Leo Finkle’s Reveal
“The Magic Barrel” by Bernard Malamud describes the story of Leo Finkle, a rabbi who wants to find a wife, so he decides to go to a matchmaker, Salzman. During his search, he discovers more about himself. In the short story, the crisis occurs after Leo consults with Salzman, when realizing how critical he is of the different clienteles. Throughout the short story, Leo Finkle’s conflict is to find the perfect wife. However, in trying to find a woman, his criteria are not easily met. He ponders over the different women available, having conflicting ideas brought across to him such as widows, age gaps, and jobs. After the matchmaker arrives at his home, Salzman shows him the first clientele, Sophie P., a widow. Leo
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The idea of marrying a widow seems atrocious because he is expecting an unmarried woman. Leo understands that a widow is no different from any other woman, yet, the marriage destroys his image of an ideal wife. He does not want Sophie since she has been with another man and she has had other relationships. Although Salzman tries to convince him that a widow is one of the best to be with, Leo is still in firm position against meeting her. Disappointed by Leo’s choice, Salzman moves on to the next woman; Lily H., a thirty-two year old teacher. She has a stable job and life, but because of her age, she seems “a little too old” (311). Leo wants someone younger than him. No matter how accomplished a woman is, dating someone older than him is against his norm. Salzman tries to talk Leo into dating someone older, but it is futile. Eventually, Salzman moves onto Ruth K., the daughter of a stomach specialist. After Salzman talks about her, Leo is more interested in the father. He is not pleased with her because he despises “stomach specialist” (313). Although Salzman only says a few sentences about her father, he focuses on the Ruth’s father rather
Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Sommers have a fair share of intemperance. Mrs. Mallard has come to the realization that the death of her husband is not only a tragic occurrence, but also a beneficial cutting of her previously binding marital ties. The crisis of her grief has given her new insight on her life, and Mrs. Mallard understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. Due to this realization she immediately forgets about the accident and starts to think about her freedom: ““Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering” (paragraph 14). It is only an hour after Mrs. Mallard has received the bitter news of her husband’s death. Considering that her husband is gone, instead of mourning, she is overwhelmed with the freedom she
Immediately after the news of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard races upstairs into her room where she settles into “a comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4). The armchair symbolizes the rest from the oppressive life she had and freedom from society's expectations. Since it was tradition for women to be married by a certain age, Louise Mallard must have obligated to marry Brently. Sitting in the armchair, she gazes out of the window and starts indulges in deep thought, which establishes her as an intelligent individual.
Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.
The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.
Throughout the novel, it is Old Mrs. Hall who represents (with a cold bitter insistence) the traditional representations of the wife and mother. While Ruth’s marriage was in no way a radical departure from tradition, it does not seem to have been based (entirely) on an old paradigm that was rapidly becoming antiquated in the wake of modernity. To
What Janie’s grandma experienced was not warm, caring love. Getting love was the worst thing to ever happen to Nanny. The child conceived by the horrific effects of the rape, Leafy, was also sexually assaulted at a young age. One day Nanny explains to Janie, “But one day she didn’t come home at de usual time and Ah waited and waited, but she never come home all dat night… De next mornin’ she came crawlin’ in her hands and knees… Dat school teacher had done hid her in the woods all night long, and he had donerped muhbaby and run on off just before day” (Hurston 18). This shows that someone as sensitive as your first love and virginity can be the worst thing to ever happen to a little girl. Leafy gave birth to Janie and left the newborn with her mother, Nanny, to live the rest of her life drinking away the pain. When Nanny explains how Janie’s mother left it further highlights the idea of love being the worst tragedy in one’s life. The rape left Janie’s mother absolutely broken, to the point she could not raise the child. Janie never met her mother and never got the love she wanted from her maternal mom. The love and sexual interest the Crawford women hoped to get wasn’t what they
Initially, Mrs. Mallard reacts with great sadness over the news of her husband’s death. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard suffers from “heart trouble”, Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister decides to “hint” her the news of Brently’s death in “broken sentences”. Josephine assumes that Mrs. Mallard “[loves]” her husband, and naturally
In both Judy Brady’s “I want a wife” and Rebecca Curtis’s “Twenty Grand,” the reader is given a glimpse into the lives of two families living in different worlds but sharing many similar situations. Both families in the two-story show the environment that they are living in. Through the author’s use of irony, repetition, and tone, it becomes clear that I feel more sympathy for the mother in the story “Twenty Grand”.
The story continues to reveal a conflict Mrs. Mallard may have had in the relationship with her husband. Though she speaks about him lovingly and knows that he loved her, there is something deeper that is brought to the surface in
In “The Other Paris,” two characters, Carol and Howard Mitchell are soon-to-be married young adults whose actions are completely influenced by the norms of society. The author, Mavis Gallant, provides clear social commentary on the societal influences on marriage through satirical uses of irony and mockery, the use of a omniscient narrator, and substantial characterization of the relationship between the couple to show the reader how ridiculous and formulaic the “pillars of marriage” can be, and how society ultimately determines which aspects of these pillars receive emphasis.
The story “How I Met my Husband” is about a young girl named Edie who is hired help for Dr.
Powerful and well-crafted novels spin from archaic yet timeless tales. Thus leaving readers to find their solace between the conflicts and turmoil within the plot. A vast majority of stories contain paradoxical themes and morals that consequently, temporarily confuse the reader, and creating their interpretation of the novel. The Time Traveler’s Wife contains themes of love, fate against free will, time, and more messages written between the lines. Henry DeTamble has a genetic disorder called Chrono-Displacement, which causes him to become temporarily displaced in time against his will. Therefore, it is possible to meet his determined soulmate, Clare Abshire when she is six, and he is thirty-eight- also when she is twenty, and he is twenty-eight. Alternating between childhood and adulthood perspectives, Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife contains a problematic love story that portrays the consequences of isolation due to a predetermined belief in love, evident in Clare’s monotonous life. Moreover, the novel illustrates that living according to destiny oppresses a fulfilling lifetime. Many instances throughout the book that demonstrate this are The List, Alba’s conception, and Henry’s final letter.
Second, Ruth shares the trauma of the loss of a parent with her husband. She lost her mother at an early age and because of a lack of love from her father and later husband Ruth misplaces her need for love by overwhelming both Milkman and her father. She is also motivated to develop some disturbing tendencies because of this surplus of love. Ruth’s love for her father is shown when she says “I certainly am my daddy’s daughter (121)”. However after the loss of her mother she becomes voracious for any physical form of attentions. First she goes to her father for affection by constantly requesting kisses on the lips that cause him to become uncomfortable. Ruth then goes on to place a weird concoction created by Pilate in the food
When Mrs. Sen did get a letter she, “For the first time she embraced him, clasping his face to her sari.” Mrs. Sen treated Eliot more like he was her son as they were around each other more. Mrs. Sen and Eliot’s interactions were better than Mrs. Sen and Mr. Sen’s interactions with each other. Mr. Sen and Mrs. Sen would not make any physical contact, when Mr. Sen would come home, “Mr. Sen would arrive, patting Eliot on the head but not kissing Mrs. Sen.” Even though Mr. Sen and Mrs. Sen are married they would not make any physical contact to each other or have much acknowledgment of each others existent. Mr. Pirzada was protective of Lilia.
Mrs. Rowland, the protagonist, is portrayed as the stereotypical nagging wife. While a flat character, she is very realistic. Her level of diction implies her lack of education, she is also bitter towards her husband. Her bitterness is not unfounded. Alfred is of no help, "Heaven knows I do my part-and more-going out sewing every day while you play the gentleman and loaf around bar rooms with that good-for-nothing lot of artists from the Square" (Jacobs 1211). Mrs. Rowland's husband is adulterous and can not hold down a job. Mrs. Rowland loves her husband, although she does not like the way he treats her. She exhibited love by continually enabling him, paying the rent, providing food, and cleaning up after him. She regards Alfred's depression as laziness. "Not that I've got any doubts about your being lazy enough to stay in bed forever" (Jacobs 1211). After learning Alfred's lover Helen, is pregnant, her frustration and disappointments only intensify.