We finally come to our last short story in the course… You’re going to miss it all, you’ll see! 
The first step to take here is to consult one or two sites about Bernard Malamud, the author of “The magic barrel”:
- American Literature on the Web;
- The Unofficial Bernard Malamud Homepage;
- Encyclopedia Britannica Online
It is also a good idea to read something about the Jewish tradition of matchmaking, so that you understand the context of the short story better…
And you are free to make your final comments!
This short story tells of a man, already in his late twenties, who is in need of finding a wife. His necessity is based more on the prestige marriage would bring in his situation than on a personal desire.
There are dozens of aspects to be analysed in this story. The first, I think, is the conception of love it brings, along with the conception of marriage to the Jewish community.
In the Jewish culture, be successful in life is among the most important thing. It is now only a matter of money, as I would say it is in our society, you have to have a good and honourable profession, you have to have good manners, you have to have good education and good relations and, of course, you have to be well-married. Marriage is far from being a consequence of love for them. Marriage is one of the aspects according to which people will or will not admire you. To have a honourable and well-educated upbringing is something that really matters. For that reason, it is absolutely common in the Jewish community to pay for the services of a matchmaker. He is the person that will provide you good connections. I even found a Jewish matchmaking site (http://www.jewishmatchmaking.com/) whose motto describes quite well the conception of marriage for the Jewish people: “Relationships are based on compatibility – not just chemistry”.
Concerning the story more specifically, there are some things I would like to highlight:
The matchmaker’s name is something I noticed since the beginning: it would be a ridiculous coincidence if Salzman were not a direct reference for “Salesman”, something he describes himself of being: “Salzman sighed. “This is my weakness that I have,” he confessed. “My wife says to me I shouldn’t be a salesman…”. Salzman is, indeed, a salesman. He sells the perfect marriage every Jew look for in order to be successful in life.
At the end we see that Leo ends up marrying Salzman’s daughter, and that is a relief for both sides. Marriage is a question of reputation, not only concerning you but also your family. (It reminds me of Pride and Prejudice somehow…):
“I don’t understand why an American girl her age should go to a marriage broker.”
“The father came, not her. He wants she should have the best, so he looks around himself. When we will locate the right boy he will introduce him and encourage. This makes a better marriage than if a young girl without experience takes for herself. I don’t have to tell you this.”
I think this passage I just quoted is a hint that Salzman was already planning his daughter’s marriage with Leo.
That’s it.
Cheers.
Indeed, the Jewish culture seems to be so strongly portrayed in this SS. Leo Finkle, who is studying to become a rabbi, turned out to be a student during a long period of his life and, at a certain moment, he is “advised” by his teachers to find a wife before he actually becomes a rabbi, so he would get a bigger congregation.
According to Jewish tradition, the search for a wife used to lead to the help of a matchmaker (“shadchan”). The matchmakers received a fee fixed by law or agreed upon by custom, as a rule a small percentage of the dowry. They were professional advisers, serving as mediators to speed up or slow down, or even to arrange relationships. I think they worked as a sort of “casamenteiros”, but I also agree to Lucas when he compared the matchmaker to a perfect-wedding salesman. The way that Pinye Salzman introduces the possible candidates to Leo sounds like if the girls were products to be purchased, without been given any personal value to them: “Sophie P. Widow. Father promises eight thousand dollars. Has wonderful wholesale business. Also realestate”, “Lily H. Regular. Father is successful dentist thirty-five years. Interested in professional man. Wonderful opportunity.” Moreover, “She is a partikiler. She wants the best.”
I can say that Salzman represents the old generation and respected the old Jewish tradition. Like Lucas said above, a great point of this SS is the attribution to marriage the state of a business deal and, more than anything, a way to achieve prestige, many times putting success above affectiveness.
In this SS the way marriage is treated is an important theme, as the boys said above. Marriage is a kind of business, a good man should be married to a respectful woman to get a good status inside the society, marriage should be convenient and not a love relationship. Although this SS is not too old, it deals with a theme that is really old, the arranged marriage, but in a “new perspective” there is inside the Jewish community.
It was a novelty to me, I’ve heard something about marriage to Jewish people, I knew that they should marry only Jewish but I did not think that they hire somebody to find a “perfect” wife for them. I think that this habit is more flexible nowadays but it could happen in Jewish communities that try to follow the tradition, as Lucas comproved when he found a matchmaking site.
I really liked this story because it is so romantic!
This SS also shows the author’s immigrant Jewish background and his American experience.
I found this story also very interesting portraying a man who does not have a social life and is incapable of knowing a woman for himself so he had to speak with a marriage broker in order to help him to find a wife.
The author also portrays that Frinkle has never loved anybody, he has not emotion relations with anyone so he feels very lonely and although he was obliged to study to be a rabbi he discovered that he didn’t love God and he only realized that when he was talking to Lily Hirschorn and she asked him: “’When did you become enamored to God?’” and he answered: “I think that I came to God not because I loved Him but because I did not.’”. (p. 2598)
I totally agree with Jean who said: “The way that Pinye Salzman introduces the possible candidates to Leo sounds like if the girls were products to be purchased, without been given any personal value to them”. I also had this impression and it is clear that Pinye was a salesman ‘nato’ because of the way he trapped the situation of showing the cards to Leo and when he puts his daughter’s picture with the others. After that, when Leo goes to Salzman’s house he was already at Leo’s door waiting for him (of course, not a coincidence!) and still says: “’She is not for you. She is a wild one – wild, without shame. This is not a bride for a habbi… This is my baby, my Stella, she should burn in hell.’” (p. 2603)
I also liked that he fell in love with Stella by only seeing her picture and when he goes to meet her he takes a bouquet of flowers (how beautiful!) and decides trying to convert her to goodness and bring her back to God what really Salzman wanted: to marry her daughter with a good man and “endireitar sua filha”.
no need to say Im a lazy person and I didnt revise my comment to this post. shame on me haha. sorry about the slips.
cheers.
I agree with Verônica when she says that in this SS marriage is treated
as a “kind of business” and not as a relationship that envolves love and feeling. A
man need to be married with a respectful woman to be accepted by the Jewish society.
This SS is narrated in third person, by an oniscient narrator.
I also agree with Jean when he says that Jewish culture is strongly
portrayed in this SS. Because of this, I liked this SS very much.
This short story was a SS of “shame on you” and “there’s hope” ate the same time – yeah, I do have a problem with finding definition words!
“shame on you”, as you guys have commented, for this capitalization on weddings. The SS criticises this wedding market, this love sale. Yes, it is traditional. Yes, jews still do it. Yes, it is part of their culture. Yes, no one is entitle to judge culture. Buuuuut… (thank God there’s always a ‘but’)… Is it really good? Getting maried like this, does it really bring happiness? How much love can you get when your marriage was a deal? Also, as it usually happens in this SS course of yours, Carla, there’s this thing of women who are either treated as objects, submissive, dependant or unfit, outcasts and depressive (not the case this time). Oh course there’s criticism against such treatment…
“there’s hope” because in the end the guy find true love… yeah, quite romantic indeed!! If it is not love, what else could “endireitar” Salzman’s daughter, or make Leo finally make a decision on who to marry? People do get to get married for love! How sweet is that!!!!
I JUST DON’T BELIEVE THAT IS THE LAST COMMENT I AM MAKING!!!!!!!!!!!
THE END, THE LAST ONE, THE FINAL, THE ULTIMATE COMMENT!
IT IS OVER, CES’T FINITE!
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
FREEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
HAUAHUAHUAHUAHUAHAUAUHAUHAUAUHAU
GOOD BYE, FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well it is definatley and interesting one, I have had some experience with another culture that treats marriage in this same way. But really when I got done reading i wondered about the background of the author, then there it was so conveniently, the threes links with all his info. Makes since and I am really glad that he is a jew because its just like speaking another language, learning it since childhood is the best and truest way I believe. Anyways, the experience felt alot more real after I found out that. but going back to the buisness of marriage business. It has good qualities I think, sometimes love can be blinding. Maybe a more decisive way of choosing could be helpful. Although love feels so good dosent it. Maybe theirs a happy medium, you have to be sure at least he`s not a looser right girls? just kidding. But really dosent it suck to fall in love with a losser? Anyway going on, I thought it a little strange that the whole time he was so damn picky about the detail, age, profession , whatever but just see that girl´s picture one time and he was in love, i dont think I believe in that. But could be, beauty can really play tricks on us. hope they´re happy. But really I think it is kind of a Man dominate system at least, in this case it was like the man had the choice. Maybe the ladies were a little desperate, but the pretty nineteen year old was what bothered me the most, not because she was young, but because her dad just posted her like an add, I mean it is just a little hard to imagine a 19 year old asking daddy to post her at the marriage saleshouse. So I assume the culture is a little male dominated , as usual,
, but when you grow up in a culture I guess things just become normal. Unthought of really sometimes, just the way things are.I think this story was just for informative purposes, not really hidden meanings, just to help us learn by being entertained, what a good teacher he was. Tchau.
Ju… you`re funnyyyy.hhahahha
People, I felt bad as Lucas had said about laziness. I was a little lazy and didn’t revise my comment too. it was already 11:28pm! Sorry about my slips!
Let me go back to hidden meaning subject:
Changed my mind. I do think that the name Salzman has everything related to Salesman and indeed he was.
And I also agree with what Lucas said above: you must have more than only chemistry to get married. Yes, affinities and compatibility.
And just adding something to what Juliana mentioned about culture. We are not supposed to agree with every culture just because it exists. And to analyze anything we go to the judgment too. What is not right to do is to be prejudiced about it.
I think, in a way, this SS just made me think about relationships as it really is, a certain negotiation, and exchange of ideas, feelings, beliefs. And as any kind of deal and game, there is always a price. This SS portrays a negotiation that ends up to be a love story – so it fits well to demystify that a romantic environment has anything to do with our demands, expectations, and needs. Take sometime, and you will see, a love relationship will pass by the dealing subject. But what still commonly happen is that many women still behave as id they were the product, and there are still people ( motivated by culture or not really by that explicit factor) believing that any kind of ‘damage’ in that product will be the fabricator’s responsibility. It’s all related to perception rules… Naturally, human beings, arrogant as we normally are most of time, try to blame somebody else for ours frustrations about the incompleteness/unfitness. It’s easier to blame the other… Not easy, although, seems to accept that a more reasonable, more calculating preview of future is also needed for a relationship to last.
Now…Im getting wild here. Im glad I took a second glance at this story…
Reading Kate’s comment above – hmm – I had to disagree with what she said about Finkle not really loving anyone…only because he said that he ‘ came to God because he didn’t love Him’… I think this excerpt is very important to the meanings ( and now I find many!) that this SS have. Finkle was raised in this tradition – so believing in God should come “naturally acquired” – by the influences of the environment…But he said he came to love God because first he didnt- so my impression is that he started getting interested in Him because he felt that he didnt belong… This unfitness we can see through all the SS is what moves Finkle…He is confused…Tradition comes and gives him many responsibilities and he is still in the process of ‘accepting/fitting in’.
There is a relation between tradition and modernity also that goes through this identity conflict that Finkle struggles with. He doesn’t really know what he is…and what made him really pursue for a life of a rabbi… He goes for tradition, because tradition, at least, feels safe. In anyway, he follows tradition. Only when Finkle “remarked that the function of the marriage broker was ancient and honorable” and that his own parents, “brought together by a matchmaker,” had had a successful marriage, Finkle’s started to respect the Salzman as antiquated as the institution the broker represents.
What I mean about identity conflict is that Finkle at the same time that pursues a life of dignity, respect, prestige and purity (as representation/ example of God’s law), he goes and chooses especially Stella, vibrant youth, wild, without shame in a moribund gallery. In his imagination, she smacks of earthy sensuality and forbidden fruit – owing in part, to a lascivious mien partially coached by her father. Finkle “received an impression, somehow of evil”. Later, like God marveling at his own creation, “he examined the face and found it good.” She alone “could understand him and help him seek whatever he was seeking”. What he seeks is not only love, but also sexual gratification, but he remains, consciously at least, ignorant of the need. In this respect, Salzman (as well as the reader) is pretty ahead of him.Definitely, a Salesmen is pretty good with a convincing discourse… that’s why I think that his “dealer” role is very interesting to analyze. Look: Salzman has wrapped Stella in the perfect garb. In Finkle’s subconscious, the unholy (yet delicious) idea of “sin,” “hell,” “wild,” and “animal” reverberates with aphrodisiac power. With her “impression of youth” and “spring flowers”, Stella embodies, or so Finkle thinks, his dream girl: Adam’s Eve, before the serpent’s persuasion, the perpetually virginal painted woman. Later, when he sees her under the street lamp, he imagines “in a troubled moment” she has on a red dress instead of a white one. I do think it has many meaningful Christian symbols… For me, Finkle has adopted the role of savior “ misericordioso”. An unabashed slut ‘in red’ might be hard “to convert . . . to ‘white’ goodness”… So, in this way, he really finds what he is seeking with Stella’s help… he finds in her “his own redemption” of being – before a rabbi- only a man.
And in this way, only choosing or being- again- persuaded ( by Salzman) he cross the line of tradition to get what he wants – which doenst really stop being a mankind’s tradition: to chose, to change, to be ‘modern’.
The barrel with discarded pictures becomes magic only when Finkle notices that it has something he wants in it. And the word ‘magic’ is not there by any accident…It could be relates to Finkles ‘wish’…and also to ‘ Salzman persuasive wisdom”… the magic of changing garbage in something precious…and also of changing the whole covenient marriage negotiation to a love story – the changing of Stella being only a mean to prestige/duty to be the goal of Finkle’s wish.
Ah… tchau!
very nice SS, it seems to have sort of a traditional storytelling tone in it, like a folk tale or fairy tale…
the matchmaker (Salzman- Salesman, great, Lucas!) used the best salesman tactic to marry his daughter off to a rabbi….make her unavailable to him, he didn’t display her life to him like he did with the other girls….he just put her picture discreetly in to entice Leo….ok of course there’s probably something deeper here but I just enjoyed it as it is, a good SS…
have a good trip Carla! Sorry, but I won’t be able to go to class tomorrow! I couldn’t get a substitution!
As Veronica has mentioned, this story portrayed marriage as a kind of business. In order to get a good congregation Leo supposed to be married and the same way as his parents did, he went to the matchmaker. It was not so easy for Leo to appeal to a matchmaker because he hoped to find the wife by himself. He wanted to be in love before he gets married. In the end the story Leo finally find the true love. “He appeared carrying a small bouquet of violets and rosebuds”… “He pictured, in her, his own redemption. Violins and lit candles revolved in the sky. Leo ran forward with flowers out-thrust.”
I also thought this SS was interesting. But, as everyone has talked about the cultural aspect of the story, I´ll focus on the style used in this SS. The point of view used is third person limited, that is the narrator is not a character in the story, but someone outside of it who refers to the characters as “he”, “she”, “they”. However, this narrator is not omniscient. He is just limited to the perceptions of one of the characters in the story. The narrator views the events of the story through the eyes of Leo, eventhough it is not him who tells the story.
What first catches the attention in this short story when related to the previous ones from this last part of the course is the identity issue. He is Jewish and is attending rabbinical classes to become a leader in his community. Yet, he is not certain that it is the right thing for him to do. While the story develops, he gets deeper into his real self and grows more and more confused about his role in that scenario. He realizes he is in this path for all the wrong reasons. The obligation to get married in order to obtain more respect and advance his career after University puts traditions in evidence and how involved they are with the practical, sometimes financial side of some cultures.
He was looking for something exciting and new, he didn’t want a female version of himself, who always did what he was supposed to, and not what he truly wanted. He didn’t even got the change to figure out and when he realized, six years had passed and he was not happy with his perspectives.
The conception of arranged marriage can be traced back from the Middle Ages, when love was completely irrelevant in the matter. But Finkle was struggling with this thought and wanted a more conventional pre-marriage ritual. This shows how he did not intent to follow the traditions blindly.
**
There is an article written by Gary Sloan called “Malamud’s unmagic barrel”. (1) The interpretation given by him does not deal with cultural aspects, but analyzes the whole story as a plan architected by Salzman to get his daughter to marry an important man. Rather intriguing. Looking for the symbolic meaning of “fish” (since Salzman was addicted to eating it), one of the explanations found was “to seek to obtain something by artifice” (2)
(1) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2455/is_n1_v32/ai_17156393
(2) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Meanings_of_fish
(:
“Marriage is far from being a consequence of love for them.” As Lucas said, that is the main idea of what love represents for the Jewish community; it is part of a well-structured life, it is one of the steps to be recognized by the Jewish society. As Lucas, Jean M, Verônica and others said, we can clearly see that marriage is seen as part of business: its main role is to turn the man (husband) very successful and respected by society.
At the end, the salesman, Salzman “sells” his daughter. And although it was his daughter that was going to marry, I felt that it was still a business for him.. that was my impression.
This story, as Elisa said, is a quest for fitting-in, of displacement and finding comfort in tradition. This whole jewish culture, marriage broking thing is just a setting to speak of a much more universal theme: secularism.
The Jewish tradition has been around for millenia and it is very strong in the community. But we cannot just assume that all Jews are orthodox and very religious. In the MAgic Barrel we see a post-modern man, will all the crises, disbeliefs, and philosphical indagations. He is a New Yorker, more than a future rabbi. We see that nowadays, even the most “religious” of men are disbelievers. Our society is going through an accelerating process of seculariztion.
Mr. Finkle cannot adapt to the Jewish form of love and marriage. He does not want just anybody and he does not seem do interested in dowries and status. He is totally immersed in our eternal quest for romantic love, which is attributed to Christianized protestant burgeoise society, that is why he has had trouble in finding the right woman. This man is not Jewish at all!!
This SS shows the total merging of cultures, and the crises this involves.
What called my attention while reading this SS was the conception of marriage for the Jewish: not as a consequence of love but as a prestige. The feelings are left aside and what really matters is the social status they acquire when they get married.
I also would like to point out the need of a matchmaker`s help before getting married as a guarantee of a successful relationship. The link made by Lucas between the matchmaker`s name: “Salzman” and a “salesman” expresses that they were really selling people who were treated as objects/products in that way.
I had once read something about Jew’s conception of life which sounded really interesting to me: Happiness is something you must find right here and right now during your lifetime, and not like Christians says.. that you may suffer for some reason during your life but then you will eventually find salvation after death. That Jewish point of view of life sounds somewhat sensible for sure. But I have never heard of Jewish matchmaking.. (And it is really interesting to take a look at the site Lucas had mentioned which tries to keep that tradition..)
Poor guy in the SS.. He refused all the “candidates” and failed the whole attempt to find a so-called perfect wife concerning Jewish beliefs only because he suddenly found himself questioning things, sadly looking for a real thing and a not so overly planned relationship.. something he could put his soul in.. He gets frightened to find he is a loveless man but then we have a happy ending when the story finishes. If we see it just the way Juliana said, like “shame on you”, and then only in the end “there’s hope”, in some way, it is indeed a beautiful story! But then again I keep wondering what the narrator meant by the final words “Around the corner, Salzman, leaning against a wall, chanted prayers for the dead.” If we see the whole thing as some kind of Salzman’s strategic plan to marriage his daughter to the poor guy like Lucas mentioned then we must not say that.
By the way, I thought interesting the way Érica interpreted the SS, analyzing it in universal terms, talking about secularism, merging of cultures and crisis.. It totally makes sense. That’s exactly what the SS shows. Maybe it summarizes all that we have said and even complements a bit more.
This SS is a classic story which gives both Jewish and non-Jewish readers a clear picture of how women are treated in that culture. In the traditional Jewish community, the arranged marriage is the model for marital relations.
“Arranged marriages still continue to exist today in modern orthodox Jewish communities. The shadchanim, or marriage brokers, were respected members of society. Often, the shadchanim were the Rabbis, who viewed the arranging of marriages as one of their duties to the community. Through time, however, the arranging of marriages lost its distinction and became the livelihood for the lower classes in the Jewish community. The professional shadchanim were portrayed as a kind of a businessman and con man rolled into one; he was someone who was only eager to earn him commission from closing a success marriage deal” source: Israel on line
Well, in this SS we have Leo Finkle who has spent the last six years studying to become a rabbi at New York City’s Yeshivah University. After hearing that he would have better job prospects if he were to get married, Leo decides to consult a matchmaker or marriage brokers; they were very common in many European Jewish cultures, as well as in some Jewish immigrant communities in the United States. Leo’s own parents were brought together by a marriage broker, and Leo is determined to find the perfect jewish bride for him through the same tradition, so he contacts Pinye Salzman, a marriage broker who has advertised in The Jewish Daily Forward, New York’s leading Yiddish newspaper in order to do that.
It really seemed to me a real love story that explore issues and themes central to the Jewish community and it traces a young man’s struggle to come to terms with his identity . Totally agree with Ana when she says “ He was looking for something exciting and new, he didn’t want a female version of himself, who always did what he was supposed to, and not what he truly wanted. He didn’t even got the change to figure out and when he realized, six years had passed and he was not happy with his perspectives at all.
This can be shown even nowadays when love and marriage became more a social contract related to status than anything else. It is just a place in society and har no further meaning at all
I agree with Natalie when she says that the narrator is not an uniscient
one. He really tells the story through Leo’s yes.
After I post the thing of the narrator and I read Natalie’s comment, I
changed my mind.
I’m sorry for the mistake.
I agree with Lucas and other people about the similarity between the
name Salsman and the word salesman suggesting that marriage was really a
kind of business and that people were really sale.
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