Ryan V.
December 14, 1999
English 1
The Chosen Paper
In the book The Chosen by Chaim Potok, Reb Saunders,
Danny’s father, says, A man is born into this world
with only a tiny spark of goodness in him. The spark
is god, it is the soul; the rest is ugliness and evil,
a shell. The spark must be guarded like a treasure,
it must be fanned into flame. (263) Fanning the
spark of goodness into a flame is a major theme in
this book, as it focuses on both religion and
friendship. Reb Saunders made sure that the spark of
god inside of Danny was fanned into flame. Danny had
to make sure that his brilliant mind didn’t choke out
the spark in him. Reuven also had to make sure that
his rage towards Danny didn’t smother the spark of
goodness in him as well.
Reb Saunders words reveal that when people are born
into the world, they are given only the basic
instincts. These basic instincts are evil and ugly
because they exist only to make sure that the shell
survives. The shell has no compassion towards
others because it only cares about its own prosperity.
It hasn’t yet learned to understand the pain of
others. The shell is cold except for just a hint of
warmth. That warmth must be closely protected, and
carefully nourished until that warmth overtakes and
dominates the cold. The warmth must dominate the cold
so that the warmth is the first feeling towards a
situation, and compassion and understanding is the
first reaction.
Religion is a big aspect of fanning a spark of
goodness into a flame. Something that fans a spark of
goodness into a flame is being kind and showing
respect towards others. Another part of religion that
involves fanning a spark of goodness into a flame is
forgiving those who have committed a sin towards
another. Forgiving someone who has hurt someone else
is often one of the hardest things to do. This is
because it’s very easy to push back the goodness when
another person has let the evil come out and try to
hurt someone.
Friendship is also something that comes to mind when
talking about nourishing warmth into dominating the
cold. That’s because strong friendships can’t form
when a friend doesn’t have a warm heart. No one can
be a good partner in a relationship without a strong
sense of kindness and goodness inside.
A scene illustrating a character trying to fan the
spark into a flame is when Danny comes to see Reuven
in the hospital. At first when Danny walks in, Reuven
refuses to talk to him, and accuses Danny of
intentionally trying to hit him with the baseball
without letting Danny speak. Danny tries to convince
Reuven to hear him out, but Reuven stays stubborn, so
Danny leaves. This reveals the evil shell inside.
Reuven doesn’t care if Danny meant to hit him or not,
all he cares about is that Danny, intentionally or
not, threatened his well-being, and so coldness took
over. He did not feel sympathy towards Danny’s
situation, and he got angry at him and told him to
leave. Reuven nearly succumbs to the ugliness until
he talks it over with his father. Later, Reuven
starts to feel a bit guilty that he got so angry at
Danny. Reuven says,I couldn’t help it, abba (64).
That’s because the ugliness inside him took over, and
he couldn’t control how he felt. His father helps him
see past the hatred that he feels towards Danny. When
Danny comes back to try to apologize for a second
time, Reuven is much more accepting and forgiving.
There he has helped to fan the spark of god into a
flame of goodness. This later results in them
becoming good friends.
Reuven also wasn’t the only one who was trying bring
out the goodness in him. Danny as well was making an
attempt to push back the ugliness that everyone is
born with inside. Danny reveals to Reuven that he
actually felt like killing him when he was standing at
the plate, but he didn’t know why. He said ..I
wanted to walk over to you and open up your head with
my bat (67). This wasn’t just Danny’s
competitiveness for winning the game that made him
feel that way. In fact, Danny says, It had nothing
to do with the ball game (67). Whenever Danny
encounters something he does not understand, he thinks
about it until he can comprehend it. This didn’t work
with his feelings towards Reuven during the baseball
game. This is surprising because Danny can interpret
and understand Talmud better than most, learn German
and read Freud in it, but he can’t understand his own
emotions. Danny couldn’t comprehend his own emotions
because the basic instincts to destroy his opponents
took over, and Danny felt hatred toward Reuven. Danny
describes it as, ...the wildest feeling..I’ve never
felt that way before (67).
Fanning the spark of goodness into a flame is
something that has to be done with great care. It is
obvious the importance of it also. If it is not, and
the shell takes over, it can be dangerous. Danny’s
hatred nearly caused Reuven to nearly lose sight in
one eye. It isn’t hard for the shell to take over.
Reb Saunders says, Anything can be a shell Reuven.
Anything. Indifference, laziness, brutality, and
genius. Yes, even a great mind can be a shell and
choke the spark (263). Danny’s brilliant mind was a
threat to the development of the flame of goodness
inside him. He had to be careful that his mind didn’t
dominate his soul. The spark of goodness inside of
him ...must learn to seek out other sparks, it must
dominate the shell (263). He had to learn to look
for a way to show his kindness so that he could learn
to feel compassion for others. Having an internal
spark of goodness is a hard thing to acquire. It’s
difficult for someone to see past themselves and to
think of others. It would be nice if it was something
that we were born with, because then the world would
be a much friendlier place. Fortunately, Reb Saunders
was good at showing his son how to fan the spark of
goodness into a flame that saved his son from the fate
of being a mind without a soul, and also helped to
create a lasting friendship.
