The Chosen - Malters Development Essays - The Chosen, The Promise

The Chosen - Malter's Development One of the most emotional scenes from Chaim Potok's The Chosen is when Reuven goes with Danny Saunders to talk to his father. Danny has a great mind and wants to use it to study psychology, not become a Hasidic tzaddik. The two go into Reb Saunders' study to explain to him what is going to happen, and before Danny can bring it up, his father does. Reb Saunders explains to the two friends that he already known that Reuven is going to go for his smicha and Danny, who is in line to become the next tzaddik of his people, will not. This relates to the motif of "Individuality" and the theme of "Danny's choice of going with the family dynasty or to what his heart leads him." The most developing character from the novel is Reuven Malter. One of the ways that he developes in the novel is in hus understanding of friendship. His friendship with D\fanny Saunders is encouraged by his father, but he is wary of it at first because Danny is a Hasid, and regards regular Orthodox Jews as apikorsim because of the teachings of his father. Reuven goes from not being able to have a civil conversation with Danny to becoming his best friend with whom he spens all of his free time, studies Talmud and goes to college. Reuven truly grows because he leans, as his father says, what it is to be a friend. Another way that Reuven grows is that he learns to appreciate different people and their ideas. He starts out hating Hasidim because it's the "pious" thing to do, even though his father (who I see as the Atticus Finch of this novel) keeps telling him that it's okay to disagree with ideas, but hating a person because of them is intolerable. Through his friendship with Danny, studies with Reb Saunders, brief crush on Danny's sister (who was never given a name), and time spent in the Hasidic community, he learns that Hasids are people too with their own ideas and beliefs that are as valuable as his. He learns why they think, act, speak, and dress the way that they do and comes to grips with the fact that he doesn't have a monopoly on virtue. A third way in which Reuven grows, though the book doesn't really talk about it a great deal, is in his appreciation of life, or cha'im in Hebrew. He almost loses his vision, his father nearly works himself to death, six million Jews are butchered in Europe, and Danny's brother's poor health threatens Danny's choice to not become a tzaddik. When his eye is out of order he can't read, and indeed does remark that it's very difficult to live without reading, especially with a voracious appetite for learning such as his. His father almost dies twice and he talks about how difficult it is to live all alone in silence (which is a metaphor alluding to Danny's everyday life) for the month while his father is in the hospital. He sees Reb Saunders and his father feeling the suffering of the six million dead, Saunders by crying and being silent, David Malter by working for the creation of a Jewish state and being a leader in the movement, in addition to teaching at a yeshiva and adult education classes. And of course Danny is very worried by his brother's illness (hemophillia?) because if he dies it will be even harded for Danny to turn down his tzaddikship. By the end of the book, Reuven Malter is a very changed character. Potok is an expert with using allusion and metaphor. Very subtly throughout the book he uses this for the purposes of renforcing his points, foreshadowing, and to make the book a better read when you've read it previously and know the outcome. One example of this, one that I missed the first time I read the book in 7th grade is the paragraph at the end of chapter nine where Reuven is sitting on his porch and sees a fly trapped in a spider's web with the arachnid builder approaching. He blows on the fly, first softly,

Life Essays

Life Essays Life Essay Life Essay Due Date: You will choose a time period from the 1 asss to the SASS: Research what was going socially, politically, economically during that time period You are then going to write a paper analyzing the time period and whatever topic you have chosen trying to express the connection between time, place and societal happenings and an aspect of the Humanities. Ex. Talk about an art movement etc, that occurred during the time period you choose. You might want to go the route of picking out songs that were popular during the time and analyze how the lyrics reflect the sentiment of the time. You might want to pick a film like Easy Rider and tell why you think it represents the mindset of freedom of the open road and restlessness of the sixties. Another Idea you might try Is research a type of music and how It reflected the time period. An example of this Is to look at the Jazz music In the sasss and tell about It represented a frenetic energy of time. You could look at how teens dressed In the fifties In comparison to how they began to dress In the slates and explain what was going on in the different decades to cause the difference. There are many different angles to go with on this assignment. The main thing you want to get out of this is how music, fashion, art, literature etc. Reflect what is going on in society at a given time period. You might want to even look at when a certain type of art began and see if there was anything going during that time in the art realm that made print making a much needed art form. You could look at a style of art such as graffiti or performance art and see when and where it began and analyze what was going on at the location or time period that facilitated the art form growing. You might want to look at Beat Poetry and see how the poets voiced the happening of the offs and sasss. You might want to analyze hip hop music and compare It to something like slave narratives and see how each may or may not reflect the different voices and mindsets of the African American cultures. As one of the examples that will be posted a detent wrote on the Star Wars phenomenon and how it affected American pop culture over past several decades Write a paper on a specific art or literature movement. Or you may choose an artist, or singer whose music or art may be a representation of a specific time period. Singer. You might want to focus on a specific religion or philosophy of a specific time period. You could also look at modern movies such as Super-Size Me and analyze why the fast food culture has harmed Americans and their health. Using a film to convey a state of societal concern or mindset has become very popular with films such as Bowling for Columbine and Super-Size Me to add social commentary about timely topics such as obesity and opinions on gun control. For Instance The Columbine Shootings re-awakened the right to bear arms debate that has been going on for decades and centuries, the question Is winy 010 It so napped Tanat tons tragedy re-awakened teen Tate to a null fever pitch. Was it the power of film? Was it Americans saying enough we have to protect ourselves within our own borders and against our neighbors? Whatever the opinion or answer it reflects societal mindset and perhaps a change in that mindset. Another idea might be to look at the representation of the human body in art at efferent time periods, in B.