Literary Analysis of The Magic Barrel
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Order ID 53563633773 Type Essay Writer Level Masters Style APA Sources/References 4 Perfect Number of Pages to Order 5-10 Pages Description/Paper Instructions
Literary Analysis of The Magic Barrel
Phillips 1
Phillips 3
Terrell Phillips
Alex Kurian
ENGL 1302
28 June 2012
Literary Analysis of The Magic Barrel
In a career that took him from the Bureau of Census in Washington, DC in 1940, to the halls of Harvard University as a visiting lecturer, from 1966-68, Bernard Malamud proved that “…reinvention was the catalyst for his success as a writer” (Gitenstein). Malamud’s works include The Natural, The Fixer, and Two Fables, (Gitenstein). Malamud was “…born April 28, 1914, in Brooklyn, NY; died of natural causes, March 18, 1986, in New York, NY” (Understanding Bernard Malamud 2). In 1954 Malamud published what is considered one of his greatest short stories – The Magic Barrel (Gitenstein). The main theme of the story is that one must know his or her true identity to progress in life.
Leo Finkle, a rabbinical student, has decided at the age of 27 that he must find a wife. Finkle enlists the help of Pinye Salzman, a marriage broker and ends up with the Stella, the daughter of the marriage broker. There is nothing difficult about Bernard Malamud’s writing; he writes in clear, straightforward prose about universal ideas and emotions. The conflict that exists in this tale is finding the perfect bride for Finkle. The pace of the story was appropriate for the type of story Malamud was writing. If the story was rushed, you would not have believed the cautious nature of Leo Finkle, nor believe Salzman as calculating.
There are four central characters in this story; Leo Finkle- the rabbinical student who has assimilated to American life, Pinye Salzman-an elderly Jewish matchmaker, Lily Hirschorn- a potential wife for Leo, and Stella- the woman young Leo is certain that he loves (and the daughter of Salzman). Leo Finkle is a cautious, educated, young man with a long, severe scholar’s nose. He had brown eyes heavy with learning, sensitive yet ascetic lips, and a certain, almost hollow quality of the dark cheeks. Salzman is of slight build but dignified build, who wear an old hat, and an overcoat too short and tight for him. He was missing a few teeth and smelled like fish. However, he had an amiable manner that contrasted with horn rimmed mournful mild blue eyes that revealed a depth of sadness. His voice, lips, wisp of beard and bony fingers were all animated which surprisingly puts Leo at ease. Lily is a regular school teacher who drives a Dodge and once lived in Paris for a year. She is intelligent and cultured who is somewhere between the ages of 29-35 and widowed. Lily is petite and not unpretty, is wearing something signifying the approach of spring and surprisingly sound. Stella is Salzman’s disgraced daughter who is wearing a white dress and red shoes, appears at the end of the story smoking under a streetlight located on the corner. Salzman claims she is dead to him because she is wild like and animal. She is also the woman Leo has fallen in love with.
A stereotype in this story is that people, especially men, are most concerned with how their potential spouse looks like. That is why Leo asks Salzman right away if he has any pictures of the prospective brides. A break in stereotype is that a rabbi would never fall in love with a woman of Stella’s reputation. A rabbi is expected to marry someone of high moral character, who can be an example to his congregation. Stella would not be able to fulfill that role.
The setting for the story takes place in America in uptown New York during the winter and spring of the early 1950s. Leo Finkle lived in a small room crowded with books on the fourth floor of a graystone rooming house with a window that faced the street. Pinye Salzman lived on the third floor of an old tenement house less than a block from the subway station in the Bronx in New York. Salzman lives with his asthmatic, gray-haired wife. Their apartment like Leo’s is a one bedroom sunless and dingy room with old furniture that smelled of fish. Culture and religion appear in this story in the form of Leo and Stella. Leo cannot be a rabbi in the Jewish faith if he marries Stella, and Stella is the wayward daughter who (in the Jewish culture) would never be accepted in the community as anything other than a sinner and unclean. Leo also culturally represents the young generation of Jews who have assimilated into American culture and Salzman represents the old traditions of the Jewish faith, which is mired in the tradition that all Jews suffer.
The Magic Barrel had an external narration since no one in the story was telling the story to us. It allowed the reader to be an active observer to the events taking place. However, I prefer an internal narrator because there are times in a story that the narrator can express a feeling or mood that would not otherwise come across in the external narration. An external narrator can sometimes leave out important details that readers may be curious about.
This story is filled with images and symbols. Malamud begins the symbolisms with the title of the story. The Magic Barrel can be viewed the art of producing and illusion (Salzman) and the barrel symbolizes Leo being at the mercy of his circumstances being without a wife. Salzman’s daughter Stella is a myriad of symbols; Stella in her white dress and red shoes represents the saint and sinner within each of us. The street lamp she stands under against the dark of night illustrates the hope that is always available to us all. Finkle’s small room with the window represents the prison he has held himself in by not being loved and not allowing himself to be loved. Lily represents the experience and wisdom Leo has not yet attained. Salzman is the magician of the barrel; he provides the art of illusion that Finkle in his scholarly life would never permit. Even the fish in the story has many meanings. “In traditional Jewish religion, fish symbolizes being able to get married by the burning of fish liver to repel the jealousy demon” (Understanding Bernard Malamud 78). Fish is also represented in the New Testament in the Bible; fish represents Jesus in that he was a fisherman of men. “The Greek word Delphos means both fish and womb, which both offer life” (Understanding Bernard Malamud 78). This is why Leo noticed that the round white moon penetrated a cloud menagerie that resembled a huge hen and dropped out of her like an egg laying itself; he was thinking of life. The covers under which Leo hid himself was to cover the shame he will be bringing upon himself and his family in wanting to marry Stella.
The theme of the story is self-realization. In Leo Finkle’s quest to find a wife he realizes he suffers from a lack of love given and received. In Leo’s journey of self -revelation he becomes aware that his six years of study to become a rabbi has been less about his relationship with God and more about his journey to find love and acceptance of himself. Leo’s identity had been rooted in tradition; however, in his new awareness he wants to break free to form himself into the man he is and he does so with a definitive act of marrying Salzman’s daughter. In the same way, people today are often confused about who they are or what they should do. It is easy to simply conform to various expectations, without giving due importance to the things that make us unique as individuals. Malamud reminds us that in the final analysis, we are the ones living our life, and we will have to bear the consequences of our actions, good or bad.
Works Cited
Gitenstein, R. Barbara. “Bernard Malamud: Overview.” Reference Guide to American Literature, edited by Jim Kamp, 3rd ed., St. James Press, 1994. Literature Resource Center, dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=txshracd2500&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1420005269&asid=4bfc77b129a3620cf2e052f474e7d336. Accessed 26 June 2012.
Helterman, Jeffrey. Understanding Bernard Malamud. University of South Carolina Press, 1984.
Malamud, Bernard. “The Magic Barrel.” Margret & H.A. Rey Center, n.d. http://thereycenter.org/uploads/3/4/3/2/3432754/the-magic-barrel-bernard-malamud.pdf. Accessed 21 June 2012.
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