"Assimilate v. To absorb into the prevailing culture." The story in The Chosen at times seems to be near the quintessence of that definition. The characters in the book were all affected by it in some way, and there is great diversity in the manner in which these effects were experienced.

Danny and his father, Reb Saunders, are some of the clearest examples of assimilating in the book. Danny, for instance, experienced assimilation in an active manner. For him, being absorbed into society was a difficult struggle to follow his own desires. The end result is best summed up in the final pages of the book in which he appears almost unrecognizable to his father and sets off further onto his own path.

Danny absorbed into society peacefully and willingly; his father, however, did not. Reb Saunders took the brunt of the difficult experience called change. He suffered...