Is it better for someone to stay silent and listen to the world, or let the world stay silent to listen to the person’s thoughts? Danny Saunders grows up in silence as the son of a Jewish Rabbi. The Chosen by Chaim Potok displays the growing friendship of two boys, who have singular views of their Jewish faith. An Orthodox Jew, Danny learns his beliefs from his father; Whereas Reuven, a Hasidic Jew carries different beliefs than that of his friend Danny. This can sometimes make it difficult for the friendship to grow. Although the two boys have different views, Danny illustrates his integrity to the reader as the two friends hit bumps along the road of their friendship, making him an exemplary character. In The Chosen, …show more content…
Reuven meets Danny in the library and they start discussing what Danny has learned through his reading. As Danny reads about the subconscious, he starts to tell Reuven about it. “’It’s ‘geheimenisvoll’. It means ‘full of secret’ That’s what the subconscious is, ‘geheimenisvoll.’” (157). Since Danny does not know much about the subconscious, he develops a curiosity for it wanting to find out more; Because of his curiosity, he teaches himself German so he can read about it from its original context. He expresses his great passion for learning as he talks to Reuven about the …show more content…
The Chosen displays the friendship of two boys who come from different aspects of the Jewish faith. Danny and his friend Reuven experience trials which test their friendship. Altogether, Danny and Reuven create a strong friendship, as they work together as a team, they can withstand all trials that come against them. In this process, Danny grows up in silence, he learns from it and exhibits his true character; Even if he might want to run away from the silence, he must learn to let it enrich his soul. “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.” Chaim