Montana Literature resources
Eng11 Elective
Copies of Books on Hand 3/08
Making Certain it Goes On - Hugo 23
Selected Poems - Hugo 16
The Surrounded - McNickle 31
Fools Crow - Welch 33
Tough Trip Through Paradise - Garcia 30
Journals of Lewis & Clark - 16
Ordered?
The Big Sky
We Pointed Them North
Winter Wheat
The Undying West
Montana Literature: Reading and Writing and the Sense of Place
Montana is fortunate to have a rich literary tradition. Many Montana writers have earned national reputations by telling stories about what life has been like at various times in “the last best place.” This course will explore some of the best-loved works of Montana literature, including fiction, memoirs and poetry.
Students in this course will not only read Montana literature, they will create some. Using the readings to form important questions, they will gather stories from their own family or community, researching in family photo albums, old newspapers, and other documents, and conducting oral history interviews. Each student will be expected to finish one previously unpublished story based on this research.
The reading will pay special attention to several important themes that occur over and over in Montana’s literature:
Men and Women and Families in Literature: Many Montana writers have written about the joys and challenges of living in families, including differences and similarities in male and female nature and character; possibilities of conflict between men and women; equality, subordination, oppression, rebellion, manipulation, conflict, harmony, and happiness in the relations between the sexes; love, courtship, marriage, maternity and paternity; ideals of masculinity and femininity.
Nature in Literature: We will pay attention to the role of nature and the landscape in literary works; relations between human beings and the natural world; obligations of human beings toward nature; conflicts between ecological and human interests; proper and improper uses of nature; meaning and role of natural forces and phenomena in literature; natural objects as symbols.
American Indians in Literature: We will explore how American Indians are represented in literature, discussing the relationship between culture and place; stories and storytellers in community; struggle and conflict with living between diverse worlds; traditional roles, stereotypes, and ideals of American Indians; cultural and personal loss and survival; concepts of power, success, relatedness, dreams, humor, and the sacred; the representation of heroes.
The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie
The Big Sky is the first of Pulitzer Prize winning author A. B. Guthrie, Jr.’s, epic adventure novels of Montana’s vast frontier. In The Big Sky we will explore Montana during the fur trade era, traveling with Boone Caudill, Jim Deakins, and Dick Summers, three of the most memorable characters in Western American literature. Traveling the Missouri River from St. Louis to the Rockies, these frontiersmen live as trappers, traders, guides, and explorers. The story centers on Caudill, a young Kentuckian driven by a raging hunger for life and a longing for the blue sky and brown earth of big, wild places. Caught up in the freedom and savagery of the wilderness, Caudill becomes an untamed mountain man, married to the beautiful daughter of a Blackfoot chief. In The Big Sky, Guthrie gives us an unforgettable portrait of a spacious land and a unique way of life.
We Pointed Them North (Paperback) by E. C. ("Teddy Blue") Abbott $13.57
Blue’s recollections present a delightful view of cowboy life, drama, and humor during the great cattle drive and cattle ranching era. This fast-paced and irreverent memoir presents a vivid view of the real cowboy and the code that drove their action. Teddy Blue took part in the original cattle drives from the South to the Montana prairies and he tells the unforgettable stories of what young men in wild country did and thought.
The Undying West: A Chronicle of Montana’s Camas Prairie (Paperback) by Carlene Cross $9.66
In The Undying West, Carlene Cross creates a memorable blend of personal and Flathead Reservation history. It’s a wonderful model of writing based on family history research. She presents both homesteader and native views of the homestead era. The voices in her stories include those of her father and his “sod-busting” friends; the Salish, Kootenai, Nez Perce, and Iroquois Indians; the fossil remains of Montana’s prehistory; and even the wind, the soil, and the prairie grasses. She offers a personal testament to the enduring qualities of the West.
Winter Wheat (Paperback) by Mildred Walker $11.16
Montana’s literature is especially rich in its stories of what life was like for women here. With an arid “dry-land” wheat farm as both its geographic and metaphoric center, Winter Wheat--a One-Book Montana selection--is a love story in which eighteen-year-old Ellen Webb comes to understand herself better, but also comes to see her parents’ marriage in a new light. Her Vermont-born father and Russian-born mother, married during the first World War, have come as homesteaders to Barton, Montana - a grain-elevator and general store. It is 1940, the year Ellen will start college if the wheat harvest is good. The harvest pays and Ellen goes off to college, where she immediately falls in love: “I hadn’t meant to fall in love so soon, but there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s like planning to seed in April and then having it come off so warm in March that the earth is ready.” Ellen and Gil plan their marriage for after the summer harvest. But Gil arrives and doesn’t find Montana or the life of dry-land wheat farmers beautiful. Ellen begins to see everything, including her parents, with new eyes in this poignant examination of love and life.
Fools Crow (Contemporary American Fiction) (Paperback) by James Welch $10.20
Suspenseful and moving, written with an authenticity and integrity that give it sweeping power, Welch’s third novel is a masterful evocation of a Native American culture and its passing. From their lodges on the endless Montana plains, the members of the Lone Eaters band of the Pikuni (Blackfeet) Indians live in harmony with nature, hunting the “blackhorns” (buffalo), observing a complex system of political administration based on mutual respect and handing down legends that explain the natural world and govern daily conduct. We watch the escalating tensions between the Pikunis and the white men ("the Napikwans"), who deliberately violate treaties and initiate hostilities with the hard-pressed red men, leading up to a searing experience based on the Marias River Massacre. There is much to savor in this remarkable book: the ease with which Fools Crow and his brethren converse with animals and spirits, the importance of dreams in their daily lives, the customs and ceremonies that measure the natural seasons and a person’s lifespan. Without violating the patterns of Native American speech, Welsh writes in prose that surges and sings. We follow Fools Crow’s growth from a boy in a traditional community to a man, responsible for keeping his family and tribe together through terrible challenges.
Red Rover (Hardcover) by Deirdre McNamer $16.47
As boys, brothers Aidan and Neil Tierney ride the Montana prairie on horseback, yearning for adventure. As men, they find it: Neil pilots a B-29 over Japan, while Aidan hunts Nazis in Argentina for the FBI. But although they both return from the war, Aidan proves a casualty nonetheless. Sickened by a mysterious ailment, suffering almost more from disillusionment, he won’t survive 1946. Spanning the years 1927 through 2003 and employing richly layered, interlocking points of view, McNamer teases out the surprising truth behind Aidan’s death, portraying an era of idealism and of myopia and paranoia. If the high plains and deep valleys of Montana seem an unlikely place to play out the cynical spy hunting of the J. Edgar Hoover era, modern-day echoesallegations of profiteering in Iraqחremind us that no place on earth is too remote to be touched by the prevailing winds. This loses a bit of pace in the middle, but the powerful ending rewards the time spent getting there. Elegant and assured, with a joy in language that shows on every page.
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Montana •
Syllabus Eng11
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Page 1
Excerpted from
On Course for Success
A Close Look at Selected High School Courses
That Prepare All Students for College
Model Course SyllabusEnglishחGrade 11
2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
6412
Page 2
Model Course SyllabusɗEnglishGrade 11
Course Description/Overview
English 11 will help you become a skilled reader of works written in a
variety of periods and genres. The course will also help you become a
skilled writer, composing for a variety of purposes. Through critical reading
analysis, you will determine how the resources of language contribute to
effective writing.
Course Content
ו Write essays for the following purposes:
Comparison/Contrast
Օ Definition
Cause and Effect
Օ Literary Analysis
Interpret and evaluate both fiction and nonfiction American writings
according to their historical, social, and cultural context
Օ Respond to writing selections by analysis
structure, diction, point of view, syntax, voice, purpose
Օ Respond to writing selections by synthesis
compare/contrast to other works
Օ Respond to writing selections by evaluation
effectiveness of the piece
Օ Prepare documented essays, using both primary and secondary
sources, on topics related to American literature and/or correlating
historical periods
Use a variety of prewriting techniques to gather information and ideas
Օ Revise writing to improve elements
word choice, presentation, content, organization, voice, conventions,
and sentence structure
Օ Increase knowledge and use of new vocabulary
Acquire and use grammar, punctuation, and usage rules
Օ Read literature, paying special attention to literary elements as well as
relating the literature to your own lives
Participate in class discussions by posing questions, acknowledging
othersՒ points of view, building on them, and expressing unique opinions.
Course Materials
Blue or black ink pen
Օ Clasp folder or three-ring binder for class notes (class notebook)
Assorted essay preparation materials
Օ Loose-leaf paper for in-class reader response journal entries
Thin spiral notebook, clasp folder, or bound composition book for your
personal journal
Օ Pencils (will be allowed on some assignments)
Colored pens (for editing)
Օ At least one floppy disc/diskette
Textbook, as needed
Օ Class notebook
Book and/or essays we are reading
թ 2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 3
Course Policies
Attendance: Class attendance is vital. Frequent absence will adversely
impact your grade. When absent, check with reliable classmates for
handouts or assignments missed. Handouts will be in trays along the back
wall, assignments on the whiteboard in the front of the room.
Tardy Policy: The schools Tardy Policy will be strictly enforced.
Late Work: will not be accepted from students unless the absence is
officially excused. Any assignments not submitted when called for on the
due date will be considered late. Due dates for formal compositions will be
set well in advance.
Make-Up Work: as a result of an officially excused absence is the
responsibility of the student. Assignments given before your absences are
due on the day you return to school. You will receive no more than one
week to submit make-up work. There is no make-up procedure for work that
has an announced due dateҗno exception.
Plagiarism: You will receive a copy of the schools Plagiarism Policy.
Plagiarism is claiming someone elseҒs work as your own. Any material taken
from another source must be cited and quoted. Plagiarism is illegal. It will
result in an automatic zero for the assignment plagiarized.
Homework: Work in English comes not as a steady stream, but as sizable
chunks. You must learn to pace your assignments over the weeknights or
major writing assignments over the weekends in conjunction with work from
other classes and extracurricular-mandated time. If your total workload
becomes intense at times in other classes, then tell me and I will readjust
due dates. Check with me during school or phone me at night if you do not
understand any particular assignment. Please do not abuse this privilege
by waiting until the last minute to start homework and then find you have
questions.
Group Work: Some assignments will require you to work in groups. You will
have the right to choose your groups; however, I reserve the right to assign
groups. Group expectations and grading will be discussed in class.
Work Ethically: All students are expected, on their honor, to be honest and
trustworthy. This trust is necessary for a positive working environment. I ask
you not to lower yourself in either my eyes or, more importantly, in your own.
I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to own your work, not
give it away or take it from other students.
Handbook Considerations: Student ID must be worn and be visible at all
times.
The rules listed in your school handbook will apply and should be followed
in this classroom (e.g., gum, beverages, and food items should be
disposed of outside of the classroom). The teacher will work with the
student to correct unwanted behavior. Tend to your personal needs before
you come to class (restrooms, lockers, grooming).
2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 4
Grading Policy/Assessment
Two primary kinds of grades are earned in this class.
ɕ Process gradesThese are grades you achieve in the process of
learning class material (including class discussions, class work,
homework, grammar and vocabulary assignments).
ו Product gradesThese are grades you achieve that show knowledge
and mastery of material (including exams, quizzes, essays, projects,
discussions).
The grades you receive for quarters and semesters in this class are 50%
process and 50% product.
For most major assignments, I will provide the rubrics or explain the
expectations that I will use to assess your work.
Extra Credit: Opportunities will not be offered, because Honors students
are already receiving extra דcredit toward their GPA. There may be
opportunities for non-required assignments occasionally during the year.
These assignments allow students to get another good grade in the grade
book and are not required.
Course Procedures
Class Notebook: The notebook should act as a file-retrieval system. Use a
divider system to allow a place for a list of assignments, a section for at
least a page of notes from class each day, and a final section for class
handouts. Notebooks will receive a grade unexpectedly sometime within
each semester. The serious, committed student will conscientiously add to
his or her notebook daily (all entries dated, titled based on content, and
written in readable writing in black or blue ink). The notebook will often
boost the student hovering between two grades to the higher grade.
Notebook evaluation criteria will be handed out during the first week of
class.
Personal Journal: You will be asked to make two 45-minute entries per
week, and these entries must have dates and sequential page numbers.
The specific requirements and options for journal entries will be discussed
in class.
Turning In Assignments: All papers written outside normal class time must
be typed or written in black or blue ink using only one side of the paper.
The assignment format guidelines will be handed out in class. All
assignments will be due at the beginning of the hour on the date due.
Communication: Respect your fellow students. Do not talk when someone
else has the floor. Share your ideas, but courteously.
Personal Statement
ԕ Students can always expect to have some type of immediate or
extended reading assignment; therefore, a student should hardly ever be
able to say that he or she has nothing to do for Honors English 11.
Relationships: The goal in this classroom is to develop a positive,
personal relationship between the teacher and each student.
Օ As a teacher I believe:
1. All learning is active, involving critical dialogue with the text, the
teacher, and fellow students.
2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 5
2. Writing is a way of knowing that begins at its best with what is
incongruent, ambiguous, or contradictory.
3. Appropriate teaching for Honors students exploits and builds on these
tensions.
4. Writing which brings these tensions to the surface ultimately resolves
them.
5. This process not only prepares you for English 12 but also suggests
an approach for life-long learning.
Additional Information
ɕ Progress Reports: I usually send home a report only if a student is
missing one or more assignments, unless the parents or guardians
specifically ask for a specific schedule for reports. Parents or guardians
may call me whenever they wish to check up on their son or daughter. I
stay up to around 10:00 p.m.; parents may still call me later if they are so
worried about their child in my class that they cannot sleep.
English/History Writing Lab: Use this excellent support. The tutors in the
Lab can help you revise, brainstorm, organize, and plan.
Օ Tutoring Service: A tutoring service staffed by volunteers from local
universities, community members, and the high school seniors in the
National Honor Society are available in every subject and are usually
available during study halls or free periods.
School Library and the Computer Lab are open before and after school.
The staff is helpful, informative, and eager to help.
Օ Reaching Me: Parents, please feel free to contact me at home when you
feel the need to check on your students progress or whenever you or
your child have a concern with the content or methods I employ in
teaching the class. After ___ years I still thoroughly enjoy teaching and I
will try to provide my students with a rich and meaningful year of self-
growth and self-discovery within a rigorous and relevant academic
curriculum. Here are my numbers (school phone, home phone, e-mail,
etc.)
ҕ Appreciation of My Students: Probably most of the time when I respond
to your work in writing, my words will be of a necessarily critical nature.
However, I want you to know that I notice and appreciate your effort and
I value each of you as an important member of the class regardless of
the grade you receive. Your grade does not in any way equate to you. I
wish to help you discover your gifts and cultivate them for use in a
meaningful life.
2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 6
Description of a college-preparatory Grade 11 English course
The college-preparatory Grade 11 English course is a continuation and an
expansion of the college-preparatory Grade 10 English course. Though the
Grade 11 course continues with a focus on literature and the reading of
works of literary merit, this courseɒs focus should be less on helping
students comprehend difficult texts than it was in Grade 10. In a similar
way, the study skill of note-taking, which needed to be taught and
reinforced in Grade 10, should be firmly understood and utilized by
students now. Students should now be writing with correct grammar, and
should be moving beyond simple correctness toward writing with grace
and wit. The Grade 11 course is often a more highly
interdisciplinary course than the Grade 10 course: the
higher-level course has a focus on history and the
language of philosophy and rhetoric, as well as on
continuing to teach students how to read literature
through a theoretical lens.
In terms of reading and literature, the focus in many
Grade 11 English courses and textbooks is on American
literature and its history; in studying American literature,
then, Grade 11 students should learn to recognize the
significance of a given context for the meaning of a
literary work. They should learn how to analyze the relationship between
social commentary and American literaturethat is, they should be able to
see that The Crucible is a commentary on the times in which it was written,
as much about the rise of McCarthyism in the 1950s, as it is about the
Salem witch trials; they should be able to understand the commentary Mark
Twain was making on the regional, political, and social issues important to
the times during which he lived in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
even as they learn about the controversy surrounding that book in times
since. Students should learn how to identify the persuasive techniques
used by American writers throughout historyחthe audience for whom The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was written, for
example, and the rhetorical strategies used in that earliest of all slave
narratives. They should learn how to evaluate the writing of early American
writers and they should be able to tease out ways in which the themes and
values in that early literature relate to contemporary issues.
In other words, students in a college-preparatory Grade 11 English course
should be provided with more than simply a knowledge of the chronological
placement of literature and literary movements in history; they should
understand the ways that the texts they read were influenced by and
influenced the history of their times, the ways that writers of different genres
influenced each others work, and how these different kinds of literature are
part of a conversation about what kind of a country America might be.
But not all Grade 11 English courses are focused on American literature
and American history, and there are other skills and understandings related
to the reading of literature that are important for students to acquire at
Grade 11. As the Grade 10 students were learning how to use a variety of
theoretical lenses through which to view the works they study, students in
Grade 11 should be studying dominant philosophical and religious ideas
upon which the works they read rest.
ҩ 2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
Students should now be
writing with correct
grammar, and should be
moving beyond simple
correctness toward writing
with grace and wit.
Page 7
Thus, students will be continuing to learn how to analyze great writing using
the works of theorists such as Saussure, Frye, Bloom, Lacan, or Iser, and
they will also be reading in phenomenology, philosophy, and aesthetics. For
example, students might read Aristotles Poetics and write an essay on the
subject of aesthetic values throughout history; they might compare modern
ideas about tragedy, character, and drama to those of Aristotle. Students
should learn the philosophies connected to the literature they read, as well:
when they read The Scarlet Letter students should learn about the
underpinnings of Puritan thought; when they read Siddhartha students
should read Huston Smith or Mark Epstein on Buddhist
philosophy; when they read Emerson and Thoreau
students should learn how those writers used and
contributed to the theories of Transcendentalism.
Grade 11 students should be doing a considerable
amount of reading outside of class, on their own.
Students should read at least 300 pages a quarter,
from a teacher-approved book listҗof essays,
autobiographies, works by political and science writers,
by biographers and history writers, as well as fiction
making an appointment to talk to their teacher about
the book theyגve read when they are ready. The teacher
will enter the book or books read in each students reading log; this log will
be part of the studentҒs grade.
At least one major paper will be a semester-long, multi-
tiered research project. Students will be requiredusing
specialized reference tools (e.g., a dictionary of
symbols, a usage dictionary), theory from a noted
Western philosopher, a work of literature, relevant critical
essays about that work, and other information necessary
to their chosen taskחto define, conduct, and write their
own research project, composing open-ended research
questions and revising them as necessary. Students
should find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize the
primary and secondary sources they userejecting
those that are biased or in other ways fallaciousחand
must synthesize the themes and concepts they learn
about in their research; practice outlining their paper,
using note cards and bibliography cards; and organize
the materials into a coherent whole, writing an elegant,
well-argued, well-supported, precise, and confident
analytical research paper, with documentation in a
correct prescribed style.
In addition, students should write in other forms. Some of
this writing may be connected to students reading:
writing a stream-of-consciousness essay when they read
Joyce, writing a discussion about the relationship
between history and memory when they read SpiegelmanҒs Maus,
discussing the way language shapes thought or the importance of
occasion and audience when they study speeches of the past, or writing
an essay analyzing Hamlet through a postmodern lens. Students should
also be asked to do the kinds of writing often valued in the workplace, such
as writing a proposal for a project, outlining a business plan, or transferring
into laymans terms steps necessary to complete a technical task.
ҩ 2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
In all of this work students
should be learning to
question the works they
read and to ask questions
about the world suggested
by those works; they should
be asking analytical and
philosophical questions of
each other in class; and
they should be learning to
think critically about their
own writing, the reading
they engage in, their
teachers statements and
propositions, and the
persuasive language they
see being used in the world
around them.
Grade 11 students
should be doing a
considerable
amount of reading
outside of class,
on their own.
Page 8
In all of this work students should be learning to question the works they
read and to ask questions about the world suggested by those works; they
should be asking analytical and philosophical questions of each other in
class; and they should be learning to think critically about their own writing,
the reading they engage in, their teacherҒs statements and propositions,
and the persuasive language they see being used in the world around
them. They should increasingly take responsibility for their own learning.
Suggested texts for a college-preparatory Grade 11 English course
The list offered here is only suggestive. It is not intended to be prescriptive
or all-inclusive. It provides examples of the works that were being read in
the college-preparatory Grade 11 English courses we studied.
Drama
Macbeth, The Piano Lesson, Blood Wedding, A Raisin in the Sun, Othello,
A Dolls House, Hedda Gabler, Fences, Arms and the Man, Oedipus the
King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Three Theban Plays, Desire under the
Elms, The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, The
Importance of Being Earnest, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,
Waiting for Godot, No Exit, Equus, Hamlet, M. Butterfly
Nonfiction, Memoirs, Essays
The Souls of Black Folk, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, The
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Maus, Stride Toward Freedom,
Walden, AristotleҒs Poetics, The Birth of Tragedy, Anatomy of Criticism,
Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Dust Tracks on a Road
Essays by recent writers such as Baldwin, Berger, Camus, Dillard, Hurston,
Kozol, Moody, Orwell, Paglia, Rodriguez, Sontag, Steinhem, Steele, Vargos
Llosa, and West; essays by writers of the past such as Carlyle, Ruskin,
Disraeli, Engels, Arnold, and Pater
Fiction
Sula; Song of Solomon; Gullivers Travels; The Screwtape Letters; Jubilee;
Frankenstein; Bless Me, Ultima; Krik? Krak!; One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovitch; Madame Bovary; The Waiting Years; The Hour of the Star;
Nervous Condition; Heart of Darkness; Things Fall Apart; One Hundred
Years of Solitude; The Grand Inquisitor; The Chosen; The Metamorphosis;
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Quicksand; Brave New World;
Siddhartha; AliceҒs Adventures in Wonderland; The Awakening; Wise Blood;
Middle Passage; Dreaming in Cuban
Movies
The Seventh Seal, Citizen Kane, Rashomon, Apocalypse Now
American Classics
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Black Boy, The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Invisible Man, The Grapes of Wrath, Cane, The
House of Mirth, My Antonia, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Death Comes for
the Archbishop, Billy Budd, The Red Badge of Courage, Leaves of Grass,
The Great Gatsby, Ethan Frome
2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 9
Important American Documents
William Faulknerɒs Nobel Prize Lecture,Ӕ John F. Kennedys ғInaugural
Address, Martin Luther KingԒs Letter from a Birmingham Jail,Ӕ The
Declaration of Independence, Lincolns ғSecond Inaugural Address and
ԓGettysburg Address, Jonathan EdwardsԒs Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry GodӔ
Poetry
The Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost, Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Inferno,
Beowulf
Short Fiction by Author
Chinua Achebe, Julia Alvarez, James Baldwin, Toni Cade Bambara, Pearl
Buck, Jorge Luis Borges, Albert Camus, Raymond Carver, Anton Chekhov,
Kate Chopin, Eugenia Collier, Anita Desai, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes,
Ha Jin, Charles Johnson, James Joyce, Jamaica Kincaid, Katherine
Mansfield, Bobbie Ann Mason, Gabriel Garca Mrquez, James Alan
McPherson, Herman Melville, Susan Minot, Tim O�Brien, Frank OConnor,
Flannery OҒ Connor, Tillie Olsen, Luigi Pirandello, Edgar Allan Poe, J. D.
Salinger, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Richard
Wright
2004 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Course Documents •
The Chosen resources
Teaching materials Chaim Potok
Reading Schedule: The Chosen
Book One
Day 1: Chap 1 (1-31) 31
Day 2: Chap 2 (32-53) 19
Day 3: Chap 3 (54-72) 18
Day 4: Chap 4 (73-92) 19
Book Two
Day 5: Chap 5 (95-99) 4
Day 6: Chap 6 (00-111) 11
Day 7: Chap 7 (112-148) 37
Day 8: Chap 8 (149-170) 23
Day 9: Chap 9 - 10 (171-182) 13
Day 10: Chap 11 (183-192) 9
Day 11: Chap 12 (193-203) 10
Book Three
Day 12: Chap 13 (207-233) 27
Day 13: Chap 14 (234-254) 21
Day 14: Chap 15 - 16 (255-266) 10
Day 15: Chap 17 (267-278) 12
Day 16: Chap 18 (279-291) 13
Study Guide: The Chosen
BOOK ONE
Chapter One
Hasidic - the members of a sect of Jewish mystics that originated in Poland in the eighteenth century
samovars - metal urns used throughout Russia for boiling water for tea
Yiddish - a language spoken by many European Jews and their descendants
Michna service - afternoon services
Shabbat - the Sabbath, the day set apart in the fourth commandment of the Bible to be observed as a day of rest from all labor, originally the seventh day of the week, Saturday, the day on which God rested from the work of creation
Yeshiva - a school or college for Talmudic studies, combining religious and secular studies
Apikorism - Jews who are not Hasids; an extremely negative term
Shamashim - an official in synagogue
Jewish Orthodox - strictly observing the rites and traditions of Judaism as formulated in the Torah and Talmud
Talmud - the collection of writings constituting the Jewish civil and religious law. It consists of two parts
tzitzit (zitzit) - the fringes or tassels worn by orthodox Jewish men
Torah - the first five books of the Old Testament
momzer - a curse; a term of abuse
1. Why do the Jewish parochial schools have competitive baseball leagues?
2. Briefly describe Mr. Galanter. What is his baseball philosophy?
3. What painful thing does Reuven do just before the start of a game?
4. Contrast the uniforms of the opposing team with the way Reuven’s team is dressed.
5. What does the first confrontation between the two coaches signify?
6. Briefly describe Danny Saunders. Why is Reuven angry when Danny calls the team apikorism?
7. As the game continues, why does Reuven find himself more and more angry at the opposing team?
8. For what reasons does Mr. Galanter put Reuven in as the pitcher for the last inning of the game?
9. List two possible reasons Reuven decides to throw a fastball to Danny for the last strike.
10. Briefly describe Reuven’s injuries. Why does Mr. Galanter go to call a cab after his team loses the game?
Chapter Two
kosher - food which is considered fit to eat by Jewish law
abba - father
tefillin - an assist and reminder used in Jewish prayer
1. Describe a few things which occur at the very beginning of Reuven’s hospital stay.
2. Briefly describe Mr. Savo, Billy, and Reuven’s father.
3. How does Reuven feel about Danny Saunders? What does his father think about his son’s attitude toward Danny? State a theme for this story based on Mr. Malter’s advice to Reuven that he should listen when someone wants to talk to him.
4. Why is Reuven worried about his eye? What insight does Reuven gain about life while worrying about his eye?
5. What does Reuven’s father do for a living?
6. Could Reuven’s thoughts about blindness also serve as a theme? If so, what?
Chapter Three
phylacteries - a leather box which holds passages from the Torah, worn during prayers
rabbi - the Jewish religious leader, similar to a priest or minister
blatt - a section of reading from the Talmad
1. What is happening in Europe that is exciting to the patients in the ward?
2. Why does Reuven need to ask the nurse for permission to pray during his phylactery?
3. Why does Reuven say to Danny, “. . .you can go to hell, and take your whole snooty bunch of Hasidism along with you!”? (pg. 63) In what way is Reuven being unfair to Danny and his team?
4. What rule from the Talmud does Reuven violate when he sends Danny home?
5. While talking to Danny in the hospital, why does Reuven have “the feeling that everything around [him] was out of focus”? (pg. 67)
6. How does Danny learn “two blatt” of Talmud each day?
7. Why is Danny surprised Reuven wants to be a Rabbi? What does Danny want to be?
8. In what way is Reuven partly responsible for his own injury?
9. Why does Reb Saunders not like to write? What does he mean when he says “he wishes everyone could talk in silence”?
10. What is ironic about Danny’s answer that his father is “quite a man”? (pg. 22)
Chapter Four
1. State a theme for this story based on the following passage from this chapter:
“I wish I was outside now,” I said. “I envy them being able to walk around like that. They don’t know how lucky they are.”
“No one knows he is fortunate until he becomes unfortunate,” my father said quietyly. “That is the way the world is.”
2. State another theme for this story based on Mr. Malter’s reaction to Reuven’s story of Danny Saunders’ visit.
3. What two things does the Talmud say a person must do for himself? How does Mr. Malter define friendship? Why do you think he wants Reuven and Danny to be friends?
4. State why you agree or disagree with the following statement made by Mr. Savo when he is warning Reuven to be careful about making friends with Danny:
“You’re a good kid. So I’m telling you, watch out for those fanatics. They’re the worse cloppers around.” (pg. 76)
5. What, according to Danny’s father, is a Jew’s mission in life? Why is Danny confused by this idea?
6. Why is Reuven confused about Danny?
7. In what way is Danny’s life similar to Billy’s?
8. How does Danny feel when he first realizes Mr. Malter is the same man who has been suggesting books for him to read in the library? What happens to make Danny comfortable again?
BOOK TWO
Chapter Five
1. Briefly describe Manya.
2. What does the following passage from the novel tell the reader about how Reuven’s experience during the last five days have changed his life?
“I felt I had crossed into another world, that little pieces of my old self had been left behind on the black asphalt floor of the school yard alongside the shattered lens of my glasses. . .I lay very still on the lounge chair and thought a long time about Danny.” (pg. 96)
Chapter Six
shofar - a wind instrument made from a ram’s horn
tallit - a shawl for prayer
kabbalah - a book of Jewish mysticism
mitnaged - a sect which opposed the Hasids
1. Briefly describe the relationship between the Jewish people and the nobles of Poland. In what way did the Jews act as a buffer between the nobles and the serfs? How did this position lead to the destruction of the great Jewish community in Poland?
2. What happened to the faith of the Jewish people after the Chmielnicki uprising?
3. Briefly summarize Israel’s (Besht’s) teachings, known as Hasidism.
4. Reuven’s father tells him the story of the evolution of the Hasids. Who is the tzaddik of the Hasidic community? How does the Hasidic movement begin to degenerate? Which kind of Hasidic sect does Danny belong to?
5. Why is the story of Solomon Maimon sad? How is he similar to Danny?
6. The character of Reuven’s father is frequently the author’s voice, stating the themes of the book. He often finishes a statement clarifying a theme with the words, “That is the way the world is.” Find a similar quotation at the end of the chapter. What theme is he summarizing for the reader?
Chapter Seven
shtibblach - the name for the house of worship in a Hasidic sect
shul - school
ark - an enclosure in a synagogue or temple for the scrolls of the Torah
caftan - a long garment like a jacket
kaddish - a prayer for someone who has died
challah - type of bread
amalek - heathen
b’kuit - simple interpretations of the Talmud
nu - “good," “well,” “continue;” the word has many different connotions; similar to “so”
gematriya - a mystical method of interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures based upon the numerical value of the letters in the words.
Havdalah - a brief service at the end of Shabbat
1. Why is Danny’s uncle, his father’s older brother, not inherit the rabbinical position? How did Reb Saunders save his Hasidic community?
2. Why, according to Danny, did the devotees of Reb Saunders all follow him to America? What is Reuven’s opinion of that?
3. What is the author saying about Danny by using this extended metaphor to compare him to a blind soldier?
“I began to hear, distinctly, the tapping sounds of Danny’s metal-capped shoes. . .and I remembered the old man I often saw walking along Lee Avenue, moving carefully through the busy street and tapping, tapping, his metal-capped cane, which served him for the eyes he had lost in a First World trench during a German gas attack.” (pg. 116)
4. What is “number one on [the Hasidic community’s] catechism? How does the community react when Rabbi Saunders enters the synagogue? What is symbolic about his appearance?
5. Reb Saunders shakes hands with Reuven twice in this chapter. How is the second time different from the first?
6. Briefly describe Danny’s little brother. How does he behave during the service?
7. Who is the Master of the Universe Reb Saunders refers to when he speaks? How can the Master of the Universe fulfill a man’s wishes?
8. List two parts of Reb Saunders’ service that Danny disagrees with?
9. What ritual does Danny endure each week?
10. List one way Reb Saunders approves and one he disapproves of Mr. Malter.
11. Who is Rav Gershenson?
12. In what way does David Malter defend Reb Saunders’ practice of publicly arguing the Talmud with Danny?
13. Find a passage in this chapter where the character of Mr. Malter, while discussing Danny’s training, restates a theme for this novel.
14. What is David Malter’s opinion of Reb Saunders as a leader for his community?
Chapter Eight
goy - a non-Jew
1. Why is Danny bothered by the history he reads concerning Drov Baer, a man is father considers to be almost a saint?
2. State a theme for this story using the following passage from the novel.
“Your father said I should read a Jewish history. He said the first important step in anyone’s education is to know your own people.” (pg. 147)
3. Cite a passage from this chapter to support or refute the following statement: Not everything you read is true; it is important to understand the biases and limitations of the author.
4. How does Mr. Malter justify his decision to suggest books for Danny without Reb Saunders’ knowledge?
5. List the two ways Rabbincal literature can be studied. Which way does Reuven’s father prefer? In what way is Reuven’s knowledge of the Talmud equal to Danny’s?
6. One of the overall themes in this story is the theme of true friendship. What do you think of Reuven’s decision to answer Reb Saunders’ questions about Danny’s reading? Is he being disloyal? What information about Danny does Reuven not tell Reb Saunders?
7. Find a clue in this chapter that might help the reader understand why Reb Saunders believes in silence.
8. In what way is Reuven a buffer between Reb Saunders and Danny? What lesson from Jewish history lets the reader know that Reuven in in a dangerous position when he becomes a way between Danny and his father?
Chapter Nine
1. Find the extended metaphor in this chapter about the spider and the fly. How does it relate to Billy, his blindness, and his unsuccessful operation? What does Reuven learn about life from Billy’s situation?
Chapter Ten
kashruth - the laws applying to food preparation
1. Danny is having difficulties understanding Freud written in its original German. How does he solve his problems with the writings. In what ways might studying Freud contribute to Danny’s reluctance to be his father’s replacement?
2. How does Reuven try to add balance to the new world of knowledge Danny discovers in the library?
Chapter Eleven
1. What is wrong with Danny’s eyes?
2. What major figure dies?
3. How do Danny’s father and Reuven’s father react to the news from Europe that six million Jewish people have been killed in the concentration camps? How does this tragedy help the reader understand their differing opinions on how God wants them to conduct their lives?
4. Why does Reuven go to live with Danny’s family?
Chapter Twelve
1. In what way does Freud contradict the teaching of the Talmud?
2. What ironic element seems to be occurring in the book?
3. Define Zionism.Why is Reb Saunders against the idea of Palestine becoming the homeland for the Jewish people?
4. Why is Danny really concerned about his brother’s health.
5. How does Danny feel about his father?
BOOK THREE
Chapter Thirteen
1. What two pieces of advice does Reuven offer Danny to help him deal with his frustration at college?
2. In what way is Mr. Malter’s method of teaching Reuven the Talmud similar to Professor Appleman’s method of teaching psychology?
3. What is the Irgun? Why does Reuven’s father have mixed feelings about its activities?
4. What is Reuven’s father saying when he tells his son,
“I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye is in itself nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something.” (pg. 204)
5. One of the overall themes of this story is friendship. Find a statement in this chapter where Reuven’s father tells his son that good friends can disagree and still remain friends.
6. Why does Danny decide to learn experimental psychology?
7. How does Danny feel about Zionism? Why does he not voice his opinion?
8. Why is Danny not allowed to be seen with Reuven anymore?
Chapter Fourteen
rebbes - plural of rabbi
mishna - written rabbinical law
inyan - a Talmudic passage
1. What is the only contact Reuven has with Danny at the beginning of their second year of college? In what way is this contact ironic?
2. Explain the Partition Plan of the United States.Why is Reuven glad he restrains the anger he feels toward the anti-Zionist Hasidic students after this plan is adopted by the United Nations?
3. List the two methods Reuven uses to prepare a passage of the Talmud for Rav Gershenson’s class.
4. Why does Rav Gershenson ask Reuven never to use his father’s method of studying the Talmud in his classroom?
Chapter Fifteen
1. After the establishment of the Jewish state, what happens to end the anti-Zionist activities inside the school?
Chapter Sixteen
1. How does Reuven feel about Reb Saunders when he meets him again after the ban on his friendship with Danny is lifted? What does Reb Saunders want from Reuven?
Chapter Seventeen
1. How does Danny’s understanding of silence change since the last chapter?
2. Why is it important that Danny anticipate the questions Reb Saunders will ask him when he tells his father he wants to be a psychologist?
3. What does Mr. Malter say about “silence” as a method of raising children?
4. Why does Danny not tell his father about the plan to be a psychologist?
5. For what reason is Reuven’s father angry with his son at the end of this chapter?
Chapter Eighteen
1. Discuss Reb Saunders reasons for raising Danny in silence. What is ironic about his methods? Are the methods cruel, or correct for a person like Danny?
2. What is the “tortured victory” referred to in the following passage:
“Reb Saunders sat back slowly in his chair. And from his lips came a soft, tremulous sigh. He was silent for a moment, his eyes wide, dark, brooding, gazing upon his son. He nodded his head once, as if in final acknowledgment of his tortured victory.”
3. Why is the following passage ironic:
Reb Saunders looked at me and smiled feebly, nodding his head. “My son, my Daniel, has also become a man. It is a great joy for a father to see his son suddenly become a man.”
Danny stirred faintly in his chair, then was still.
“What will you do after your graduation?” Reb Saunders asked quietly.
“I have another year to student for my smicha.”
“And then what?”
“I am going to the rabbinate.” (pg. 262)
4. In what ways is this novel a coming-of-age, rite-of-passage experience for both Reuven and Danny?
5. Another important theme in this novel is the theme of the importance of the father-son relationship. Compare and contrast the two father-son relationships in this story. Do you believe both fathers have raised their sons to the best of their abilities? How much influence does Reuven’s father have over the kind of man Danny becomes and how much influence does Reb Saunders have over Reuven’s development?
6. Cite incidents from the story to support or refute the following statement: Danny and Reuven will remain life-long friends despite their differences.
Brief Study Guide: The Chosen
Book I
Chapter 1
1. Identify the time and place in which the action of the novel is set, and the circumstances that cause Reuven and Danny to meet.
2. Why does Danny consider Reuven and his classmates “apikorsim”?
Chapter 2
1. What are some of the things Reuven learns about Danny during the hospital visit? What aspects of Danny’s personality does Reuven find surprising?
2. Why is it that Danny’s father does not write or speak much, apart from his discussions of Talmud?
Chapter 4
1. What does the reader learn about Mr. Malter’s previous relationship with Danny? How does this clarify his reasons for wanting Reuven to become friends with Danny?
2. What does Danny reveal to Reuven that he has never told to anyone before? Why do you think he feels able to do so?
3. What accounts for Reuven’s reaction to this revelation?
Book II
Chapter 6
1. What does Reuven learn from his father about the following aspects of Jewish history:
*how the Jews came to function as buffers in seventeenth century Poland
*the Cossack uprising in 1648 and its affect on the Jewish community
*Ahabbtai Svi
*Israel and his teachings
*the Hasidm and their belief in a “superman”
2. Why do certain Hasids believe their leaders must take the sufferings of the Jewish people upon themselves?
3. Why does Mr. Malter believe it is natural for Danny to break his father’s rules and read forbidden books?
4. What does Mr. Malter tell Reuven about Danny’s need for a friend?
Chapter 7
1. How does the author demonstrate the way in which the Hasidic community reveres Danny?
2. What are Reb Saunders’ views on: A) the world and what it does to Jews, B) life on earth, and C) the study of the Torah?
3. Explain Reb Saunders’ assertion that “we are only half alive in this world.”
4. How does Reb Saunders determine whether Reuven is fit to be his son’s friend?
Chapter 8
1. How does Mr. Malter justify providing books for Danny which his father and Hasidim forbid him to read?
2. Under what circumstances do Danny and his father communicate? How is the explanation for this aspect of their relationship given?
3. How is the study of the Talmud shown to be a central activity in the lives of both Reuven and Danny?
Chapter 10
1. What is the subject of Danny’s “forbidden” interest? What is it he is trying to learn about in this study?
Chapter 11
1. How does the author convey the information that Americans did not know about the German concentration camps until after Germany had surrendered?
2. What is Reb Saunders’ reaction to this terrible revelation? Compare it to Mr. Malter’s.
How does the author convey Danny’s increasing sense of being trapped by his father’s way of life?
Book III
Chapter 13
1. Discuss the reactions of Mr. Malter and Reb Saunders to the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Tell what each does and says with his grief.
2. Discuss Mr. Malter’s assertion, “A man must fill his life with meaning. Meaning is not automatically given to life.”
3. What causes Reuven and his father to be “excommunicated” from the Saunders family? How does Danny react?
Chapter 14
1. What does Reuven understand about his teacher, Rev Gershenson, when he is unable to find his name listed in either the Hebrew or English catalogues of his college library?
2. Why do Reuven and his father “weep with joy” when the United Nations votes to accept the Partition Plan? What does this mean for Mr. Malter in particular?
3. Describe the method Reuven uses to study the nine lines of text he is certain Rev Gershenson will question him on.
4. What does Rev Gershenson addmit about the passage of Talmud he has asked Reuven to explain and about the way Reuben has attempted to explain it?
Chapter 15
1. Why does Danny now resume his friendship with Reuven? What does this show about his ties with his father?
2. What advice does Mr. Malter give Danny about telling his father he has decided to become a psychologist? Why is this such a significant decision? What are its possible consequences?
Chapter 18
1. What do you learn about Reb Saunders’ own childhood and of his objective in raising Danny?
2. Why does Reb Saunders accept his son’s decision “without fear”?
3. What does it mean that all his life Danny will be “a tzaddik...a tzaddik for the world”?
4. For what and of whom does Reb Saunders ask forgiveness? In what ways does Reb Saunder’s reaction surprise you? How had you expected him to react?
5. What does it reveal about Danny that he has decided he will raise his own son “in silence”?
6. What is it that Reb Saunders says he has understood all along about Danny? How is this related to his gratefulness to Reuven and his father?
Composition
1. Compare and contrast the characters of Reb Saunders and Mr. Malter:
as fathers
as teachers
and in terms of:
their world views
their views of Judaism
their views of Zionism
Use significant quotes from the book to support your judgments.
2. . Keep a record of all the historically significant events which unfold during the action of the novel.
3. Discuss the significance of the book’s title. “Brainstorm” to discover how many ways the title can be applied to characters and situations in Potok’s novel.
4. Analyze the Hasidic practice of bring up a child “in silence.” What is the purpose and the effect of this practice? Discuss its effect on Danny and divide the class into two groups: one who role is to defend Danny’s upbringing; the other whose role is to criticize it. Debate the issue as Reb Saunders and Mr. Malter might have, had they come face to face. Use the text as a reference.
5. Discuss the role of female characters in The Chosen. What accounts for their discernible lack of influence in the book? Was this deliberate on Potok’s part? Use evidence from the novel to support your view of this question.
6. Although they are both practicing Jews, there is much in Danny’s upbringing Reuven does not understand or approve of. Pair the class into sets of “Reuvens” and “Dannys”. Have each Reuven draw up all his questions about and objections to the way his friend is being raised. Have each Danny draw up a response to this. Then arrange a whole class forum where both the objections and responses can be aired.
7. Talk about the process of identification which occurs between the reader and character. Have the class talk about ways in which they were able to identify with the characters in The Chosen. Discuss the universal nature of the conflict between parent and child and its role in literature. Ask for books your students have read in which this conflict is apparent.
8. What do you believe to be the three most important ideas contained in The Chosen? In an essay, discuss each one referring directly to instances in the book to support your beliefs. After doing so, rank each idea in order of importance.
9. Identify the speakers of the following quotations. Then explain their significance to the novel, referring to characters and incidents throughout your discussion:
--"A father can bring up a child any way he wishes...”
--"What a price to pay for a soul!”
10. In essay form, discuss five significant historical events which occur during the action of The Chosen, and show their effect upon the Malter and Saunders families.
11. Write a character study of Reb Saunders using evidence from the book to discuss his childhood; his adulthood; his identity as a rabbi; a “tzaddik”, a father.
12. How did reading The Chosen add to your knowledge of Judaism, its history, religious beliefs and practices, its cultural values? Write quickly, listing everything you can recall. Then discuss in detail how the book clarified or corrected your previous beliefs about Judaism and include any surprised you derived.
13. Assume you are Danny Sanders keeping a private diary. Select four key moments of crisis that span the time frame of the novel, and write an entry for each of those dates. Use your own experience of how it feels to be in conflict with yourself, with your parents or with your society to fuel your memory, but keep to Danny’s beliefs and values while writing.
14. In an essay, discuss the values and beliefs of Reb Saunders and Mr. Malter, and show how the novel dramatizes the affect these had on the development of Danny and Reuven. Then analyze your own parents’ values and beliefs, exploring the way they have shaped, and are continuing to shape, your identity.
15. Reuven’s father tells him, “The Talmud says that a person should do two things for himself. One is to acquire a teacher.” Danny remembers that the other is to choose a friend. In what ways have both Danny and Reuven done these things for themselves? What has each boy derived from the teacher? >From the friend?
VOCABULARY
Vocabulary
Define and discuss the following terms:
Hasid: Member of a Jewish sect who follows the religious and social precepts set down in the 17th century.
Yiddish: A language spoken by Jews since the Middle Ages. Its components are Hebrew, German, and Slavic.
assimilationist: One who adopts the practice of a prevailing culture.
fanatic: Rigorous believer.
Talmud: In Hebrew, the word for “teachings.” Applied to the collection of academic discussion and judicial administration of Jewish law written by generations of scholars over hundreds of years.
apikorsim: An unbeliever or skeptic. One who does not adhere to Jewish religious belief or practice.
rabbi: Religious leader and head of a congregation.
Cossacks: Polish soldiers who, under the leadership of Chmielnicki, annihilated hundreds of Jewish communities in 1648, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
tallit: Hebrew prayer shawl worn by adult males.
tefillin: Two small black boxes fastened to leather straps, containing parts of the Torah and worn during morning prayer.
shofar: Ram’s horn blown at various religious services.
the Kaballah: Books of Jewish mysticism.
tzaddik: According to Hasidism, a pious leader who is the intermediary between God and man, the “soul of the world.”
Torah: The written law given to Moses at Mount Sinai, including the Talmud and related commentaries.
gematriya: A method of interpreting a biblical word based on the numerical value of its letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
misnaged: Opponents of the Hasidic movement who criticize belief in the tzaddik.
Teresienstadt: The name of a German concentration camp.
goyim: The Hebrew word for non-Jews.
Zionism: The movement to secure the return of the Jewish people to Palestine.
bar mitzvah: The ceremony marking the initiation of a 13-year-old boy into adulthood and the Jewish religious community.
Introductory Essay: http://www.meridianmagazine.com/bestbooks/010517map.html
Introductory Essay (more scholarly): http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/rc/library/display.pperl?isbn=9780449911549&view=rg
Study Guides
Webquest: http://www.teacherbulletin.org/webquests/TheChosen/t-lesson-template1.htm
Ballentine Teachers Guide: http://potok.lasierra.edu/Chosen.guide.html
McDougal Teachers Guide: http://www.classzone.com/novelguides/litcons/chosen/guide.cfm
Classic Notes (with summaries, tests, essays): http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/chosen/
Sparknotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/chosen/
Pink Monkey Study Guide: http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmChosen02.asp
Interview Excerpt (A MELUS Interview: Chaim Potok. Contributors: Laura Chavkin - author. Journal Title: MELUS. Volume: 24. Issue: 2. Publication Year: 1999. Page Number: 147. COPYRIGHT 1999 The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnics Literature of the United States; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group)
Interviewer: Your two most popular works are probably The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev. Do you think they are your best works and were you surprised by their tremendous popular success?
Potok: I was very surprised by the tremendous popular success of The Chosen. Whether or not they are the best works is for someone else to say. I was also very gratified, and continue to be gratified, by the wide reading audience that The Chosen, My Name is Asher Lev, and the other books constantly receive. Actually one of my other books, Davita’s Harp, is far more popular in Holland than any of the others, and The Book of Lights is considered by more mature readers to be the best of the books. It really depends upon what age you are when you read the books and what your particular interests are at the time.
Interviewer: You have suggested that you are concerned with “core-to-core culture confrontation.” Could you explain that with an example from your own work?
Potok: Core-to-core culture confrontation occurs when an individual is located at the heart of his or her own culture, knows that culture thoroughly, constructs the world through the value system and frames of reference of that culture, and then encounters core elements from another culture; for example, Danny Saunders, situated in the heart of Hasidism in The Chosen, at the core of the Jewish tradition, encounters an element from the core of the general culture in which we all live--the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, which are central in Western secular culture. That’s a core-to-core culture confrontation. Asher Lev, at the core of his culture, encounters Western art, which is a core element of Western culture. The books are about different kinds of culture conflict, arranged in an ascending order of confrontation, each more difficult than the previous one to resolve. The confrontation, for example, in The Book of Lights can’t be resolved at all, and ends in ambiguity. The confrontation of The Chosen ends in culture compartmentalization, with Danny picking and choosing which part of the opposing culture he wants to absorb; he takes those elements that he feels are not too threatening and discards the others. Asher Lev, the artist, finds it difficult to do that. Gershon Loran in The Book of Lights discovers that it is impossible to accomplish that; his world ends up being one of utter ambiguity.
Comprehension & Discussion Questions
Book I
Chapter 1
1. Identify the time and place in which the action of the novel is set, and the circumstances that cause Reuven and Danny to meet.
2. Why does Danny consider Reuven and his classmates “apikorsim”?
Chapter 2
1. What are some of the things Reuven learns about Danny during the hospital visit? What aspects of Danny’s personality does Reuven find surprising?
2. Why is it that Danny’s father does not write or speak much, apart from his discussions of Talmud?
Chapter 4
1. What does the reader learn about Mr. Malter’s previous relationship with Danny? How does this clarify his reasons for wanting Reuven to become friends with Danny?
2. What does Danny reveal to Reuven that he has never told to anyone before? Why do you think he feels able to do so?
3. What accounts for Reuven’s reaction to this revelation?
Book II
Chapter 6
1. What does Reuven learn from his father about the following aspects of Jewish history:
*how the Jews came to function as buffers in seventeenth century Poland
*the Cossack uprising in 1648 and its affect on the Jewish community
*Ahabbtai Svi
*Israel and his teachings
*the Hasidm and their belief in a “superman”
2. Why do certain Hasids believe their leaders must take the sufferings of the Jewish people upon themselves?
3. Why does Mr. Malter believe it is natural for Danny to break his father’s rules and read forbidden books?
4. What does Mr. Malter tell Reuven about Danny’s need for a friend?
Chapter 7
1. How does the author demonstrate the way in which the Hasidic community reveres Danny?
2. What are Reb Saunders’ views on: A) the world and what it does to Jews, B) life on earth, and C) the study of the Torah?
3. Explain Reb Saunders’ assertion that “we are only half alive in this world.”
4. How does Reb Saunders determine whether Reuven is fit to be his son’s friend?
Chapter 8
1. How does Mr. Malter justify providing books for Danny which his father and Hasidim forbid him to read?
2. Under what circumstances do Danny and his father communicate? How is the explanation for this aspect of their relationship given?
3. How is the study of the Talmud shown to be a central activity in the lives of both Reuven and Danny?
Chapter 10
1. What is the subject of Danny’s “forbidden” interest? What is it he is trying to learn about in this study?
Chapter 11
1. How does the author convey the information that Americans did not know about the German concentration camps until after Germany had surrendered?
2. What is Reb Saunders’ reaction to this terrible revelation? Compare it to Mr. Malter’s.
How does the author convey Danny’s increasing sense of being trapped by his father’s way of life?
Book III
Chapter 13
1. Discuss the reactions of Mr. Malter and Reb Saunders to the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Tell what each does and says with his grief.
2. Discuss Mr. Malter’s assertion, “A man must fill his life with meaning. Meaning is not automatically given to life.”
3. What causes Reuven and his father to be “excommunicated” from the Saunders family? How does Danny react?
Chapter 14
1. What does Reuven understand about his teacher, Rev Gershenson, when he is unable to find his name listed in either the Hebrew or English catalogues of his college library?
2. Why do Reuven and his father “weep with joy” when the United Nations votes to accept the Partition Plan? What does this mean for Mr. Malter in particular?
3. Describe the method Reuven uses to study the nine lines of text he is certain Rev Gershenson will question him on.
4. What does Rev Gershenson addmit about the passage of Talmud he has asked Reuven to explain and about the way Reuben has attempted to explain it?
Chapter 15
1. Why does Danny now resume his friendship with Reuven? What does this show about his ties with his father?
2. What advice does Mr. Malter give Danny about telling his father he has decided to become a psychologist? Why is this such a significant decision? What are its possible consequences?
Chapter 18
1. What do you learn about Reb Saunders’ own childhood and of his objective in raising Danny?
2. Why does Reb Saunders accept his son’s decision “without fear”?
3. What does it mean that all his life Danny will be “a tzaddik...a tzaddik for the world”?
4. For what and of whom does Reb Saunders ask forgiveness? In what ways does Reb Saunder’s reaction surprise you? How had you expected him to react?
5. What does it reveal about Danny that he has decided he will raise his own son “in silence”?
6. What is it that Reb Saunders says he has understood all along about Danny? How is this related to his gratefulness to Reuven and his father?
Composition
1. Compare and contrast the characters of Reb Saunders and Mr. Malter:
as fathers
חas teachers
and in terms of:
their world views
חtheir views of Judaism
their views of Zionism
Use significant quotes from the book to support your judgments.
2. . Keep a record of all the historically significant events which unfold during the action of the novel.
3. Discuss the significance of the book’s title. “Brainstorm” to discover how many ways the title can be applied to characters and situations in Potok’s novel.
4. Analyze the Hasidic practice of bring up a child “in silence.” What is the purpose and the effect of this practice? Discuss its effect on Danny and divide the class into two groups: one who role is to defend Danny’s upbringing; the other whose role is to criticize it. Debate the issue as Reb Saunders and Mr. Malter might have, had they come face to face. Use the text as a reference.
5. Discuss the role of female characters in The Chosen. What accounts for their discernible lack of influence in the book? Was this deliberate on Potok’s part? Use evidence from the novel to support your view of this question.
6. Although they are both practicing Jews, there is much in Danny’s upbringing Reuven does not understand or approve of. Pair the class into sets of “Reuvens” and “Dannys”. Have each Reuven draw up all his questions about and objections to the way his friend is being raised. Have each Danny draw up a response to this. Then arrange a whole class forum where both the objections and responses can be aired.
7. Talk about the process of identification which occurs between the reader and character. Have the class talk about ways in which they were able to identify with the characters in The Chosen. Discuss the universal nature of the conflict between parent and child and its role in literature. Ask for books your students have read in which this conflict is apparent.
8. What do you believe to be the three most important ideas contained in The Chosen? In an essay, discuss each one referring directly to instances in the book to support your beliefs. After doing so, rank each idea in order of importance.
9. Identify the speakers of the following quotations. Then explain their significance to the novel, referring to characters and incidents throughout your discussion:
--"A father can bring up a child any way he wishes...”
--"What a price to pay for a soul!”
10. In essay form, discuss five significant historical events which occur during the action of The Chosen, and show their effect upon the Malter and Saunders families.
11. Write a character study of Reb Saunders using evidence from the book to discuss his childhood; his adulthood; his identity as a rabbi; a “tzaddik”, a father.
12. How did reading The Chosen add to your knowledge of Judaism, its history, religious beliefs and practices, its cultural values? Write quickly, listing everything you can recall. Then discuss in detail how the book clarified or corrected your previous beliefs about Judaism and include any surprised you derived.
13. Assume you are Danny Sanders keeping a private diary. Select four key moments of crisis that span the time frame of the novel, and write an entry for each of those dates. Use your own experience of how it feels to be in conflict with yourself, with your parents or with your society to fuel your memory, but keep to Danny’s beliefs and values while writing.
14. In an essay, discuss the values and beliefs of Reb Saunders and Mr. Malter, and show how the novel dramatizes the affect these had on the development of Danny and Reuven. Then analyze your own parents’ values and beliefs, exploring the way they have shaped, and are continuing to shape, your identity.
15. Reuven’s father tells him, “The Talmud says that a person should do two things for himself. One is to acquire a teacher.” Danny remembers that the other is to choose a friend. In what ways have both Danny and Reuven done these things for themselves? What has each boy derived from the teacher? >From the friend?
VOCABULARY
Vocabulary
Define and discuss the following terms:
Hasid: Member of a Jewish sect who follows the religious and social precepts set down in the 17th century.
Yiddish: A language spoken by Jews since the Middle Ages. Its components are Hebrew, German, and Slavic.
assimilationist: One who adopts the practice of a prevailing culture.
fanatic: Rigorous believer.
Talmud: In Hebrew, the word for “teachings.” Applied to the collection of academic discussion and judicial administration of Jewish law written by generations of scholars over hundreds of years.
apikorsim: An unbeliever or skeptic. One who does not adhere to Jewish religious belief or practice.
rabbi: Religious leader and head of a congregation.
Cossacks: Polish soldiers who, under the leadership of Chmielnicki, annihilated hundreds of Jewish communities in 1648, killing hundreds of thousands of people.
tallit: Hebrew prayer shawl worn by adult males.
tefillin: Two small black boxes fastened to leather straps, containing parts of the Torah and worn during morning prayer.
shofar: Ram’s horn blown at various religious services.
the Kaballah: Books of Jewish mysticism.
tzaddik: According to Hasidism, a pious leader who is the intermediary between God and man, the “soul of the world.”
Torah: The written law given to Moses at Mount Sinai, including the Talmud and related commentaries.
gematriya: A method of interpreting a biblical word based on the numerical value of its letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
misnaged: Opponents of the Hasidic movement who criticize belief in the tzaddik.
Teresienstadt: The name of a German concentration camp.
goyim: The Hebrew word for non-Jews.
Zionism: The movement to secure the return of the Jewish people to Palestine.
bar mitzvah: The ceremony marking the initiation of a 13-year-old boy into adulthood and the Jewish religious community.
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