Summer Reading Assignment
Course:
Grade:
Teacher:
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English 9 - Humanities 9
9
Ms. Avery
[email protected]
English 9 – Humanities 9 – Ancient Literature
Read: The Chosen (ISBN: 0-449-21344-7)
When fifteen-year-old Danny Saunders, an ultra-religious Hasidic Jew, almost blinds Reuven
Malter, a modern Orthodox Jew of the same age, during a baseball game, an unlikely friendship
emerges between the two boys. The novel examines the tensions that arise as their cultures collide
with each other and with modern American society. Together, the boys search for truth in a world
dealing with the aftermath of World War II, the Holocaust in Europe, and the struggle for the
creation of the state of Israel.
This semester we will explore some of the big questions in life: what meanings are we searching for
in our lives? What meanings have people searched for across time periods and cultures? What
meanings are the characters searching for in their lives?
To begin exploring these ideas, read The Chosen before the first day of class (ISBN: 0-44921344-7) and answer the following in thoughtful and complete sentences, using examples from
the book where appropriate. Your typed responses to these questions are due the first day of
class.
1. Identify the time and place in which the action of the novel is set and the circumstances that
cause Reuven and Danny to meet.
2. Why does Danny’s father not write or speak much, apart from his discussions of Talmud?
3. What is the subject of Danny’s “forbidden” interest? What is he trying to learn about from this
study?
4. In book III, what causes Reuven and his father to be “excommunicated” from the Saunders
family? How does Danny react?
5. Discuss the difficult choice Danny Saunders has to make between his religious and family
obligations and his personal quest for knowledge. Do you think he makes the right choice in the
end?
6. Explain the differences in Reb Saunders’ and Mr. Malter’s beliefs and feelings about Israel and
Zionism. At the novel’s close, how – if at all – are these conflicts resolved?
7. What does it mean that all of his life Danny will be “a tzaddik…a tzaddik for the world?”
(p.287).
Your answers are due on the first day of class.