The Chosen Essay | Critical Essay #3

The Chosen Critical Essay #3

In the following excerpt, Bluefarb examines the main conflicts in The Chosen: those caused by religious beliefs, by differences in generations, and by the split between the head and the heart.

The conflict in Chaim Potok's novel The Chosen functions at several levels. These are: the generational conflict; the temperamental; the conflict between head and heart; the opposition between a petrified fanaticism and a humane tolerance; and, finally, the split between two visions of God and man's relationship to Him. Of all of these, however, it is the opposition between the head and the heart which predominates.

The locale of the story is the Crown Heights section of Williamsburg in Brooklyn from the Depression years to the founding of the State of Israel. Although much of the story's direction is determined by the conflict between Hassidic and Misnagdic traditions in Judaism (as respectively represented by the Saunders...
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