How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I almost cried out, but I held back and waited for him to come up to my bed. (2.231)
No doubt about it. Reuven loves and admires his father unambiguously, and vice-versa. Even their arguments seem deeply loving. They have a far less fraught relationship than Danny and the Reb, but no less complex. For one thing, Reuven’s mother died soon after he was born, and David and Reuven don’t seem to have any other relatives around. All they have is each other – which might add to the extreme care they exercise with each other.
Quote #2
"[W]hen a person comes to talk to you, you should be patient and listen. Especially if he has hurt you in any way." (3.141)
This passage certainly speaks to David’s love for his son, but also expresses a loving attitude toward the world. Wouldn’t the world be a more loving place if we were all able to stop jumping to conclusions and try to learn the alternative perspective before we make judgments and take drastic actions?
Quote #3
"He’s really a great man, my father. He saved his community. He brought them all over to America after the First World War." (7.50)
If you are like us, you got some shivers when you read these lines. Danny tries to explain to Reuven just what kind of a man his father really is. When Reuven is so harsh on the Reb, we want to remind him of this passage.
Quote #4
"My son is my most precious possession. I have nothing in the world compared to my son. I must know what he is reading." (8.167)
Danny and Reuven aren’t the only ones who learn things in The Chosen. By the end of the novel, the Reb has learned that his son isn’t a "possession," but someone he can share the beauty of life with. He also learns to get past using Reuven as a "buffer" between himself and his son, and ask Danny what he wants to know directly.
Quote #5
"I’ll want you around on that day, friend. I’ll need you around on that day." (12.55)
This is third or fourth time Danny has said it. In this moment, we get the impression that Danny’s feelings for Reuven are almost too strong for Reuven to bear. This also exposes facets of their personalities: Danny’s wears his heart on his sleeve; Reuven carries things within. He doesn’t externalize it directly to Danny, but through his telling of Danny’s story and through telling Danny’s story to the Reb.
Quote #6
That was the first time my father had ever talked to me of his death, and his words seemed to have filled the room with a gray mist that blurred my vision and stung as I breathed. (13.108)
Always multiple perspectives in The Chosen: here, David is trying to express that life is short, however long you live. A role reversal occurs. Reuven takes on the role of father, worried for David’s health.
Quote #7
We had begun to communicate with our eyes, with nods of our heads, with gestures of our hands. But we did not speak to each other. (15.3)
A big part of love is learning to communicate even under difficult circumstances. Danny and Reuven learn to communicate under adverse conditions, out of love.
Quote #8
"Today is the – the Festival of Freedom. […] Today my Daniel is free." (18.50)
As we discuss in "What’s Up With the Ending?" when Reb Saunders gives Danny his Passover blessing to pursue psychology and secular studies, his love for his son is manifested in trust.
Quote #9
And then I was crying too, crying with Danny, silently, for his pain and for the years of his suffering, knowing that I loved him, and not knowing whether I hated or loved the long, anguished years of his life. (18.53)
This is the climax of Danny and Reuven’s relationship. We find it interesting that Reuven thinks of Danny’s experience as separate from Danny himself. Perhaps the telling of Danny’s story is Reuven’s attempt to try to find out how he feels about it. Whether he loves or hates it, his search for understanding is essentially a loving search to get to know Danny better.