Identify a particular image that stood out for you in Chapter 1. Describe in detail what you envision and why you think it struck you. End your post w/ a question. (Note page #s.) Skip a line between paragraphs since you cannot indent on the blog.
Also, reply to at least one student's post.
Potok includes a significant amount of vivid imagery in his book “The Chosen.” The descriptions he includes about moments and people makes the story seem real. When describing the characteristics of Danny Saunders, I noticed something very interesting. Phrases like “jutting hard lines” and “steep angle” were used frequently (12). The strong descriptive words of Danny’s facial features seems to show that Reuven is noticing how fierce he is. It is also clear that Reuven thinks Danny’s personality is just as harsh. “I did not like his Hasidic-bred sense of superiority” (12). At this point, there had been no interactions between the two of them so it shocked me that Reuven was defining his personality already, just by looking at him. However, it is very common to create a notion about someone just by their looks. In fact, I also felt this sense of boldness and dominance in Danny just by reading the description of him.
ReplyDeleteBecause of how Rueven describes Danny, I envision Reuven standing a little taller around him and feeling like he needs to beat him. I wonder if this sort of battle for supremacy will continue between them. On page 24 Reuven says he hates Danny. Through Danny’s actions does it seem as if the hate is mutual and they will butt heads?
Even though at one point in Chapter One Reuven says he hates Danny, I do not think that he will butt heads with Danny or that the two of them will have a mutual hate for each other. The very first sentence of the book hints at the friendship that I think is coming: “For the first fifteen years of our lives, Danny and I lived within five blocks of each other and neither of us knew of the other’s existence” (3). To me, this feels like it is foreshadowing the development of an important relationship between the two of them.
DeleteMy impression of what's to come was reinforced a couple pages later. Reuven, the narrator said, “Danny and I probably would have never met—or we would have met under altogether different circumstances…” (5). To me, the tone of this is one you use with people who are near and dear to your heart. I'm interested in seeing if they become friends, and if there are more bumps in the road in the development of the friendship I think they are going to have.
It does indeed seem that they mutually hate each other during chapter 1, but I also think they will overcome this and become friends over the course of the book. I also agree with Lily. That quote on pages 3 and 5 do seem to foreshadow the development of an important relationship, and I wouldn't be surprised if the focus of the book is how they learn to overcome their differences and become friends. It's also worth noting that Danny's father, Reb Saunders, appears to be a very important figure in his community. He founded the school that Danny goes to (4), and the jews of that sect were fiercely loyal to Reb (3). I think this has played a big role in Danny's development of that sense of "boldness and dominance" that you describe. I also think this trait is going to appear further on in the book, and is going to become an obstacle that Danny and Reuven are going to have to overcome.
DeleteChaim Potok's The Chosen” is full of detailed description, but the image created in my minds eye when he describes the feeling Rueven has while warming up for the game was exceptionally clear. “It was a warm and sunny day, and there was the smooth happy feeling of summer soon to come…” (6). When I read this, I immediately thought back to past school years, and the feeling of the last few weeks of class, when your work is all but finished, it’s finally warm, and everyone is in good spirits. Everything just feels “smooth” as Potok described it, from the perfectly mild air, to the soft grass and the buzz of excitement as people discuss their plans for the coming summer. I think it is because I can relate so heavily to the the mellow, happy feeling Rueven has, that that particular line of the chapter stood out to me.
ReplyDeleteWhen Rueven got hit in the eye by the ball Danny hit however, I doubt he continued to feel so content. Even before being hurt, his happy feeling faded, and he began to feel angry and dislike Danny. After his injury, I wonder if he will be able to keep playing baseball, and how his summer will be effected by it?
After reading the last lines of the chapter, I was wondering the same thing. Especially since Reuven said this happened at the end of the game “ Mr. Glanter to come over to me at the end of the game, take one look at my face, and go running out of the yard to call a cab.” (34). For a man like Mr. Galanter, who is full of military sayings and spirits, to run and call a cab, which is going to the hospital, I'm assuming, must mean the injury is very serious. Also Reuven needs to get a new pair of glasses and heal both which can take a long time.
DeleteIf Danny has to spend his summer recovering from injury, I bet he might get quite angry at Danny because he was the one who caused his injury and because Danny and Reuven had clashed previously. So Reuven might spend a lot of time brooding over what to do about Danny and I think their relationship is not going to be a good one after Reuven recovers.
Jessica S.
DeleteAfter reading this chapter, I was also wondering what the effects would be after Reuven was hit with the ball. When Reuven said, “The pain in my left eye was so intense I could feel it in the base of my spine” (30), that seems to show that his injury is pretty severe. Eyes are very delicate, so if his injury ends up being more severe, it could take a longer time to heal in order to make sure it heals properly. If this is the case, I think Reuven will be even more upset with Danny and want absolutely nothing to do with him. I’m interested to see what comes from this injury, and how it will affect Danny and Reuven’s current dislike of each other over the Summer.
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, is full of vivid imagery. One piece of vivid imagery that stood out to me in the first chapter was the detailed description of the narrator, Reuven, making a catch against Danny Saunders. Reuven was able to predict where Danny would hit the ball, based on his previous at-bats and position himself perfect to make a fantastic catch in a really important game. “The ball hit the pocket of my glove with an impact that that numbed my hands and went through me like an electric shock, and I felt the force pull me backwards and throw me off balance, and I came down hard on my left hip and elbow” (26). The way that Potok describes this event really allowed me to picture it happening while I was reading. I think that this moment struck me because of the developing plot of the book. As a reader, I could see how the rivalry developing between Reuven and Danny in this chapter is going to play a huge role in the rest of the book. So the possibility of Reuven getting injured and that hindering his team's ability seemed really important.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the chapter, we find out that Reuven has gotten hurt after getting hit by Danny’s ball. Ending the chapter with the image of the coach running off to get a cab creates some suspense about the impact of this moment between Reuven and Danny. My question is how is Reuven's injury, which was caused by Danny, going to affect the development of their relationship throughout the book?
After leaving off on such a suspenseful note, I was wondering the same thing. As I explained in my response, it seemed like the feeling of hatred was already showing itself between the two of them. Danny’s solid bats was a perfect match for Reuven’s tactical catches and neither of them wanted to be challenged. I think that this injury will cause Reuven to become even more frustrated than before. If this had not happened, I think there may have been a connection between them later on, but I think this event will cause that relationship to take longer to build.
DeleteHowever, the powerful hit that hurt Reuven, may have also shown Reuven that Danny is a skilled ball player. They both clearly have a love of the sport so this shared interest could pull them closer. Early on in the book, it is clear that their relationship from this game becomes the focus point of the book. “Danny and I would have never met” had it not been for the sports organized by Jewish parochial schools (5). I think that they may gain respect for each other's skills. But it would be interesting to see the book go in the direction of them continuing to dislike one another.
After reading the first chapter, I was left wondering about the same thing. I agree that Rueven’s tone and phrasing hints at a friendship, or at least a significant relationship with Danny later on in the book. If there had been no greater conflict between Rueven and Danny after Danny ran him over at second base, I think they would probably have continued disliking each other for the rest of the game, and later throughout the story. The boys’ conflict went farther than Danny had planned it to, though, resulting in Rueven being seriously injured and hospitalized, which I think will cause him to rethink the reason for the hatred of Reuven and consider if it was fair. From what we can tell, Danny’s only reasons to dislike Rueven are his ability to compete with him on the baseball field and his less serious approach to Judaism, which he voices “I told my team we’re going to kill you apikorsim this afternoon” (18). Before even speaking to Rueven, Danny wanted to beat him badly, showing that his attack was not personal. If Danny can make amends, I think Rueven will have a hard time staying mad at him and they can build a friendship
DeleteOne image that stood out for me in Chaim Potok’s, “The Chosen”, is the stark contrast between the different sects of Orthodox jews on the softball field. On one hand, you have the very Orthodox including Danny Saunders, with their hair closely cropped and wearing their tzitzits (8). On the other hand, you have Reuven Malter and his less Orthodox team who wear whatever they wanted. The only thing they all wore was a black skullcap (9). These differences also fueled a rivalry between the members of the two teams, even though they had never met. The slight differences between their beliefs and their schools turned a softball game into a war.
ReplyDelete“... by the time that half inning was over and we were standing around Mr. Galanter near the wire screen, all of us knew that this was not just another ball game(24)”. Multiple times the members of the yeshiva team said “Burn in hell, you apikorism” to Reuven’s team (24-25).
Reuven and Danny hate each other at this point in time, and things don’t look very good for their relationship. I do, however, think that they are going to become friends over the course of the book and that the challenges they face are going to play a big part in the book. I also wonder, how are Danny and Reuven’s contrasts between their sects going to impact their relationship? Will it provide an initial challenge, but eventually make them stronger and more understanding?
The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, includes a good amount of vivid imagery. The words he uses to describe every situation makes every situation come to life in your head. For example when Reuven got hit in the head with a baseball after Danny smashed it at his head, You could really see what was happening in your head because of the picture Potok formed. He said “It hit the finger section of my glove, deflected off, smashed into the upper rim of my glasses, glanced off my forehead and knocked me down.” (33) Potok described the aftermath after Galanter called time. “My glasses lay shattered on the asphalt floor, and I felt a sharp pain in my left eye when I blinked. My wrist throbbed, and I could feel the bump coming up on my forehead.” (33-34) The two pictures Potok painted can be seen very clearly see in my mind. The imagery and detail is incredible. Also as a baseball player who wears glasses and who has gotten them broken by being hit in the head with a baseball, this image is particularly striking.
ReplyDeleteAfter this incident, this is the fourth time Reuven and Danny butted heads in one game. And since they clashed so many times in this one game, and since the book started off talking about the two, I wonder if the two of them will keep clashing throughout the book?
To start to answer the question will Reuven and Danny continue to butt heads i think you need to look at their background and the reasons that they clash. Both of the boys come from different Jewish communities which seem to not get along the best. Because of this it makes sense that they would initially clash. I also thing that Reuven’s injury will play a big role in bringing them together and the larger problem could be the communities they represent butting heads because of them. I think that a really interesting dynamic has been set up and I am excited to see how it all plays out with the two of them.
DeleteIn the first chapter of THE CHOSEN there are many places where imagery plays a huge roll in describing the plot. One part that really stood out to me, that I think is overlooked by many, is the description of the different Jewsh communities in Brooklyn and how they all seem to get along simply because they don't mingle with each other. Altho the first chapter appears to be more about the ball game, the idea of the very separated communities in set up very nicely in the first part of the chapter and is what makes the game so intense.The idea that the baseball game is one of the only ways in which the community's mix gives it much more incentive to play than if it were just a game. This dynamic is described very well during the game this image unfolds that the games suddenly is not a game but a war that Reuven Found himself hating Danny even though the game was the only interaction they ever had.
ReplyDeleteThe image of these two communities with different leaders that never interact with each other, and the dynamic of that Danny and Reuven are coming from different sides makes for a lot of tension. How is this tension going to escalate? How will it affect their relationship, and how will their relationship affect their communities?
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DeleteBen Acker
DeleteTobin, I agree that the different communities in Potok's The Chosen get along simply because they don't mingle with each other. I think that it was the author's intention to make the softball game more than a softball game and a way to describe the tension in the novel. The tension between Danny and Reuvan will most definitely affect their relationship and thus their communities. It will be interesting to see where Potak goes with this. One could make a case that the two characters will continue to clash and Danny could evolve into the protagonist, it is also plausible that Danny and Reuven become friends and that Danny becomes the deuteragonist or another type of character. But at this point in the novel it appears to be too soon to tell.
Ben Acker
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the first chapter of The Chosen by Chaim Potok I noticed one instance where imagery stood out to me the most. This is when Reuven Malter is describing the opposing softball team, “There were fifteen of them, and they were dressed alike in white shirts, dark pants, white sweaters, and small black skullcaps. In the fashion of the very Orthodox their hair was closely cropped, except for the area near their ears from which mushroomed the untouched hair that tumbled down into the long side curls some of them had the beginnings of beards, scraggly tufts of hair that stood in isolated clumps on their chins, jawbones, and upper lips”(9). While reading this passage I thought about when I used to play baseball for Thetford in elementary and middle school. While Potak did not describe the boys specifically as athletic it was Potaks choice of words like murderers and the description of their facial hair, uniform, and the comparison to Reuven's team that gave me the impression that the other team is superior in talent and ability.
This image struck me, while reading the passage from page nine I remembered my experiences sizing up other teams, specifically in hockey. I remember talking in the locker room with my teammates, trying to figure out who on the other team is the biggest threat. Then getting a look at the team across the scuffed glass at campion arena, and the confidence or panic that soon followed. I can relate to what Reuven must have felt on the softball field. I wonder, if Reuven had been intimidated by the other team instead of his attitude of, “they did not seem to me to present any form of ferocity”(9). Could the outcome of the game have been different?
Ben, I agree with what you said about Potak not describing their team as athletic. I can relate to what you said about scanning the other team before a game. I used to play baseball, and before our game started, we'd look at the other team and analyze who we thought was the best hitter, or who was their best pitcher. We used to do a pitcher chant as we watched them warm up, and then after that we'd determine how good their pitcher was. I think Potak did a good job of depicting what sports players notice in their opponents.
DeleteI've thoroughly enjoyed the first set of blog entries and replies. You are quoting well to support your ideas, and most of you noted page numbers. (Reminder to do so if you forgot). I encourage a final proof-read before clicking "publish." I look forward to your questions and comments next week! -SDG
ReplyDeleteAfter I read the first chapter of The Chosen by Chaim Potok, I noticed many instances of imagery in the chapter. One that particularly stood out to me, was the part where Reuven Malter was hit in the head with a baseball after Danny had hit it really hard towards him, “It hit the finger section of my glove, deflected off, smashed into the upper rim of my glasses, glanced off my forehead and knocked me down.” (33) You can really feel the pain that he felt in this part, mainly because of how descriptive he is about how it hit him. He talks about the many places that the ball had hit, and what made him fall. He also describes the feeling after he was hit, “My glasses lay shattered on the asphalt floor, and I felt a sharp pain in my left eye when I blinked. My wrist throbbed, and I could feel the bump coming up on my forehead.” (33-34) This was even more striking to me because I really was able to picture how he felt. The two quotes tie together, one you can picture, and the other you can feel.
ReplyDeleteI envisioned Reuven missing the catch and it bouncing off the finger tip of his glove, then it bouncing back and whacking his glasses, and then him falling to the ground in pain. This struck me because of the detail involved in the sentence. It makes you able to see and feel his pain, especially since I played baseball I can imagine what happened and how it felt. If Reuven had made the catch, how would that have changed the outcome of the game?
Jessica S.
ReplyDeleteReading the first chapter of The Chosen by Chaim Potok, there are many places that include very clear imagery. One place that struck me in particular, is when Mr. Galanter is introduced. While Reuven is explaining his characteristics and personality, I got a clear image in my mind of what he looked like and what kind of person he might be. While Reuven explains him as being, “a short, chunky man in his early thirties…” (5) I imagined a typical sort of run of the mill gym teacher. Mr. Galanter is really brought to life however, when the author explains his appearance a little bit more. “He wore a white polo shirt, white pants, and white sweater...”(5). This shows that he cares about and puts effort into his appearance, and likes to be put together. Another image that made his personality shine through, is when he says, “When he talked he frequently thumped his right fist into his left palm to emphasize a point” (5). The clear use of hand gestures when he talks, shows how enthusiastic he is, and how passionate he is when he has something important to say.
At the end of the chapter, when Reuven is hit in the eye by Danny’s ball, we are left with Mr. Galanter running off to call a cab. The severity of this injury seems like it could cause even more tension then there already is between Reuven and Danny. Considering the passion Mr. Galanter has when he gestures and talks, I wonder if he can encourage Reuven and Danny to try to make amends? If so, will this spark a potential friendship between the two of them? Or will it completely fail considering they come from two different backgrounds with different beliefs?