The Magic Barrel Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 48 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Magic Barrel.

The Magic Barrel Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 48 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Magic Barrel.
This section contains 438 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Magic Barrel Study Guide

Identity

Malamud's Leo Finkle is a character trying to figure out who he really is. Having spent the last six years of his life deep in study for ordination as a rabbi, he is an isolated and passionless man, disconnected from human emotion. When Lily Hirschorn asks him how he came to discover his calling as a rabbi, Leo responds with embarrassment: "I am not a talented religious person. . . . I think . . . that I came to God, not because I loved him, but because I did not." In other words, Leo hopes that by becoming a rabbi he might learn to love himself and the people around him. Leo is in despair after his conversation with Lily because ". . . he saw himself for the first time as he truly was—unloved and loveless."

As he realizes the truth about himself, he becomes desperate to change. Leo determines to reform himself...

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This section contains 438 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Magic Barrel Study Guide
Copyrights
Gale
The Magic Barrel from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.