Love In Many Different People example essay topic

Most people spend much of their life looking for love. They look for love in many different people. Some people believe that love finds its way to where it needs to be, and some believe that love must be sought after. In Malamud's story, "The Magic Barrel" one of his characters says "Love comes with the right person, not before" (Malamud 49).

This implies that when two people find the right person, they will find love. Defining love has been one of the most difficult words to define in the English language. It has become to be used in everyday speech so freely that it has many layman definitions. For example, a child may claim to love ice cream, or a base ball player may play for the love of the game, but the dictionary defines love under a different context. Webster defines love as.".. a deep and tender feeling of affection, attachment, or devotion to a person... an expression of one's love or affection... A strong, passionate, affection of one person for another based in part on sexual attraction".

(Webster's) This definition implies that love is between two people and that it is emotional and passionate. Arriving at this point is what Malamud's story is about. In "The Magic Barrel", a young man studying to become a Rabbi calls upon a matchmaker to help him find a wife. The student, Leo, felt that this would be the best thing for him, after all, this is how his parents met and they had a very loving marriage. He tried to find love through the matchmaker's descriptions of the girls he had picked for him, but Leo found something wrong with every one of them. When Leo asked the Salzman, the matchmaker, if one of the girls believed in love, Salzman replied, "Love comes with the right person, not before".

With this he meant that one will only find love when they find the right person. It takes a bit of trial and error to do this. Leo met one of the girls and through this trial he learned about himself. He learned where he was and who he was, and that he did not love her. After this, he found the one that he did love. This represents that one must know and love themselves before then can love someone else.

For how can one be expected to know how to love another without knowing how to love him or her self? Leo discovered where he was in his relationship with God through this experience. All relationships are learning experiences preparing the person for the true thing. When Leo discovered the one he wanted, Salzman refused to let him have her because she was his daughter, and he considered her unfit for a Rabbi.

This only infuriated Leo and made him want her more. She was the opposite of him, had lived a more sinful, less protected life, and this intrigued him. Many times the one out of reach or completely opposite is the one that is meant to be. Leo ended up getting this woman, but the story doesn't tell how they " re relationship ended.

From the point of infatuation to love, many things can happen, but if it is the right person, love will come. Love, a complicated and emotional subject is played with throughout life. A constant search for this invisible, almost indescribable force is constantly occurring in the world. It takes finding the right person and letting love occur on it's own free will to find true love.

Bibliography

Malamud, Bernard "The Magic Barrel". The Oxford Book of Travel Stories. J. Sterling Warner: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1997.
205-218. Webster's New World Dictionary. 14th ed. 1999.