Essay Database

In the novel "Davita's harp," communism and the effects of war play a significant role on the way Ilana reviews the world, and how she lives as a direct result of her beliefs. Davita--possessed exceptional sensitivity and intelligence even as a small child--perceives discord and disunity everywhere around her, and cannot be kept from seeing how her parents' ideals buckle under the hard realities of the world she's growing into. She sees people scorned and …

…have informed all of his novels on a stirring and beautiful story about how we learn and use faith, how it can fail us, and how it can help us know ourselves--alone and as part of an often confounding world. With each of his novels, Chaim Potok has shown that he speaks to a vast audience not only about the Jewish religious experience, but about the profound-sometimes painful, sometimes joyous-effect religion can have on us.