1. The "I Am" Assignment
This leads to the assumption that Lily represents Lilith, Adam's original wife, a match that was originally too rational for Adam/Leo. Finally, enter Stella, the interpretation of Eve in the story. Leo's desire for the life in Stella brings him to choose Stella as his mate. The quote "In refusing Salzman's well intentioned and rational matches, Finkle-Adam rejects the insufficient first version of Creation, the lonely abyss of self. . . Love without desire meant failing to come to God."(Bluestone 408) perfectly closes Bluestones interpretation of the story.
Bluestone's analysis of the story seemed very over interpreted. His concept of how Malamud's story was a missing part of the story of Adam and Eve seemed very unreasonable. Bluestone's evidence of the parallels between the two stories made some sense, but it mostly seemed considerably stretched. The flow of time did not match Bluestone's, for the "Magic Barrel" lasts longer then just a week, which nullifies the connection to the week of creation. The character of Salzman having no qualities of a god-like figure, and Leo's loss of faith in religion voids the biblical aspect of the story. While these details seem minute, they are the same level of detail that Bluestone examined for his interpretations. He draws symbolism to some of the aspects of story, but neglects other details that would go against his interpretations. Bluestone's article did not seem very persuasive to me.
The second article to be examined was Gary Sloan's article titled "Malamud's unmagic barrel." The abstract of the article states that "The scheming matchmaker in Bernard Malamud's "The Magic Barrel" is able to manipulate one young man into marrying his daughter through natural means, not with the magical prowess which other critics have attributed to the character."(Sloan) Basically Sloan's article discusses how Salzman set up every event in the story in favor of the marriage of his daughter Stella to Leo after Salzman's approval of Leo himself.
Whenever I tell her about how their union would bring honour to the family she snaps back at me saying "Father, you can't even pretend to understand, your reputation is all that matters to you." ... How can they accuse me of being a bad father when they enjoy such luxury, such comfort? How can they accuse me of being irresponsible when In truth, what would be irresponsible of me would be to ignore her audacity and let it go unpunished. ... I paid her the standard and so how am I at fault? As for Sheila ,how can I be a poor father when I am being honoured as a respectable man. ...
Using first person point of view is significant in that it allows the reader to engage in the thoughts of the narrator and, thus, make a conclusion about his or her character. In Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," the reader can conclude based on the thoughts and remarks of the narrator that he is derang...
Unit title: Practical sports coaching Assignment title: Improving and adapting coaching techniques Case Study In this case study we had to demonstrate a skill/technique that was as close to a perfect working model and then teach this skill to another person. I chose to teach my partner Ri...
In this individual case however, you will not be able to use all these materials as you don't know how to extract fragrant oils from many of the listed ingredients as the process requires technological intervention. ... As well as this, various anthropological studies have also proven the tendency of diverse cultures towards manipulation of fragrances which proves that wearing perfumes is a universal human phenomenon (Classen, Howes and Synnott, 1994). ... Over 1999-2010, the total sales in the flavor and fragrance industry increased from $12.9 billion to $22 billion respectively de...
How to Improve English Skills When I was a pupil at a high school, I thought that I know English well, however when I began to study at LCC I understood that I cannot express my self, my dictionary stock is very small and I decided to do something. There are many different ways how to improve English language skills, and I want to share with you about those methods which I tired by myself. ... I tied to remember and shear with you about how did I tried and try to improve my English skills. ...
How to Change Your Oil Frequent oil changes are the best preventative maintenance the home mechanic can give the engine, because old oil becomes contaminated and or burnt, which leads to premature engine wear. ... Warning: If one does not know how to properly jack up a vehicle be sure to check with the owner's manual, as every vehicle is different. ...
I would like to offer an alternative viewpoint here, without diverging too much into the rationale behind the US government position on Iraq. I ask anyone who considers attending an anti-war demonstration, in the interests of fair-mindedness, to please ruminate on it. Simply put, anyone who ha...