The Chosen #1

The Chosen by Chaim Potok examines an accident that occurs when Reuven Malter is playing baseball against a boy named Danny Saunders. Reuven is pitching, and he throws two curve balls which fool Danny who becomes more and more heated. Finally, Danny smashes a fastball right into Reuven's glasses; the glasses break, and a shard of glass gets wedged in Reuven's eye. At the hospital, Mrs. Carpenter places him in a bed between a blind boy, Billy, and an ex-prizefighter, Mr. Savo. These two characters mimic the archetypical devil and angel that flank characters' shoulders, influencing them toward both good and bad. Mr. Savo gets in trouble for playing catch with a younger patron, "He tossed it lightly back to the boy ... 'Mr. Savo, you are simply impossible,'" and he  overuses the word "clopping," saying things like "It's D-Day, Bobby boy. We're clopping them good," or "A clop in the head is a rough business. I went four once and got clopped in head," for example.  (58, 55, 39). These references to mischief and violence augment the argument that he represents the Yetzer Ha'Ra (a Jewish term for the darker, sinful part of a human). In complete contrast, the blind boy on Reuven's left, Billy, embodies the Yetzer Ha'Tov (the good part of human's dualistic nature). Thomas Foster's How to Read Literature like a Professor teaches that blindness usually stands for a kind of emotional, social, or otherwise unawareness. One possible interpretation of this is ignorance of the sin and wrongdoing in the world, and as such, Billy represents an innocent, purely good child. His physicality corroborates this: "He had light blond hair and a fine face, a beautiful face" (40). He thinks that at fifteen, Reuven is a grown-up, "'Robert's a grown-up name, isn't it? How old are you?' 'Fifteen.' 'That's grown up.'" (44). This incorrect evaluation of Reuven's maturity shows his naivety. Perhaps it's not that Mr. Savo is bad and Billy is good; rather, Mr. Savo represents the body and being grounded while Billy manifests a more spiritual, lofty aspect of human nature. But dichotomy does not stop with Mr. Savo and Billy. The most notable source of the duality of disposition comes from Danny Saunders, the injurer. Though he "aimed at me [Reuven] deliberately," Reuven is "surprised at how happy I was to see him [Danny Saunders]" when he comes to the hospital ward to visit (49, 66). It appears that Saunders has double intentions: hurt Reuven and invest time in his recovery. Or perhaps this is simply a change of heart as a result of a regretfulness that falls over Danny. This could be the start of trail to one of Potok's themes. I am not entirely sure what theme it could be leading to, nor am I sure of how to detect a theme, but the trends beg to be noticed.