Kanchwala 1
Dawood Kanchwala
Alex Kurian
ENGL 1302
1 May 2018
Analysis of The Magic Barrel
Bernard Malamud, National Book Award Winner for The Magic Barrel, was born on
April 26, 1914, in Brooklyn, New York (Davis). According to Evelyn Avery, “The author of two
National Book Awards, the subject of numerous book and studies, the inspiration for The
Malamud Society and national conferences, Bernard Malamud is recognized internationally as a
major author.” Malamud was, “… a reliable pediatrician all right. A doctor for what ailed young
writers like me” (Solotaroff). Malamud was married to Ann De Chara, and had a son and
daughter, Paul Malamud and Jann Malaumud, and later died of a heart attack in 1986 (Davis
xix). Malamud won multiple awards and wrote multiple short stories throughout his life such as
The Magic Barrel written in 1958. The main theme of the story is that every individual should
know what they want in life in order to achieve it.
The story is about a rabbinical student, Leo Finkle, who wants to get married, but in order
to find a bride, he hires a matchmaker, and in the end of the story falls, in love with the
matchmaker’s daughter. The story is understandable because Malamud does an excellent job at
keeping the story simple with simple language and simple grammatical structure so any reader
can easily comprehend the story and the message the story is trying to convey. The main conflict
of the story is finding the perfect woman to marry for Leo Finkle. The pace of the story is
appropriate because Malamud has only mentioned details absolutely needed in order to create the
Kanchwala 2
perfect image for the reader regarding the plot and the characteristics of each character so the
audience can understand the story perfectly without unnecessary details.
The major characters of the story are Leo Finkle, the rabbinical student looking for a
perfect bride, Pinye Salzman, the matchmaker that is helping Leo Finkle find his perfect bride,
Lily Hirschorn, the lady he first went on a date with who eventually made Leo realize he wanted
to find the perfect bride through love, not a matchmaker, and Stella, the daughter of Salzman,
who Leo falls in love with towards the end of the story.
According to the story, Leo Finkle is a confused and delusional character who doesn’t
really know what he wants and isn’t able to decide what he wants. He is an average looking man
wanting to marry the perfect girl but in the end falls in love with a very unexpected character.
Malamud describes Finkle as, “severe scholar’s nose, brown eyes heavy with learning, sensitive
