A Study of Bernard Malamud’s The Magic Barrel from the Psychological Approach

田婧

Abstract The Magic Barrel tells a story about Leo Finkle who is a rabbinical student and in want of a wife transacts with the marriage broker Pinye Salzman and finally marry his daughter Stella. By using Sigmund Freuds Psychoanalytical Criticism， this paper aims to explore the Leos changes in thought and emotions towards love and marriage and his torment during his process of the pursuit of love and happiness.

Key words Marriage； Psychoanalytical Criticism

中图分类号：I712 文献标识码：A

I. Introduction

The Magic Barrel， which is acclaimed as Bernard Malamuds “super story”， is taken from the collection of short stories of the same title. The narrative revolves around Leo Finkle， a rabbinical student， in want of a wife. The marriage counselor Pinye Salzman introduces several women to him but truns out in no results. At last he fall love with counselors daughter. The differences between the ideal and the reality which are reflected in many aspects give rise to lots of conflicts in this story. By using Sigmund Freuds Psychoanalytical Criticism， this paper aims to explore the Leos changes in thought and emotions towards love and marriage during his process of the pursuit of love and happiness.

II. Freuds Psychoanalytical Criticism

Sigmund Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided into three parts： the id， the ego and the super-ego. The id is the impulsive， child-like portion of the psyche that operates on the “pleasure principle” and only takes into account what it wants and disregards all consequences. The ego regulates the instinctual drives of the id so that they may be released in nondestructive behavioral patterns. Whereas the id is governed by the pleasure principle， the ego is governed by the reality principle. The rational ego attempts to exact a balance between the impractical hedonism of the id and the equally impractical moralism of the superego. The super-ego originally derived from parental prohibitions and criticism. The superego provides guidelines for making judgments. The superego is dominated by the morality principle.

III. The repression of Leos “id”

Leo Finkle has the desire of love of happiness which can be interpreted as the “id” of his personality. The “id” is embodied more specifically in Leos view towards marriage. The first girl Sophie Who is introduced by Salzeman is a widow and has wonderful wholesale business. Salzeman says， “A widow dont mean spoiled， rabbi. She lived with her husband maybe four mouths. He was a sick boy she made a mistake to marry him”， “A widow， especially if she is young and healthy like this girl， is a wonderful person to marry. She will be thankful to you the rest of her life. Believe me， if I was now for a bride， I would marry a widow”（578）. But Leo says， “Marrying a widow has never entered my mind” （578）. After this failure meeting with the marriage broker， Leo becomes depressed because of the confrontations between his hope and the reality. Under this circumstance， the “id” of Leo is quite hard to achieve which means that Leos “id” is repressed by the reality. In order to find a solution to this torment， Leo must use the second part of personality： the ego.endprint

IV. The adjustment by the ego

After the first conflict happens between Leo and Salzeman， Leo begins to introspect about his wish about marriage. In terms of this phenomenon， Leo is conducted by the ego part of his personality. When Leos “id” is repressed， his “ego” comes out to instruct him to change his mind and face the reality. However， the second conflict between Leo and Lily happens when they have a date along River-side Drive. When Lily asks， “When did you become enamored of God？”（583）. He answers， “I am not a talented religious person. I think that I came to God not because I loved Him， but because I did not” （583）. This confession shook both Lily and Leo himself. After this meeting， Leo realizes that “his whole life stood starkly revealed and he saw himeself for the first time as he truly was----unloved and loveless”（584）. Leo begins to think about the love and marriage more rationally which can be owned to the adjustment by the ego part of his personality.

V. The sublimation of Leos spirit by his “superego”

Leo soon regains his composure and some ideal purpose in life to go on as planned. He thinks， “Although he was imperfect， the ideal is not” and “yet perhaps with this new knowledge of himself he would be more successful than in the past” （585）. Finally， he sees the photographs and finds a snapshot of the type taken by a machine for a quarter which makes him let out a cry. He thinks a lot and finally decides to find her. （下转第84页）（上接第66页）“...again with excitement he examined the face and found it good： good for Leo Frnkle. Only such a one could understand him and help him seek whatever he was seeeking. She might， perhaps， love him”（587）. The girl who Leo love turns out to be Salzmans daughter Stella who is actually a prostitute. Leo thinks his life through and finally decides to marry Stella. “He then concluded to convert her to goodness， himself to God”（589）. From this aspect， the superego part of Leos personality comes out and facilitates him to introspect. At last， Leos “id” is repressed and his “ego” is surpassed. His soul is purified and his spirit is sublimated by his “superego”.

VI. Conclusion

This paper explores the Leos changes in thought and emotions towards love and marriage during his process of the pursuit of love and happiness from the three parts of personality： the id， the ego and the superego. From what discussed above， it can be concluded that during Leos process of the pursuit of love and happiness， his “id” is repressed， and his “ego” bursts out with huge energy to guide his action. His “ego” lets him face to the reality and seek a companion from a more pragmatically view. Then at last his “ego” is surpassed.

References

[1] Bernard Malamud. “The Magic Barrel”. In Understanding Fiction，3e. edited by Li Feng，576-590. Beijing：World Book Publishing Press，2006.

[2] Wilfred L. Guerin. A Handbook of Criticism Approaches to Literature. Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2012.

[3] 阿泰·库尔曼别克.犹太性的表征：受难与救赎——短篇小说《魔桶》解析.电影评价，2012.3：97-101.

[4] 李曦.负罪与救赎——从原型批评方法解析《魔桶》中的主要人物.金田，2003.11：82.

[5] 李新霖.小说《魔桶》中的弗洛伊德理论.焦作大学学报，2007.2：11-13.endprint