The Chosenby Potok
- Characterization
- Mood
1. Hatred – Danny hates R and wants to kill him at the ball game, when R is pitching
- Setting
Second world war, starts right before D Day, in New York City.
At Danny’s house, the synagogue, Reuven’s house, the school, the college
Ch. 1 – Baseball game, Reuven begins to hate Danny, Danny smashes his glasses.
2- Still in hospital, been sleeping for a day. Monday now. He had a piece of glass in his eye, had to be operated on, now must wait for it to heal. Father came to check on him, father getting sick. Worried his eye may not heal. R talks w/neighbors Billy and Tony Savo.
3- D-day occurs, all over the radio. People are getting out of bed and relaying news. 3 guys listen to R’s radio. They call him bobby. Danny comes twice, to say he’s sorry. First time R won’t listen, second time he does. Danny’s sorry, he wanted to kill R at first. Mention danny’s father, he won’t settle for much less than a win.
4- Danny comes by again, they talk about what they want to be when they get older, and danny mentions the library. R tells him about math logic. Father comes, has known Danny from the library. R gets eye checked, scar tissue looks good, he can leave hosp. Billy has operation. Mr. Tony Savo had needed a lot of attention, but now he’s fine. R leaves the hosp. welcome to call Billy later.
Book II
5- R goes home, he sees things differently now, not taking sight for granted. Walks through the house, glad to be home and noticing details. Father doesn’t cough or look as pale anymore. Thinks about Danny,who’ll be over the next day.
6- Father tells R all about Danny, starting with the history of Hasidic Jews in Poland. Then he tells about a genius boy that always thirsted for more knowledge; very similar to Danny. Father wants Danny and R to be friends, D needs someone to trust. Father becomes sad mentioning R’s dead mother.
7- Reuven meets Danny’s father. First goes to his own syn. In the morning, then Danny comes to his house, waking him from a nap. Danny learns R has no mother; she died soon after his birth. Danny is going to tell his father they are friends. They talk a lot and learn a lot about each other. Pg116. D’s father brought many people over to America; he’s really a great man. They walk to D’s synagogue, people let them pass because D is the rabbi’s son and will inherit the position in time. R feels awkward, many people look at him w/disgust. Father comes to start the service, looks at R long and hard. R feels very uncomfortable. Service ends, little brother of D has been mimicking father throughout. Looks pale. Sit down to eat. Father continues staring at R, D&R don’t talk. Then another service, rabbi talks a lot, (p131) and uses gematriya. Then comes the test for D – father asks him if he’d like to speak, he must correct everything his father said incorrectly. Everyone watches, father also asks R if anything he wants to say. He says no, then remembers the gematriya was wrong at one point; he’s good at math. People then accept him because he knew the answer. More welcome/admired among them. Father is glad he is D’s friend now, but worries about what R’s father writes. D and R talk: D’s brother is sick, something about his blood. D never gets mistakes through his father’s tests. They’ll be going to the same college, and meeting at the library the next day. R comes home very late, his father says how D’s father was a great man but complicated.
8- Now a hero at school, for his injury. Meets D at the library, at the 3rd floor. Danny reads very quickly, R doesn’t want to disturb him so he watches for a while, and then does a logic problem in his head because he’s not allowed to read. Talk to each other, D is concerned how an author portrays rabbis like his father. Will talk to R’s dad. Mention psychology and dreams and the unconscious. D is learning German to read Freud. R discusses this w/his dad, dad feels bad about giving D books to read behind Reb Saunders’ back. D & R meet w/Reb for a talk one night, Reuven meets D’s family. Sister smiles. Danny, Reuven and Reb discuss the Talmud for a while, R finally adding his thoughts. When D gets tea, Reb asks R exactly what D is reading, he seems very sad and upset that his brilliant son is so smart and reading all these thing. D asks R later what they talked about and R must tell him, although he feels bad. Dad says that Reb talked to Danny through R, to explain the silence between father and son. Won’t talk more about it.
9- Reuven’s eye has healed, and he is fine. He calls up Billy; but his father answers. The surgery wasn’t successful. He and Billy moved to Albany. R can hardly speak, wanders around upset. Sees a fly stuck in a spider’s web and trying to release itself, he blows on the web so it is saved. It’s a trapped feeling, maybe like Billy’s ?
10- D & R see each other almost every day during the summer. Work on Talmud, D tries to read Freud. Realizes he must study it, not read, because it is too difficult otherwise and ridiculous. R and his dad go on vacation, see D after Labor Day. They talk by phone, meet at the library, feels like nothing has changed. But later, never got to discuss Freud.
11- Not much time to see one another, R is class president and has a lot of homework. D’s eyes have become tired easily and blink often. But he doesn’t need glasses. Middle of December: Germans launch an offensive and there’s lots of fighting. Listened to radio a lot. R hasn’t seen D in a month. D is vague on the phone, wants to see R very badly. Still no chance to really talk, even though seeing each other a few times. Finally the war is almost over in march. Reb is almost in tears at hearing it. Danny catches flu and cannot to seen or talked to. Pres. Roosevelt dies, very sad and shocking; he seemed immortal. Then R catches a flu, too, and misses a lot of work. Reb and father become ill afther, then at last the germans surrender on May 7. The no. of jews killed and the concentration camps are frightening and had been unknown. Reb feels it is god’s will, father does not agree. Even after his father recovers, he has a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital. R is offered to go and live with Danny, he moves in.
12- R was warmly accepted as a member of the family the whole time he spent with them. D’s mother fed him well, sister was pretty and teased a lot, brother poked at his food, and father was silent and withdrawn, suffering. He would weep during a meal and have to leave, but no one mentioned it. D & R did everything that month, had a schedule. Only time father talked to D was when discussing the Talmud which was upsetting to R. Finally R hears about Freud, and becomes as upset as Danny, wondering how one can believe both the Talmud and Freud. He visited his father, who was very frail and got worked up over how cruely the Jews were treated. He believes that the Americans have a job of fixed the Jew situation and that Palestine should be a Jewish state and homeland. One morning at breakfast Reuven mentioned this to Reb…and got a disastrous reaction. Reb got very angry and upset, saying people must wait for the Messiah. Would have thrown him out if he knew that R’s father said that first. Reuven feels bad but never expected it. Danny talks about his brother at the library in the last week of July. He says how good a kid his brother is, smart too, although sick, and says he thinks his brother would make a good tzaddik. He wouldn’t be breaking the cycle if his brother became the next one. He hasn’t told his father yet, but wants R there to help him when he does. D can’t stand the silence between he and his father. R’s father comes home, bombs are dropped on Japan. The boys go to college, and D has only changed in that he wears glasses now.
Book III
13- Danny feels miserable about college, doesn’t like his psychology professor. R tells about what the school looks like and how he spends a lot of time on Talmud. D becomes more upset, students ask him about Talmud but he doesn’t enjoy it. R tries to get D to talk to Prof. appleman, but it takes a lot of persuasion because D thinks P. Ap. Won’t listen to him about Freud and dislikes him so much. Eyes still bothering him. Reb has been wondering if R&D are still friends; hasn’t seen R in a while. R’s dad has become very involved in Zionist activities, meetings, rallies, etc. Very tired, not in great health. He still talks to R about D and Freud, inductive logic and similarities to experimental psychology. R wants his dad to take it easy and take care of himself, but his father claims it’s not the time to relax. He says that when he does die, he wants to be worthy of the rest he will receive. He wants to fill his life with meaning, but the thought of death scares Reuven. But he will still go to the checkup, for R’s sake. Mention ‘Jack Rose’ giving money, R says he will become a rabbi even with a lot of ‘JR’s’ in them. Foreshadowing – father wonders what will happen when Reb finds that D is friends w/the son of a Zionist. R goes to the library and sees how different exp. psyc is from Freud, feeling sorry for Danny. Danny talks to the prof., learns he’s a fine person, knows a lot about Freud, and explained how Freud only chose to look at abnormal cases. D feels better about it all and more relaxed. Now R will help D w/his math, in the lunch room. R doesn’t see much of his father, but talks to him about the proposed jewish state of Palestine, and Zionist meetings, discussions about the state and wars, etc. Students at the college become divided. D can’t join the Zionists because he is so respected on the Hasidic side. Almost a fist fight. R’s father goes to give a speech on Zionism, but there’s a snowstorm that day…R fears his father will come home upset. But there’s a great turnout, many people come and agree with father and the senator. This causes more division between the Jews. Turning point of story? D’s father forbids D to go anywhere w/in 4 feet of R or to talk to him at all, because he is the son of a Zionist. D’s father believes they should wait for the Messiah before founding the state. R is very upset by this and calls Reb a fanatic, although his father had seen it coming and told R that fanatics are what he needs to found the state; that Reb is a good person. R thinks about everything he did with D that night.
14- R sees D frequently but does not talk to him at all. He hates the silence and his schoolwork reflects his feelings. Danny looks worse, but they cannot talk. R feels hatred toward Reb Saunders through the whole semester. More fist fights and anti-Zionist pamphlets. Bad things continue happening in Palestine, more and more people are killed. But by next semester R is able to put D behind him and do much better with his schoolwork. Some communication happens, nods of head or looking at each other. R is moved to Rav Gershenson’s Talmud class where D already is. He asks very hard questions, students are silent at times. Only calls on R once, then a long time of not asking him questions. Father becomes much weaker, UN votes in favor of a Jewish state and they both are very happy. But there is more harm done to the Jews and the anti-Zionists become silent; sad about the killing. R has all A’s. His father suffers another heart attack and is in the hosp. for a long time while R is alone at home with Manya. D briefly touches his hand in comfort. R studies the Talmud a lot, figuring everything out and working very hard and methodically. Alone. Finally called on by Rav to explain a very tough passage – he goes on for a long time explaining and giving many details. Silence from Rav, but listening intently. Calls on R 4 days in a row, R doesn’t hesitate to answer. Called upon after class because Rav doesn’t want R to say anything more that may contradict the Hasidic Jews. But he thinks father is a great scholar and will call on R more, thinks he’s smart.
15- Father comes back from the hospital must rest a lot. D and R communicate w/nods of heads, eyes, and gestures. Father says that he had been asked to be a delegate and go to Palestine, but can’t now because he worked SO hard that he’s too frail to go. No mention of it again, but he seems sad about it. Israel becomes independent in May, but there are more killings and a former graduate dies while in Israel. Very upsetting; the anti-Zionist leaflets disappear. More A’s for R. Then as more people are killed in Israel, the anti-Zionists disappear completely. One day in late spring D finally comes over to R’s table, sits down and asks for some help w/his psychology work and graphs.
16- R very glad but surprised to hear D again. Ban lifted. Asks how D takes the silence, D says he learns to live with it. D and R meet again as they used to, 2 years ago. D is now enjoying exp psyc and enjoys it. Wants to go into clinical psyc, w/people. D will try to get into Columbia for a doctorate, but his father doesn’t know yet. Both amazed at what the other is becoming as a lifelong profession; rabbi and psychologist. D’s sister is married and R attends the wedding but doesn’t want to talk long to Reb. He also dislikes her new husband, a Hasid. Finally R goes to see Reb but doesn’t talk long, there are other people who want to see him. Reb wants to see R again soon, but R dislikes him even more than before he saw him.
17- R makes a joke about silence unintentionally, and D says that he has learned to listen to the silence and hear it, but he can only hear it when he wants to. Still not speaking to his father. R says that D should get himself a girl, D reminds him that his wife has already been chosen, another reason why it’s so hard to break out of the trap. D’s brother has his bar mitzvah, he is tall and thing and very fragile, but you can see that he will do anything to cling to life, even if he must depend forever on the pills. He becomes very sick the next day, D is in a panic because he was hoping his brother could take his place so as to not break the dynastic cycle. R’s father wonders why R is so upset the brother is ill, R tells him everything about D’s future doctorate plans. His father is upset that D decided this so long ago, and talks about the pain it will cause Reb. Tells R to tell D that he must think through what he will say to his father when he will leave. Father says silence is a way of bringing up children, but he does not agree nor understand it. D’s brother is released, but on new pills. D is applying to Harvard, Berkeley and Columbia, but w/o his father’s knowledge. R tells what his father said, and D eludes to the fact that he cannot be a Hasid anymore once he practicing psychology. D comes to talk w/R’s father, who says that he must figure this out himself and think through anything Reb may ask him. He says D’s father will explain the silence to him eventually. D is accepted into all the colleges, but wants to go to Columbia. His father must have seen the envelopes but said nothing about them. D’s sister is pregnant. Says that his father is only silent w/him, not his brother or sister. Reb keeps asking to see R, many times, but R studies w/his father on Shabbat. Turns into spring from winter, and D becomes very worried about what his father might say at any moment. Keeps asking for R to come over. Now there’s an invitation to Passover. R’s father is mad at him for not telling him about the invitations, saying that Reb has been talking to him all this time, really wanting to know more info about Danny. He’ll go on Sunday, he tells D, but D can tell something is wrong.
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18- R goes to see D. Stops in to look at the synagogue, ‘hearing’ all the past whispers of memories, of gematriya, mistakes, quizzes, staring at his eye. He knows that soon he and D will go separate ways, like the branches on a tree. Danny is anxious and fearful, hesitating at the door before they see his father. Reb says that they both have become men, they are no longer boys. He says they will both go different ways, indicating he has known that Danny will not become a tzaddik or rabbi, while Reuven will become a rabbi. D is shocked, moans. Reb gives a long speech about people that are born with a spark, and they must nurture the spark so that it becomes something, and not just an empty shell. He had a brother that did not nurture the spark, did not know of others’ sufferings, and had no heart or soul or compassion. Reb did not want a son that did not have a soul, he’d have rather no son. He saw what a mind D had, but he prayed for D to also have a soul, although it seemed he did not. He said that his own father, D’s grandfather, would tell him stories of sadness and suffering so that he would cry. He was taught by silence, the way he taught and raised Danny. He was taught to look inside himself to find the answers, and to hold and carry all the pain of his own people, since he was a rabbi. Reb knows R does not understand, and while he speaks directly to R, he is truly speaking to D, who –does- understand. Reb cries and Danny cries as well. Reb says that Reuven and his father were a blessing to him, because they gave him a way for his son to rebel; D was ready to rebel. Reb already knew that R had a soul, just by the way that D had talked about him at first. And he has known about the books, universities, and sadness in D’s soul. He wants D to become a psychologist. D will be a tzaddik. The world needs a tzaddik, and he will be a tzaddik for the world. Then Reb speaks his son’s name. He asks if D will shave off his earlocks and beard, D nods. He asks if D will remain an observer of the 10 commandments, and D nods again. He asks Reuven for forgiveness about how harsh he was towards R’s father and the Zionism. He could not take the fact that his brother had died, but not for the Jewish state. Reb leaves the room. Danny cries for a very long time, so upset. R & D take a long walk, and eventually R goes home to his father and tells him everything. His father does not care for that way of raising a son, but perhaps it is the only way to raise a tzaddik. On Sunday Reb announces that his son will go on to become a psychologist. The congregation is shocked and upset, but they wil go along with whatever Reb asks. D’s marriage is also called off. Both boys graduated from HirschCollege, earning degrees summa cum laude (with greatest praise). Danny comes over for one last evening, to say goodbye. He has shaved, and his father feels he doesn’t know him. But now D and his father talk. D tells R’s father that he will most likely raise his son in silence as well. He leaves, but he will come again. R will visit again too. Danny is eager to start his new life.