The Chosen General

Question 1

Reuven Malter

Answer 1

Protagonist, becomes friends with Danny after being hit in eye by Danny’s ball, becomes rabbi, complex

Question 2

David Malter

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Danny Saunders

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Reb Saunders

Answer 4

Danny’s father, passionate anti-Zionist, raises Danny in silence to grow his soul, seems mean and harsh but has inner motives

Question 5

Manya

Answer 5

The Malters’ housekeeper

Question 6

Levi Saunders

Answer 6

Danny’s little brother who is always sick and will become his people’s rabbi because Danny is not going to

Question 7

Mrs. Saunders

Answer 7

Danny’s mom, often sick as well, very nice

Question 8

Billy

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Mr. Savo

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Dr. Snydman

Answer 10

Reuven and Billy’s doctor who is a very good doctor

Question 11

Rev Gershenson

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Mrs. Carpenter

Answer 12

The nurse at the hospital

Question 13

Danny’s sister

Answer 13

A very beautiful girl who Reuven possibly had a crush on. She is promised to someone so she marries him at eighteen

Question 14

Danny’s sister’s husband

Answer 14

It’s all in the name

Question 15

Mr. Galanter

Answer 15

Reuven’s softball team’s coach. He treats everything as though it is a battle and his team is the soldiers

Question 16

Davey Cantor

Answer 16

The boy on Reuven’s softball team who first tells Reuven that the Hasidic team are “murderers”

Question 17

Schwartzie

Answer 17

A member of Reuven’s softball team

Question 18

Dov Shlomowitz

Answer 18

A member of the Hasidic softball team

Question 19

Sidney Goldberg

Answer 19

A member of Reuven’s softball team

Question 20

Health motif

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Silence motif

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Blindness/glasses/eyes motif

Answer 22

Reuven could possibly go blind at the beginning, Billy is blind, a lot of people have glasses, etc.

Question 23

Friendship theme

Answer 23

Danny and Reuven’s friendship and how it evolves, grows, and changes

Question 24

Father-son relationships theme

Answer 24

Reuven and David’s relationship, Reb and Danny’s relationship, Billy and his father’s relationship

Question 25

Blindness theme

Answer 25

Billy’s blindness, Reuven’s temporary blindness, metaphorical blindness

Question 26

War theme

Answer 26

WWII, war for and against Zionist state, internal wars, war between the softball teams, etc.

Question 27

Silence theme

Answer 27

Reb raising Danny in silence, Reuven and Danny’s silence when Danny is forbidden from associating with Reuven

Question 28

Friends from enemies

Answer 28

Reuven and Danny were enemies but they become best friends

Question 29

Judaism/religion theme

Answer 29

Different sects and their different traditions, Hasidism vs. normal orthodox, different ways of studying Talmud and practicing religion, different views on religion and what is okay to do and not do, how it defines their lives, actions, personalities, and thoughts

Question 30

Opposition theme

Answer 30

Zionists vs. anti-Zionists, Hasids vs. normal Orthodox Jews, ideals of Reb vs. ideals of David, etc.

Question 31

Difficult times theme

Answer 31

WWII, FDR’s death, fight for Zionist state, find out about Holocaust, etc.

Question 32

School/Education

Answer 32

Yeshivas, Talmud education, college (Columbia for Danny’s grad school), undergrad college, etc.

Question 33

Learning to appreciate what you have theme

Answer 33

Reuven with Danny, eyesight until you’re blind, etc.

Question 34

Breaking the mold/developing your own identity theme

Answer 34

Danny becoming a psychologist, Reuven becoming a rabbi, etc.

Question 35

Vision, appearance vs. reality theme

Answer 35

Danny appears to be a normal Hasid, but actually wants to study Freud, etc.

Question 36

Prejudices and overcoming them theme

Answer 36

Prejudices between Hasids and normal Orthodox Jews, Danny and Reuven overcame them

Question 37

Old culture vs. modern life theme

Answer 37

Danny is caught between the old culture of Hasidism and the new culture of Freud and psychology and education

Question 38

Exposition

Answer 38

• in New York
• WWII/end of WWII time period
• introduces differences between Hasidic Jews and normal Orthodox Jews
• Hasidic Jews are insulting the Orthodox Jews
• starts in softball field
• plays softball game against Hasidic team that is very good
• Reuven gets hit in the eye with a softball (the softball that Danny Saunders hit “purposely” at him)
• Reuven goes to hospital, coach brings him
• people are scared that he may be blind
• stays in hospital, meets Billy, a blind kid, and Mr. Savo, an old boxer who got an eye injury
• WWII going on, US making progress in Europe
• stays in hospital, wants to go outside and see
• father visits and father gradually gets sicker as Reuven stays in the hospital
• Mr. Galanter visits Reuven
• meets Billy and his father, they agree that Reuven seems like a nice boy
• Mr. Savos says he should have never been a boxer and that he should have been a priest

Question 39

Rising action

Answer 39

• Danny visits Reuven in the hospital
• Danny apologizes to Reuven for hurting him
• Reuven doesn’t want to be friends with Danny
• Danny explains how for some reason when he was at bat he wanted to kill Reuven
• Reuven still doesn’t want to be friends with Danny
• Danny leaves
• Reuven’s father visits and brings Danny his radio to listen to news about WWII
• Reuven’s father tells Reuven that he should befriend Danny
• Reuven promises Billy’s father he will visit Billy once Billy’s operation is finished
• Mr. Savos is behind a curtain in the middle of the night, Reuven is worried, but meets Danny in the hall for a conversation. Reuven finds out that Mr. Savos got eye surgery to remove his hurt eye the next day.
• Danny visit Reuven while Mr. Savos is behind curtain, they start to warm up to each other and Danny tells Reuven about him reading forbidden books in the library, Reuven’s Dad shows up and it is revealed that reuven’s Dad is the man that gives book recommendations to Danny.
• Reuven and Danny become friends and spend many prayer sessions together
• When Reuven gets out of the hospital he feels like the time spent there was longer than it actually was, notices things about his house he hadn’t before
• Reuven visits Danny and Reb saunders at their synagogue, witnesses that Danny gets quizzed by Reb Saunders on the talmud
• Reuven is asked to answer a somewhat mathematical question that Danny was unable to answer, and he gets it correct, so Reb Saunders approves of Danny’s and Reuven’s friendship
• The war in europe has ended and now what happened to Jews is revealed, zionist movement (a common state for Jews) begins

Question 40

Climax

Answer 40

-Reb Saunders learns that David Malter spoke for the Zionist movement, bans Danny from seeing/talking Reuven

Question 41

Falling action

Answer 41

• Danny and Reuven don’t talk for a while

- one day Danny’s father allows him to start talking to Reuven again

Question 42

Denouement

Answer 42

• Danny and Reuven make up and their fathers somewhat makeup
• Danny goes to Columbia
• Reuven and Danny both graduated with high honors
• Reuven and Danny part ways with a vague/open-ended promise to study Talmud together again

Question 43

Setting

Answer 43

Brooklyn/Williamsburg, New York