The Chosen - Malter's Development One of the most emotional scenes in 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 to become a Hasidic tzaddik. The two go to Reb Saunders' study to explain what's going to happen, and before Danny can bring it up, his father does. Reb Saunders explains to the two friends that he already knew Reuven would take 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 to follow the family dynasty or what his heart leads him to". The most developing character in the novel is Reuven Malter. One of the ways it develops in the novel is his understanding of friendship. His friendship with Dfanny Saunders is encouraged by his father, but he is initially wary of it because Danny is a Hasid and considers regular Orthodox Jews to be apikorsim due to his father's teachings. Reuven goes from being unable to have a civil conversation with Danny to becoming his best friend with whom he spends all his free time, studies Talmud, and goes to college. Reuven truly grows because he learns, as his father says, what it means to be a friend. Another way Reuven grows is that he learns to appreciate different people and their ideas. He begins to hate 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 not agree with ideas, but to hate a person because of them it is intolerable. Through his friendship with Danny, his studies with Reb Saunders, his brief crush on Danny's sister (who was never given a name), and his time in the Hasidic community, he learns that Hasids are also people with their own equally valuable ideas and beliefs. as his. He learns why they think, act, speak and dress the way they do and comes to terms with the fact that he does not have a monopoly on virtue. A third way Reuven grows, although the book doesn't say much about it, is in his appreciation for life, or cha'im in Hebrew. He nearly loses his sight, his father nearly dies from work, six million Jews are massacred in Europe, and Danny's brother's ill health threatens Danny's choice not to become a tzaddik. When he has a defective eye he cannot read, and indeed he observes that it is very difficult to live without reading, especially with a voracious hunger for knowledge like his. His father almost dies twice and he talks about how difficult it is to live alone in silence (which is a metaphor that alludes to Danny's daily life) for the month that his father is in the hospital. It sees Reb Saunders and his father suffer the suffering of the six million dead, Saunders cry and remain silent, David Malter working towards the creation of a Jewish state and being a leader of the movement, as well as teaching in a yeshivah and adult education courses. And of course Danny is very worried about his brother's illness (hemophilia?) because if he dies it will be difficult for Danny to give up his tzaddikship. By the end of the book, Reuven Malter is a much changed character. Potok is an expert in the use of allusions and metaphors. Throughout the book he uses it very subtly for the purpose of reinforcing his points, foreshadowing, and making the book a better read when you have read it before and know the outcome. An example of this, which I missed the first time I read the book in seventh grade, is the paragraph at the end of chapter nine where Reuven is sitting on the porch and sees a fly caught in a spiderweb with the builder arachnid that is approaching. Blow on the fly, first softly, then harder, and the fly is free and safe.