The Chosen: analyzing

The Chosen is about a boy named Robert Malter who is a modern Jew and a softball player. His father is David Malter and he writes articles on the "Talmud". During the book you notice he has a leadership quality which makes most of the players on his team look up to him. His now known rival Danny Saunders is also a leader on his softball team and his father is a respected leader in both Reuven's (Robert) and Danny's neighborhood though they live a couple of streets away. During a recent softball game in the book Danny plays really "Dirty" and ends up injuring Reuven after calling him an "apikorism". I personally don't know whether it was an accident or on purpose. Now Reuven has a burning hate for Danny Saunders and has a serious injury in his eye.