Loose Ends - The Chosen Analysis Elizabeth Vaz 12th Grade

Some people say that the difference between real life and stories, is that real life always contains loose ends, unfinished plots, and indescribable feelings. It is when authors such as Chaim Potok embody these inexpressible feelings in their works, that realism in literature is created. Through his plot, character relationships, setting and imagery, Potok creates a realistic view of Reuven and Danny’s lives and friendship. Though the thorniness of Danny’s relationship with his father is extreme, it speaks of realistic tensions.

The novel illustrates Danny’s relationship with his father as unique and interesting, yet difficult and hard to explain, as real life relationships often are. Danny tells Reuven about his father, “For years his silence bewildered and frightened me, though I always trusted him, I never hated him,” (278). Danny’s paternal relationship is one of independent learning, as his father never teaches him life skills, but only the talmud. Parents often leave children to figure things out on their own, as a way to teach them about being self-sufficient and not having to rely on others. Danny also explains about how he feels his father is pressuring him into being a tzaddik by saying, “It’s like a dynasty: If the...