Character Analysis
Being a very passionate person about a religion but still being able to balance sports and school at the same time is something that requires you to be really smart. Having people look up to you at a young age and knowing if you do something wrong everyone will know and, on top of it all, having a father that never seems like he approves what you are doing cannot be an easy way to live. The character I choose to write about is Danny Saunders. He is one of the main characters in the book The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. Danny is a very smart and athletic Jewish boy. I choose to write about Danny because he is very smart and can memorize anything. Also even with all the school work he has, he is still able to find time to play baseball. When he went to see Reuven in the hospital, even after he put him there, was a very nice thing to do and was very impressive. I think that Danny is a lot like my friend Jeremy. The two of them are alike because both are dedicated to their sports and are nice kids. Plus both are respectful to their elders and are looked up to by other people.
This character hit another boy in the face with a ball while he was up to bat during one of his baseball games. Later when Reuven is in the hospital Danny goes and visits him even though Reuven hates him and Danny’s the whole reason that he ended up in the hospital. Danny is a very smart kid that has a special way to memorize his studies. He has a photographic memory so by just looking at a page he can remember it word for word. Also he is going to take his father’s place as Rabbi once he dies, so he is under a lot of pressure. When he goes to apologize to Reuven for hitting him in the eye with the baseball Reuven says, “For my part you can go to hell, and take your whole snooty bunch of Hasidim along with you!” This shows that Danny is a very forgiving and reserved kid that has a lot of patience and that he is under a lot of pressure but is smart enough to handle it.
Danny has changed in many ways like being hated by Reuven to being his best friend and he has changed from having young qualities to being more like an adult. He has now gotten older and more grown up as Reb Saunders (Danny’s father) says, “My son, my Daniel, has also become a man. It is a great joy for a father to see his son suddenly a man.” In the beginning of the book he is a young boy that doesn’t totally understand what it takes to be a rabbi, but I think that as the book went on he learned what he had to do and matured quite a bit. Also his friendship with Reuven started out to be just them learning about each other and their life styles but as the story ended it seemed like the two of them became closer and closer up until the point where they would tell each other anything and were very comfortable with each other.
At the end of the novel, Danny seemed to be much more mature than he was at the beginning. As the book progressed he became more and more into subjects non-related to his religion. He started to find other things that he liked to do, such as, psychology. Although, he has found things that he is into, outside his religion, he is still non-profane. Reuven and Danny have their quarrels but always find a way to forgive each other. Most of the problems that they have are because they are different religions and the jokes they tell each other are saying something bad about the other’s religion.
Now that Danny is going into psychology and moving to Colombia I think that he will be very successful and won’t have many problems. Although I think that he will have issues with getting back to see his father. Also I think that Danny will not be able to satiate his dad because he will be spending so much time working.
