The Chosen: Parallels of Perception Jasmine Lewin 10th Grade

Perception as a theme in Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen” is prominent and profoundly portrayed. Many of the chapters bear some sort of reference to visual or auditory perception- be it eyesight, watching, or listening. This begins with Reuven’s inital blurry perception of Danny after he is struck in the eye by a baseball, and ends ultimately with Reuven’s sight of Danny walking around a corner, and the fading tapping sound of his metal-capped shoes on the sidewalk. This shows character development in the sense that Reuven’s final perception of Danny is clear and unbiased, unlike his perception of him in the beginning of the novel.

The theme of perception starts with Reuven’s blurry vision of Danny after a blow to the eye by a baseball. “I looked over at first, but without my glasses Danny Saunders was only a blur. I imagined I could still see him grinning.” (Potok 30). This marred perception of Danny is not only literal but also figurative; Reuven does not know Danny Saunders, but he is judging him by his religious sect, and choosing to see him only as an enemy, and not as a person. Reuven projects all of his problems onto his dehumanized idea of Danny, which is depicted when Reuven blames him for his father’s sickness. “‘I hate...