The Chosen General Flashcards
Reuven Malter
Protagonist, becomes friends with Danny after being hit in eye by Danny’s ball, becomes rabbi, complex
David Malter
Reuven’s father, passionate Zionist, helped Danny find books in the beginning, often gets sick, is very open with and talks to Reuven a lot, a very guiding figure for Reuven and also Danny
Danny Saunders
Hasid who is supposed to become his people’s rabbi but instead wants to and does study psychology. He is interested in Freud, hits Reuven in the eye with his ball, is raised in silence, and is very complex as well. He is caught between the old culture of Hasidism and the new culture of fried and psychology
Reb Saunders
Danny’s father, passionate anti-Zionist, raises Danny in silence to grow his soul, seems mean and harsh but has inner motives
Manya
The Malters’ housekeeper
Levi Saunders
Danny’s little brother who is always sick and will become his people’s rabbi because Danny is not going to
Mrs. Saunders
Danny’s mom, often sick as well, very nice
Billy
The boy who is next to Reuven in the hospital because he is blind. He is going to have an operation, and when Reuven finds out it didn’t work it is a little loss of innocence.
Mr. Savo
The boxer who Reuven is also next to in the hospital. He calls the world “crazy” and “cock-eyed” and, if Billy represents innocence, he represents experience because he has a more negative view on the world
Dr. Snydman
Reuven and Billy’s doctor who is a very good doctor
Rev Gershenson
Danny and eventually Reuven’s Talmud teacher. He has a very interesting way of teaching by calling on students randomly and having them talk about passages. Reuven finds out that he is not in the catalogue at the library because he would not be allowed to teach at the college if he published the controversial things that he believed
*IMPORTANT, KNOW
Mrs. Carpenter
The nurse at the hospital
Danny’s sister
A very beautiful girl who Reuven possibly had a crush on. She is promised to someone so she marries him at eighteen
Danny’s sister’s husband
It’s all in the name
Mr. Galanter
Reuven’s softball team’s coach. He treats everything as though it is a battle and his team is the soldiers
Davey Cantor
The boy on Reuven’s softball team who first tells Reuven that the Hasidic team are “murderers”
Schwartzie
A member of Reuven’s softball team
Dov Shlomowitz
A member of the Hasidic softball team
Sidney Goldberg
A member of Reuven’s softball team
Health motif
Whenever Reuven’s dad gets sick, something relating to the Zionist movement or something stressful/sad is going. This also applies to everyone, usually when someone gets sick it means that something not great is going on in their lives.
Silence motif
Danny’s dad raises him in silence to grow his soul, Reuven and Danny’s silence when they are forbidden from talking to each other, etc.
Blindness/glasses/eyes motif
Reuven could possibly go blind at the beginning, Billy is blind, a lot of people have glasses, etc.
Friendship theme
Danny and Reuven’s friendship and how it evolves, grows, and changes
Father-son relationships theme
Reuven and David’s relationship, Reb and Danny’s relationship, Billy and his father’s relationship
