The Magic Barrel Summary 
The Magic Barrel Summary
Summary (Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition) “The Magic Barrel” begins with the introduction of Leo Finkle, who is twenty-seven and in search of a suitable wife, to Pinye Salzman, who has advertised his services as a matchmaker in a local Jewish newspaper. Leo has spent six years in study, with no time for developing a social life. Inexperienced with women, he finds the traditional route of obtaining a bride appealing, an honorable arrangement from which his own parents benefited.
At their initial meeting, Salzman brings names from which to choose a proper wife for a respectable rabbi. The cards on which they appear, which he has selected from a barrel in his apartment, include significant statistical information: dowry, age, occupation, health, and family. When Leo learns who some of his prospects are (a widow, a thirty-two-year-old schoolteacher, a nineteen-year-old student with a lame foot), he dismisses Salzman. The experience leaves Leo in a state of depression and anxiety. Salzman, however, appears the next evening with good news: He has been assured that the schoolteacher, Lily Hirschorn, is no older than twenty-nine.
Leo agrees to meet Lily, whom he finds (as Salzman has claimed) intelligent and honest. However, in addition to being “past thirty-five and aging rapidly” Lily appears overly in awe of Leo’s profession—a result, the young man concludes, of Salzman’s misrepresentation. Additionally, Lily’s questions concerning Leo’s love of God are threatening; in a moment of self-revelation, Leo harshly confesses that he desired to become a rabbi not because he loved God but because he did not.
Their meeting results in Lily’s disenchantment and Leo’s despair. Angry at first with Salzman, Leo comes to realize that it is...
Synopsis of 'The Magic Barrel' by Bernard Malamud
Leo Finkle, the protagonist of 'The Magic Barrel,' has terrible luck with making acquaintances. A rabbinical student from Cleveland, Leo has
Summary (Comprehensive Guide to Short Stories, Critical Edition) “The Magic Barrel” begins with the introduction of Leo Finkle, who is twenty-seven and in search of a suitable wife, to Pinye Salzman, who has advertised his services as a matchmaker in a local Jewish newspaper. Leo has spent six years in study, with no time for developing a social life. Inexperienced with women, he finds the traditional route of obtaining a bride appealing, an honorable arrangement from which his own parents benefited.
At their initial meeting, Salzman brings names from which to choose a proper wife for a respectable rabbi. The cards on which they appear, which he has selected from a barrel in his apartment, include significant statistical information: dowry, age, occupation, health, and family. When Leo learns who some of his prospects are (a widow, a thirty-two-year-old schoolteacher, a nineteen-year-old student with a lame foot), he dismisses Salzman. The experience leaves Leo in a state of depression and anxiety. Salzman, however, appears the next evening with good news: He has been assured that the schoolteacher, Lily Hirschorn, is no older than twenty-nine.
Leo agrees to meet Lily, whom he finds (as Salzman has claimed) intelligent and honest. However, in addition to being “past thirty-five and aging rapidly” Lily appears overly in awe of Leo’s profession—a result, the young man concludes, of Salzman’s misrepresentation. Additionally, Lily’s questions concerning Leo’s love of God are threatening; in a moment of self-revelation, Leo harshly confesses that he desired to become a rabbi not because he loved God but because he did not.
Their meeting results in Lily’s disenchantment and Leo’s despair. Angry at first with Salzman, Leo comes to realize that it is...
Synopsis of 'The Magic Barrel' by Bernard Malamud
Leo Finkle, the protagonist of 'The Magic Barrel,' has terrible luck with making acquaintances. A rabbinical student from Cleveland, Leo has