Traditional Values in Chaim Potok´s Fiction

Abstract

The aim of the thesis is to refer to the ways of interpreting traditional values in Chaim Potok´s fiction and its main focus is to illustrate the importance of the values and tradition as such given by the example in characters of the novels: The Chosen, The Promise, My Name Is Asher Lev, The Gift of Asher Lev, and In the Beginning. Potok placed the novels in American society of Jewish immigrants and we have the importance of tradition for their lives and the role of tradition in forming a Jew as a human in view. The specific theme, very frequent in Jewish-American literature, is the clash between tradition and American society. The thesis illustrates the different ways of dealing with the struggle by usage of the characters comparison.