Zionism
Reuven comes to experience the pain of silence himself while the two young men are in college together. Though accepted as family after he stays with the Saunderses while his father is in the hospital, Reuven incurs Reb Saunders's wrath when he speaks favorably of the struggle to establish a secular Jewish nation in Palestine, which Saunders vehemently opposes. When Mr. Malter makes a speech at a pro-Israel rally that makes the newspapers, Saunders forbids his son to speak to Reuven, or even mention his name. (Danny breaks this order once, to let Reuven know, but tells him, "I won't go against my father. I won't!") The ban lasts for two years, during which time Reuven experiences anguish, rage, and depression (particularly after his father suffers a heart attack), before learning to cope with being alone.
