Illness and Morality

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Illness and Morality

• Sam, Greg, Justina, Danyel

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Mortality

• the state or condition of being subject to death
  mortal character, nature, or existence.
• mortal beings collectively humanity

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Illness and Mortality

• Serious, debilitating illnesses are prevalent
  throughout the novel, as characters suffer from
  trauma including heart attacks, blood disorders
  and even serious vision problems.
• This theme serves as a reminder of the morality
  of the characters, as shown most clearly by David
  Malter, whose heart attack causes him to confront
  his own mortality and force Reuven to confront it
  as well.
• This also relates to the importance of religion
  throughout The Chosen, for reminders of the
  characters' mortality emphasize the relationship
  between people and God.

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Holocaust

• Present throughout the entire novel
• Doesnt directly affect characters
• Characters hear the horrors being committed
  against their people
• Affects them mentally and emotionally

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Zionist Movement

• After the Holocaust, even more Jews were killed
  to try to establish a Jewish state
• Causes main characters to suffer
• Danny and Reuvens friendship ends
• The school becomes divided and fights begin

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Rabbi Isaac Saunders

• Rabbi in a Hasidic Brooklyn community.
• Position passed down from father to son for
  generations.
• The tzaddik, head religious leader (god like
  figure) brought over the congregation in order to
  help them escape from the horrors occurring in
  Poland, thus starting the line of Saunders being
  the head religious leaders.
• Prayer is extremely important in their beliefs of
  becoming worthy.

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Mortality

• Took place during WWII, before the start of the
  holocaust.
• The Jews that lived in Poland were ill treated
  and wanted an escape.
• They had to face their own mortality.
• Coming to the U.S. just in time gave them a
  chance at a life.
• Prayer, in their minds, will make them more than
  just dust.

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Mr. Savo

• Tony Savo is the middle-aged fighter with an eye
  patch who sleeps on the left side of Reuven
  during his hospital stay. He is vivacious,
  enigmatic, and constantly in everyone's business.
  
• He was severely injured in a fight and
  unfortunately lost his right eye.

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Illness and Mortality

• Because Mr. Savo was injured in a fight he is no
  longer able to go back to that.
• This event makes him question his faith and
  realize he isnt invincible or immortal.
• He deals fairly well with the fact that he has
  lost his eye.

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Sickness Immortality

• Billy Merrit  Billy Merrit is the
  eleven-year-old boy who occupies the hospital bed
  next to Reuven. He was in an car accident in
  which his mother was killed. Billy has been
  blinded, and an operation to restore his sight
  fails. Billy's plight awakens Reuven's
  compassion.

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Relations to the Story

• Billys blindness effects the story in many ways.
  It shapes who Billy is as a person and how he as
  a person effected Reuven while they were both in
  the hospital.
• How Billys situation relates to Sickness
  Mortality is he was blind and that other people
  had to learn to live with it as well as him.

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Symbolism?

• Billy suffered with being blind in the story but
  did his blindness stand for something more?
• One possible theory of the symbolism behind
  Billys blindness is that much like being blind,
  Billy was young and couldnt see the whole
  picture at that age and in most cases hasnt
  experienced some of the things that many of the
  other kids or adults for that matter have
  experienced.

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Revuen Malter

• Reuven Malter Reuven Malter is a fifteen
  year-old orthodox Jewish boy who is hit in the
  eye with a baseball, by Danny Saunders. From that
  day, his life is forever changed and viewpoint
  altered.

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Revuen Malter

• Reuven realizes mortality in many circumstances.
• With the injury of his eye it gives him a new
  view point of life and a new brilliance to
  ordinary things that he hadnt been able to see
  with his sight before.
• Then with his fathers health steadily declining
  throughout the book and a sudden heart attack, he
  realizes the fragility of life.
• Also he has lost his mother early in life already.

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Mickey

• Mickey Mickey is a young boy with chronic
  stomach problems who is staying in a nearby ward
  of the hospital. He comes to visit the optometric
  ward to ask Tony to throw around a ball with him.
  He is another example of illness that is present
  in the book.

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Hospital Staff

• Just another aspect in the book to how fragile
  our bodes are and a reminder to how prone our
  bodies are to illnesses.

• Dr. Snydman Dr. Snydman takes care of Reuven at
  the hospital and operates on his eye. He tells
  Reuven that there is a possibility of loss of
  sight in his left eye, but ultimately heals
  Reuven's eyesight completely.

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David Malter

• Constantly coughing
• Suffers heart attack
• Causes David to confront his mortality
• Becomes deeply involved in Zionist movement

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Bibliography

• http//www.bookrags.com/notes/cho/CHR.html
• http//www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/chos
  en/themes.html
• http//www.bookrags.com/notes/cho/CHR.html