Sunday, April 17, 2011
"The Shawl"
After reading Cynthia Ozick's "The Shawl," I just sat and thought about how disturbing this short story, and also the holocaust as a whole actually was. This story made the experience of being in a concentration camp very graphic, and showed decisions that the victims had to make daily. Also, i thought Ozick did a great job of using the shawl to symbolize safety. At the end of the story when Rosa had the choice between going to get the shawl first or saving Magna, she chose the shawl, knowing that Magna would be killed if it weren't for the shawl.
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I agree with the first part of your post, about the graphic reality of the holocaust. And how Rosa had no good choice that she could have made at the end of the story. Although one thing about you post in unclear to me. In the end of your post you say that Magda lived in the end, and it was because of the shawl that she lived. Though what really happened is that whether Rosa had the shawl or not, Magda was going to die, and the choice Rosa was faced with was to ether futilely run after Magda and try and save her, but surely be killed along with Magda, or stay in safety with the shawl and let Magda die. She chose to let Magda die and do nothing. It seemed to me that you did not know this depending on your closing statement.
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