In the novel, Danny first experiences suffering after he furiously hits a baseball into Reuven's eye, causing serious damage. Although Reuven is the one who suffers physically, Danny suffers emotionally from all the pain associated with the guilt and remorse of his actions. "His voice wasn't angry, it was sad. ‘You want me to say I'm miserable? Okay, I'm miserable.'" (Potok 62). Danny's grief causes him to suffer, but at the same time it opens doors to a new relationship and to new ways of thinking. Before, Danny had been consumed with being superior, but this incident causes him to branch out and become more understanding of the world around him. "‘No hard feelings anymore?' he asked me. ‘No hard feelings,' I said. ‘I just hope the eye heals all right.' ‘I hope so, too,' he said fervently. ‘Believe me.'" (Potok 71). Danny's attitude has been transformed from that of superiority and self-righteousness to that of mutuality, and even humility.

While Danny is studying experimental psychology, he is greatly troubled by the differing approaches of studying the human mind that seem to be polar opposites of what he is used to. "‘Psychoanalysis is a scientific tool for exploring the mind. What do rats have to do with the human mind?'" (Potok 199). Danny can't stand the new methods of studying psychology and goes through a long period of suffering. Although he does not know it, his suffering allows him to become more open-minded, and accept things more easily. This is shown when he decides to talk to his professor about how he feels, and comes away enlightened. "‘He said that experimental psychology was interested in applying the methodology of the natural sciences to discover how all human beings behaved. It doesn't generalize about personality behavior only on the basis of a certain segment of people. That makes a lot of sense.'" (Potok 211). Danny's new understanding did not come about simply from talking to his professor, it was also due to the pain and misery he went through.

Later in the novel, Danny goes through an immense amount of suffering when his father forces him to stay away from Reuven for two years. "I wondered often during those months whether Danny was also going through these same dreadful experiences. I saw him frequently. He seemed to be losing weight, and I noticed he was wearing different eyeglasses." (Potok 220). Danny is obviously suffering terribly, shown by Reuven's observations of Danny losing weight, and the look in Danny's eyes. Reb Saunders had apparently made this final test to be hard; he wanted to ensure that his son had a soul, and would be empathetic. "‘He suffered and learned to listen to the suffering of others. In the silence between us, he began to hear the world crying.'" (Potok 267). Danny's father is pleased with the results of his son's suffering and he fearlessly sends Danny off as a ‘tzaddik of the world'. His father knows that the suffering which he put his son through has paid off, and that Danny can understand love, pain, and other emotions which one cannot grasp with just a mind.

Danny suffers quite often in The Chosen. The most notable of his sufferings include his misery over Reuven's eye, the pain and confusion he experienced over experimental psychology, and the two year silence between him and Reuven. Each time, however, his suffering leads to him becoming more empathetic and understanding which are shown by his words of compassion and enlightenment. Despite all the confusion and misunderstanding surrounding Danny's sufferings, he and others know that he has ultimately become a well rounded and open-minded person.

The novel opens up quickly with a confrontation between Danny Sanders and Reuven Malter. When Reuven first spots Danny Sanders and the rest of the Hasidic Jews he is somewhat annoyed by their religious rituals such as the clothes they wore. Reuven does not fully understand the Hasidic Jews and there rituals so he basically sees them as foreign and strange. He somewhat knows Danny because they both went to the same school, but he has never really met him because Danny's Hasidic community "kept to itself."

As the game progresses, Reuven finally gets a chance to talk to Danny after Danny had reached second base. Reuven, trying to start conversation, congratulates Danny for his hit but is shocked when Danny replies rudely by telling him that they were going to kill him. Later on in the game, at Danny's next time up at bat, Reuven is hit right in the eye by the pitch thus causing him to lose sight in that eye for weeks.

This is where the novel really begins. Potok is trying to show that yes Reuven was physically blinded by Danny Sanders hit, but he also became blind to the ways of Danny and the Hasidic Jews. Potok even makes a point to show how blind he really was when Reuven imagines seeing Danny smiling at him when he is on the floor injured.

As the introduction to the novel continues, Potok decides to show the effect of blindness to other cultures and religions, when Danny comes to visit Reuven at the hospital. Reuven has just learned about his eye, and that he would be unable to do various things, such as reading, when Danny comes to visit. Reuven, blinded by hate, wanted nothing to do with Danny and quickly told him to leave. Though Danny tried his best to try to start a conversation and to reach out to him, Reuven would have none of it. He demanded him to leave because he wanted nothing to do with Danny not only because of what had happened, but because he was different. He simply just didn't and him and thought that everything he did was "weird."

As the novel continues, a change begins to take place in Reuven. Right after he rudely dismissed Danny from the hospital, he beings to regret it and feels remorseful about it. When Danny comes to visit again the very next day, Reuven apologizes for his behavior, forgetting all that had happened between them. They talk for a long time and he actually begins to enjoy his company. Later, he tells his father about the conversation and that Danny is nothing like what he thought he would be like. He states that he doesn't sound like a Hasidic, but rather, he likes to study secular books such as Freud. In this scene, it appears that Potok's goal is to show what can happen when we ignore our differences and become more open minded. Though Reuven is not fully there yet, he is beginning to slowly open his eyes to Danny's world.

Not long after their first real conversation, they meet up again. This time they have an even deeper conversation talking about various subjects like family and their religious rituals. Reuven is amazed to find out that he and Danny were both born in the same hospital. Danny then reveals to him that his father has raised him in silence and he only speaks to him when they are studying the Torah and Talmud. Reuven has a hard time understanding why someone would do such a thing but he continues to keep an open mind. As their conversation progresses, Reuven finds out that Danny reads multiple secular books a week. Much to his surprise, Danny is not a strange as he first suspected him to be and they actually share a lot of things in common.

In chapter 7, Danny comes over to Reuven's house to see if he wants to walk over to the Shul to meet Reb Saunders (Danny's father). Reuven excitingly says yes and they begin their walk down there. On the way, they have yet another deep conversation where they talk about mostly family. Surprisingly enough, the two boys have even more stuff and common and Reuven is again amazed to find out that they were born only two days apart. Danny then explains to Reuven that his father is a tzaddik(Spiritual leader of the people) and this makes him even more anxious to meet him. When they arrive, two men approach Danny and ask him to interpret a passage of the Talmud.

After giving a great explanation, Reuven is amazed by the intelligence of Danny. After the party, the two began to walk back to Reuven's house. Reuven, still amazed by how much they have in common, becomes even more aware of this when he finds out that Danny is planning on going to the same college as he is. As you can see, they have a lot of things in common and this is where Reuven begins to fully open up his eyes to Danny's world and accept it.

As the novel continues, Reuven begins to fully dig into Danny's world and starts to embrace their differences. Though Danny is against the Zionist movement which Reuven supports, Reuven looks past this difference and still continues to be friends with him(though later in the novel Danny's father forbids them from talking). He studies the Talmud with Danny and his father and he realizes that he has almost the same amount of knowledge as Danny does. They are in a way, the same person just from different backgrounds. Reuven becomes so connected to Danny that they are pretty much inseparable, like Jonathan and David. They become so close that he even begins to feel his pain/joy when Danny's father explains to him why he has raised him is silence.

It is clear, at least it is to me, that Chaim Potok wrote this novel to get us to think and to change. He wanted us to open ourselves up to different cultures and religions for that we could fully understand them. He understood that unity is a beautiful thing; you can see this through Reuven. He changed throughout the novel, from a closed eyed blinded person to an open minded person. He became a better person for it as well (studied the Torah more and decided to become a Rabbi).

Just think of what he would be like if he hadn't looked past the differences between him and Danny. He gained so much by accepting him. If we open ourselves up to others who are different from us, we will reap the many blessing and benefits from it just like Reuven did.