences between Danny and Reuven, Potok shows that before the two boys ever meet they will have already formed an opinion about the other. Before knowing of Danny’s existence, Reuven draws the conclusion that his Hasidic sect is traditional and arrogant simply because practice their religion

Before the game Reuven describes the weather as a “warm” and “sunny” day hinting at the “happy feeling” of summer in order to provide a false sense of contentment. As a striking contrast, Potok portrays the game as a “war” and the other team “the enemy”. Reuven’s gym instructor, Mr. Galanter, becomes more of a coach than a general, using more military terms than softball terms. Another indication that the softball game would be more than a friendly sporting event comes from Reuven’s friend, Davey Cantor. Before the game, Davey repeatedly warns Reuven that the members of the other team are “murderers”. Potok adds the secondary character of Davey Cantor in order to foreshadow the intense, aggressive nature of the impending softball game. Specifically showing Reuven dismissing Davey’s warning as unimportant and doubtful creates an ominous tone for the game. Reuven dismissive attitude towards the baseball game shows that he isn’t really concerned with Danny or his