Journal Assignment-REQUIRED
Your reading journal is a requirement and will be submitted to me on the first day of the semester. One journal entry investigating your experience with The Chosen is required for every two chapters of the novel. Following this pattern, you are to write your first journal response after you complete Chapter Two. A minimum of at least one full handwritten page is required for every two chapters. Thus, you will have at least nine full handwritten pages for your required journal. Also, I will NOT accept typed responses; your responses must be handwritten using blue or black ink (no pencil accepted). Again, these aspects are requirements for completing the reading journal, not suggestions. Make sure you clearly label your entries by chapter.
A successful journal response explores your feelings while reading the novel. If something from the novel relates to your life, write about it. If you have experienced a similar emotion or situation as that of a character from the novel, write about it. If a situation from the novel reminds you of anything that has happened to you in your life, write about it. If you have an opinion or question concerning events, behaviors, etc. in the novel, write about it. Basically, you have the freedom to write anything you deem appropriate, as long as you can relate it in some way to The Chosen and reflect a sophisticated thought process based on the events, themes, issues, etc. involved in the respective chapters.
Significant Terms and Questions-NOT required
The significant terms and questions will NOT be submitted to me and graded as assignments; however, they are items that I strongly suggest you become familiar with before you take the test over this novel on day two of the semester. Further, these items will serve as discussion topics throughout the first week, so in order to participate in class effectively, which is expected of you as a 2-H student, it would be to your benefit to have knowledge of these items.
The Chosen -- Significant Terms and Discussion Questions
1. apikorsim 7. Torah 13. Palestine 19. Talmud
2. Hasid 8. tzaddik 14. synagogue 20. gentiles
3. Hasidism 9. tzitzit 15. Mishnah
4. Shabbat 10. yeshiva 16. Gemara
5. shul 11. Zionism 17. Yiddish
6. smicha 12. Zionist 18. bar mitzvah
1. How do Danny and Reuven meet? What is the significance of the development of their relationship?
2. How does Potok use silence in this novel? What is the purpose of this technique?
3. What is your idea of the American Dream? Do any characters in the novel experience this idea? If so, how?
4. What does tea represent in the novel? When do characters drink tea together, and what links these moments together?
5. What is a metaphor? How are metaphors of fighting and competing involved in Part I of the novel? In Part II of the novel? When are they no longer metaphors?
6. Several of the relationships and encounters that take place among one pair of characters in the novel are then mirrored in a different pair of characters. Identify one such “mirroring” relationship and explain its significance in the novel.
7. Why do you think Potok chose to tell this story from the point of view of Reuven rather than Danny? How would using a third-person narrator make this novel different? Why is Reuven such an effective narrator?
8. Compare and contrast Reb Saunders and David Malter. Why are these men so threatening to one another?
9. How do eyes function as an important metaphor in this novel?
10. Think of three different major themes that are involved in this novel. If you had to make an argument for one, which do you feel is the most significant?
Your reading journal is a requirement and will be submitted to me on the first day of the semester. One journal entry investigating your experience with The Chosen is required for every two chapters of the novel. Following this pattern, you are to write your first journal response after you complete Chapter Two. A minimum of at least one full handwritten page is required for every two chapters. Thus, you will have at least nine full handwritten pages for your required journal. Also, I will NOT accept typed responses; your responses must be handwritten using blue or black ink (no pencil accepted). Again, these aspects are requirements for completing the reading journal, not suggestions. Make sure you clearly label your entries by chapter.
A successful journal response explores your feelings while reading the novel. If something from the novel relates to your life, write about it. If you have experienced a similar emotion or situation as that of a character from the novel, write about it. If a situation from the novel reminds you of anything that has happened to you in your life, write about it. If you have an opinion or question concerning events, behaviors, etc. in the novel, write about it. Basically, you have the freedom to write anything you deem appropriate, as long as you can relate it in some way to The Chosen and reflect a sophisticated thought process based on the events, themes, issues, etc. involved in the respective chapters.
Significant Terms and Questions-NOT required
The significant terms and questions will NOT be submitted to me and graded as assignments; however, they are items that I strongly suggest you become familiar with before you take the test over this novel on day two of the semester. Further, these items will serve as discussion topics throughout the first week, so in order to participate in class effectively, which is expected of you as a 2-H student, it would be to your benefit to have knowledge of these items.
The Chosen -- Significant Terms and Discussion Questions
1. apikorsim 7. Torah 13. Palestine 19. Talmud
2. Hasid 8. tzaddik 14. synagogue 20. gentiles
3. Hasidism 9. tzitzit 15. Mishnah
4. Shabbat 10. yeshiva 16. Gemara
5. shul 11. Zionism 17. Yiddish
6. smicha 12. Zionist 18. bar mitzvah
1. How do Danny and Reuven meet? What is the significance of the development of their relationship?
2. How does Potok use silence in this novel? What is the purpose of this technique?
3. What is your idea of the American Dream? Do any characters in the novel experience this idea? If so, how?
4. What does tea represent in the novel? When do characters drink tea together, and what links these moments together?
5. What is a metaphor? How are metaphors of fighting and competing involved in Part I of the novel? In Part II of the novel? When are they no longer metaphors?
6. Several of the relationships and encounters that take place among one pair of characters in the novel are then mirrored in a different pair of characters. Identify one such “mirroring” relationship and explain its significance in the novel.
7. Why do you think Potok chose to tell this story from the point of view of Reuven rather than Danny? How would using a third-person narrator make this novel different? Why is Reuven such an effective narrator?
8. Compare and contrast Reb Saunders and David Malter. Why are these men so threatening to one another?
9. How do eyes function as an important metaphor in this novel?
10. Think of three different major themes that are involved in this novel. If you had to make an argument for one, which do you feel is the most significant?