The Magic Barrel Literary Elements

The Magic Barrel Literary Elements

Genre

Fiction

Setting and Context

Uptown New York, early 1950s

Narrator and Point of View

Third person narrator, telling the story from a neutral point of view.

Tone and Mood

Sympathetic, somewhat sad.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Leo is the protagonist, his loneliness the antagonist.

Major Conflict

There is conflict at the start of the relationship between Leo and Salzman over what he should be looking for in a potential wife.

Climax

There is no real "aha" moment in the novel that might represent a real climax; for Leo, the climax of the novel is his becoming a rabbi after four years of study, and the climax of the plot occurs when Leo realizes he needs Stella to love him if he is ever to be happy.

Foreshadowing

Leo's realization that he is lonely foreshadows a sort of sad desperation in him and also foreshadows his changing his perspective about love.

Understatement

No specific examples; the novel is remarkably understated throughout in its use of language and descriptions.

Allusions

The author alludes to many real-life places in New York in his description of Leo's neighborhood.

Imagery

Much of the imagery surrounds the appearance of each of the characters. For example, the way in which Leo is described leads us to imagine a pale, unhealthy looking young man, with hollow cheeks and serious expression.

Paradox

Salzman is a matchmaker, which would seem to be a happy kind of job, yet his defining feature is his obvious unhappiness.

Parallelism

There is a parallel between Salzman and Leo in that they both want the relationship with Stella to work out, albeit for rather different reasons.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

The congregation is the term used for each of the members within it.

Personification

No specific examples.

Update this section!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this section.

Update this section

After you claim a section you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.

Cite this page