Thomas Jefferson Education discussion
The Chosen
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Nola
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Nov 22, 2008 08:46AM
I am reading Chaim Potok's "The Chosen" for the first time, and I find it engaging and enjoyable. It has given me a lot of thought about education, as well as about parenting. Would anyone else be interested in discussing it? I just finished Part 2, but I'm a fast reader, so I will probably have Part 3 finished this evening. I'm still processing, though, LOL.
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I imagine you've long finished this by now. I just recently finished it. I read Potok's Davita's Harp years ago and wasn't that impressed so didn't read any more of his work until my niece strongly suggested The Chosen to me. I found The Chosen to be a much more compelling story and I enjoyed it and learned from it. Two pages from the end I still didn't know how Potok would wrap it up. I think I finished it in tears. I suppose an obvious discussion question is if you were Danny, would you consider raising your son in silence like he was?
I read The Chosen last summer, and I LOVED it. I went on to read Potok's follow-up book The Promise which I found even more engaging. I thought that the motives behind Danny's father were honorable, but I could not help feeling depressed by the cruelty of the experience. I cannot imagine ever raising my children the same way, but we are talking about a vastly different culture. Danny's father loved him dearly. He just expressed it in a very different way. I think Danny was a lot more modern than his father. He might show some tendencies toward his father's ways, but I doubt he would go to such an extreme.
I wouldn't want to pass judgment on Danny's father. He had an exceptional son and had seen his brother fall away, and didn't want his son to go the same way. I do think Danny had more heart than his father gave him credit for. I think Danny understood in the end the importance of doing what was necessary to raise his own children as believers. Still, I don't think we need to purposefully inflict pain on our loved ones so that they will grow up humble. I would let God take care of the humbling. He is very good at giving us the experiences we need to grow in life.
