Summary: Chapter 4
David Malter visits Reuven again and tells
him Dr. Snydman will examine his eye on Friday morning. Afterward,
Reuven probably will be able to come home. Reuven tells his father
about Danny’s last visit and comments that the way Danny looks does
not match the way he speaks. Danny dresses like a Hasid, he says,
but talks about Ivanhoe and Freud. Reuven’s father
encourages him to befriend Danny, citing a Talmudic maxim that stresses
the importance of choosing a friend for oneself. He also says, “A
Greek philosopher said that two people who are true friends are
like two bodies with one soul.” After Mr. Malter leaves, Mr. Savo warns
Reuven to beware of fanatics like Danny. Reuven wakes up in the
middle of the night and is concerned to see a curtain around Mr.
Savo’s bed. The curtain is still up the next morning, and Reuven
hears bustling activity and soft moaning from Mr. Savo’s bed. In
the early evening, Danny comes to visit for a third time. Reuven
is excited by Danny’s visit but worried about Mr. Savo, so he suggests
they go into the hall to talk.
Reuven and Danny have a long conversation about their
intellectual interests and their aspirations for the future. They
discover that they were both born in the same place, Brooklyn Memorial
Hospital, where Reuven is currently staying. Danny elaborates on
his father’s belief in silence, saying that his father never speaks
to him except when they are studying Torah and Talmud. Danny also
confesses that even though his father tells him man’s mission in
life is to obey God, sometimes he is not sure what God wants. Danny
knows that he is expected to take his father’s place as head of
the Hasidic dynasty, but he is not sure he wants to do so.
Reuven is surprised by Danny’s confession and even more shocked
when Danny reveals that he reads seven or eight non-religious books
a week, including writings by authors like the evolutionists Darwin
and T. H. Huxley, of whom Reb Saunders would not approve. Danny
tells Reuven that a nice man in the library recommends books for
him to read. Reuven tells Danny he doesn’t know what to make of
him, saying, “You look like a Hasid, but you don’t sound like one.”
After a silence, Reuven tells Danny about his love for
mathematics. Danny knows little about math, and he is excited that
Reuven knows so much about a subject he knows nothing about. In
the middle of their conversation, Reuven’s father comes to visit,
and both boys are astonished to learn that Mr. Malter is the man
who has been recommending books to Danny in the library. Reuven
is stunned and a little hurt that his father said nothing to him
about this activity, but David Malter explains that he was only
trying to respect Danny’s privacy. After recovering from his initial
shock, Danny thanks Mr. Malter for all his reading recommendations
and promises to visit Reuven on Saturday afternoon, after he is
home from the hospital.
When Reuven wakes up on Friday morning, the
curtain is no longer drawn around Mr. Savo’s bed, but Billy’s bed
is now empty. Mr. Savo tells Reuven that Billy is undergoing the
operation to restore his sight. Reuven prays for Billy and then
nervously goes to have his examination with Dr. Snydman. The doctor
examines Reuven and tells him that he thinks the scar tissue will
heal correctly. Reuven is very excited to return home, and he says
goodbye to Mr. Savo. Before he leaves, he learns that Mr. Savo’s
bad eye had to be removed.
Analysis: Chapter 4
Like Chapter 3, Chapter 4 contains
many scenes that do not directly relate to the novel’s main story
about the relationship between Reuven and Danny. Potok details Reuven’s
reaction to Mr. Savo’s surgery, and he emphasizes Billy Merrit’s
surgery. The chapter ends with the news that Mr. Savo has to have
his eye removed, a revelation that reminds Reuven and us of the
presence of suffering, especially undeserved or needless suffering.
We pity Mr. Savo and Billy because their injuries are horrible and
arose through no fault of their own. Potok intersperses examples
of needless, random suffering throughout the novel to reinforce
suffering as a fundamental, ever-present aspect of human existence.
