Love Interest

Character Role Analysis

Stella Salzman

Stella's an interesting case, because we never actually hear her talk, and we only see her in the second-to-last paragraph of the entire story. She appears first as a picture in Salzman's envelope, and Leo is instantly attracted to her. Later, Salzman describes her as "a wild one—wild, without shame. This is not a bride for a rabbi" (182).

Only at the end do we see some emotions of her own, with her eyes "filled with desperate innocence" (201). That suggests she's as eager to meet Leo as Leo is to meet her. In any case, Stella is clearly who Leo was looking for the whole time. Regardless of how their love turns out, she's definitely the romantic interest for the duration of the story.