The Chosen Warfare Quotes

We hear many variations of this line throughout Chapter One, but the moment we quote here is when the rumor is confirmed. This is more than a game to Danny – baseball is war.

There are lots of war metaphors in The Chosen. Both Reuven and Tony are in the eye ward for "playing" at war. Both games are, in some ways, a battle for the characters’ vision. When things go wrong with their eyes, they have to look at life in new ways.

At first glance, this passage doesn’t seem to have anything to do with war. As we read on, it’s clear that David’s typewriter is his weapon, and that he considers life a war against time.

If David’s weapon is his typewriter, the Reb’s is the Torah. He wages wars against being dust. Rising against dust means following the Torah to extremes. He learns that if he tries to impose his weapon on his son to the exclusivity of other weapons, he will lose a different battle: the battle with himself to be a good father.

At this point in time, the "battle between equals" that Reuven describes is the only kind of talking Danny and Reb Saunders engage in. This has turned their home into a battlefield, where a war of silence is being fought.

Reuven is caught in the crossfire of the Reb and Danny’s battle with silence. 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 to ask Danny what he wants to know directly. This ends their "war," at least on the most extreme level.

Notice how David is always on the verge of losing his voice. His voice is another weapon in his war against time. What does he mean that he’s always losing it? How does this fit in with silent battle being waged between Danny and the Reb?

The battle with his childhood home is won (though he’ll surely have more battles with the Reb in the future). Now, his battle with the real world begins.