The magic barrel short story summary. The summary of the story the magic barrel by bernard malamud Free Essays 2022-10-26
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The Magic Barrel is a short story written by Bernard Malamud, first published in 1954. It tells the story of Leo Finkle, a young rabbi who is searching for a wife. Despite his initial reservations, Leo decides to hire a matchmaker named Pinye Salzman to help him find a suitable partner.
Pinye introduces Leo to a number of potential brides, but none of them seem to be the right fit. Desperate to find a wife, Leo agrees to meet with a final candidate recommended by Pinye, even though he knows very little about her.
As it turns out, the final candidate is a woman named Lena, who is described as "a short, plump, dark girl with black hair and large brown eyes." Lena is not exactly what Leo was expecting, but he is drawn to her honesty and vulnerability. Despite the fact that they come from very different backgrounds, Leo and Lena are able to connect on a deeper level and fall in love.
As the story comes to a close, Leo is grateful to Pinye for introducing him to Lena and admits that he had been wrong to doubt the power of the matchmaker's "magic barrel." In the end, Leo and Lena are happily married and begin their new life together.
The Magic Barrel is a heartwarming tale of love and acceptance. It teaches the lesson that sometimes the best things in life come from unexpected places, and that it is important to keep an open mind and trust in the magic of the universe.
The Magic Barrel Malamud, Bernard
At the story's close, Salzman is around the corner chanting prayers for the dead, which refers to Leo and Stella and their offspring to the third and fourth generation and to that part of Judaism which has a Leo, a great "lion" of God, as its master and teacher…. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. For what is outside Finkle is only the objectification of what is inside. In question is whether or not Salzman secretly intends for Leo to marry Stella, the marriage broker's daughter. Gale Cengage 1995 eNotes.
It is difficult to suggest some other topic knowing the profession of the main character. The only evidence for Pinye as wrong comes from Leo's thoughts. Needless to say, he is anything but. When Levine tests him as a Jew with probing questions, Levine responds well, but the answers do not assuage his doubt, and the professed angel leaves, vaguely advising the woe- begone Manischevitz that if needed he may be found in Harlem. Both works, then, combine folklore elements with more naturalistic treatments of setting and character, producing realistic fiction modified by suggestions of another order of human experience.
Aaron's two sons mentioned in chapter 10 decide to honor the Lord more than their orders require by moving closer to the holiest place. Leo's lack of initiative parallels his lack of emotion—at least emotions other than embarrassment and uncertainty. The anger directed toward them is really for Leo himself, but these outbursts are the first times we ever actually see Leo openly display any true emotion. Leo, too, wants to decide for himself and he decides Salzman's daughter is "good" despite all evidence to the contrary 100% of it. Now if I had written "The Magic Barrel" and had set up the parallel to this point, I would look for a girl's name which suggests purity or whiteness but which also suggests the fire which consumes her "she should burn in hell" and will, by extension, consume Leo.
Malamud has found in Dickens' inexhaustible novel the materials for his own muted yet resonant fiction. Commentators have addressed issues concerning the archetypal nature of the characters as well. A woman too old, thirty-two. Roy tries to balance his sudden rise to stardom and chasing the woman he loves. Leo, then, may also represent all of us who are faced with the profoundly spiritual question: which value system do I choose? And I love her! No, as an analysis of the integration of form and content, Richman's will not suffice. Thou shalt not defy me by 8 making other gods thy own. The plots of novel and story show the hero possessed by his vision of an ideal woman: for Pip the ideal is represented by the young Estella, before he understands her emotional deficiency, while for Leo the ideal is a fabrication of his own, unacknowledged and so unchallenged.
Stella means star from Latin. Sue Monk Kidd demonstrates how hard it can be when people do not want to accept the truth. Vermeer was a gentle and respectful master, and Griet became devoted to him. She has dared, sinned, suffered. His first exposure to matchmaking disconcerts him; "By nightfall, however, he had regained sufficient calm to sink his nose into a book and there found peace from his thoughts. Leo, forgetting himself, seized the matchmaker by his tight coat and shook him frenziedly," and at the end as he meets Stella, "Leo ran forward with flowers out-thrust.
He showed Finkle 6 cards of the possible brides. It says things it only wishes to be true, unsaying them at the very instant of their utterance. He speaks repeatedly of being "of service" to her and of finding "redemption" in so doing. But serious as his plight presents itself to him, its farcical elements and the narrator's handling of the telling of it assures the reader, for the moment at least, that a happy ending rather than a life in therapy, or with a wife in therapy, or some even worse fate will be Leo's portion. Gale Cengage 1995 eNotes. When he finally inspects the photos and finds Stella's snapshot, Leo unexpectedly discovers something about her that he can't quite put his finger on. The two societies are also alike in the harsh and difficult view they took of life, in their belief that life is to be lived under the control of the sterner virtues.
The summary of the story the magic barrel by bernard malamud Free Essays
The knowledge of Malamud's direct reference to Chagall is helpful in understanding the story. He gives Leo the chance to learn about himself by associating with people. The second is the date of publication online or last modification online. Around the corner, Salzman, leaning against a wall, chanted prayers for the dead. It is within this context of the Akedah that we must look at the relationship between Pinye Salzman and Leo Finkle. Someone even suggested to me that Salzman is singing in happiness because he is a Jew who is about to get his daughter married! The book is not designed to give exhaustive treatment to each story; rather it tends to show repeated character types and motifs.
The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud: Summary & Analysis
You will pardon me, I hope, if I find it difficult to see how Lily's "How was it that you came to your calling?. Both suggest that the women who inhabit them have known evil and suffered from it but are now, in Malamud's phrase, "opening realms of possibility. Stella is surely the essence of love as Eros, that archetypal female figure which Jung describes as anima. When Leo tells Salzman that none of his three clients suit him and Salzman asks "What then suits you? Revital Steiner Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a B. The image Salzman has presented of Stella contrasts sharply with Leo's own life. Stella is given another chance to live her life again with a good man by forgiving God.
We can study the psychology of the work, either the author's vision or the make-up and motivation of the characters. Leo had grown a pointed beard and his eyes were weighted with wisdom. We start by noting that Leo is a final year rabbinical student about to obtain a doctoral degree from Yeshiva, a highly prestigious university. He seriously considered leaving the Yeshivah, although he was deeply troubled at the thought of the loss of all his years of study—saw them like pages torn from a book, strewn over the city—and at the devastating effect of the decision upon his parents. Pinye Salzman, dealer in abortive dreams, has not been able to anticipate such an outcome in his own most ardent dreams. He imagines her wearing a white dress and red shoes; however in a troubled moment he sees that she is actually wearing a red dress and white shoes. You may disagree with the last sentence, but the point there was exaggerated for a particular reason.
The second date is today's date — the date you are citing the material. Salzman seems greatly dismayed when Leo falls in love with Stella. The analysis presented above uses a great deal of direct textual evidence such as breaking of various rules to show that Leo is the opposite of a high-level rabbi and it uses direct textual evidence for parallels between the story and the Pentateuch, that which Leo studied for years and that which he would be expected to teach as a rabbi. Cite this page as follows: "The Magic Barrel - Sam Bluefarb essay date May 1964 " Contemporary Literary Criticism Ed. The second paragraph of our story initiates what will become an elaborate play with the tantalizing but incomplete evidence of the metaphysical status of Pinye Salzman. The two symbolic characters, Salzman and Levine, matchmaker and Negro-Jewish angel, serve also as comic archetypes or subconscious doubles, those other-selves familiar to readers of Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, and other masters of the modern psyche. The few passing comments in the Benson and Astro book to "The Magic Barrel" are not capable of being grouped into a single interpretive picture, but some do relate to the interpretation given earlier in this paper.
