 |
| http://astraldreamer.deviantart.com/ |
Cynthia Ozick’s, “The Shawl”, manages to evoke the cold
horror in the heart of the Holocaust and the madness that essentially embodies
those who have gone through such a tragic episode. The narrator thoughtfully introduces the
experience of adversity in different ways that will determine the future of three
girls and the life they will live, or not.
Rosa, a mother, does everything in her power to protect her daughter,
Magda. A special shawl, viewed to
possess magical qualities, is the very purpose of living. It is the gateway to freedom, nurture, and
survival. The shawl functions
symbolically in many ways and poses as different sources of life. For Magda, the shawl represents shelter,
food, and warmth, which are all necessities one would need to survive. For Rosa, it represents possession, obsession,
and her past. Rosa’s niece, Stella, views
the shawl as a way to escape the cold.
Ironically, she is viewed as “the coldness of Hell” (Ozrick 1) after
taking the magical shawl that everyone seems to want control over. Not having the same involvement of being a
mother, Stella has a difficult time understanding Rosa’s stubbornness of
clinging to the past. After losing
Magda, Rosa loses everything. It is the
shawl that enables her to hold on to her lost possessions. Stella and Mr. Persky, a stranger who begins
to break Rosa’s barriers, have a different view on the life that she is to
live.
While Rosa remains broken and angry, Stella is able to move
on and live her life. Rosa’s madness and
insane behavior makes perfect sense, but not to the ones around her, for “[her]
Warsaw, isn’t [their] Warsaw” (19). Readers may view Rosa to be
crazy, insane, and downright mad! She
does not want to let go of the life she once lived. It is her stubbornness that forces the people
around her to become annoyed. Rosa fails
to see the support she does have and rather dwells in loneliness. Her conversation with Mr. Persky demonstrates
just that:
“I’ll walk you.”
“No, no, sometimes a person feels
to be alone.”
“If you’re alone too much…you think
too much.”
“Without a life…a person lives
where they can. If all they got is
thoughts,
that's where they live."
that's where they live."
“You ain’t got a life?”
“Thieves took it.” (27-28)
Rosa is comfortable being alone, for it is all she has known
since coming to America. She wants to
“live in her thoughts” because she is able to access Magda by writing
letters, ritualizing with the shawl, and reliving the memories.
By moving on from an event and merely forgetting the
memories can seem cold, insensitive, and in Rosa’s case: vulgar. She refers to Stella as “the Angel of Death”
(15) and Mr. Pensky a thief, which parallels those who took her life. I believe this to be a defense mechanism. Rosa is creating a barrier and is reliving
“the life before, the life during…” in her “life after”, as if creating her own
concentration around her. For what she
has gone through, her insane behavior makes all the sense. I can empathize with Rosa, for I too have lost a loved one. Coping is very difficult, but I know that my dad would want me to live my life to the fullest and not hold back. The memories will always be there to cherish. Stella and Mr. Persky are indeed living their
lives, and Rosa is living hers just the way she pleases.
Response #4
ReplyDeleteBreanna, I think you make an excellent point about the shawl representing different traits for each character. Ultimately, for Magda, the shawl represents survival. It is her source of food and shelter, two of the most crucial necessities for basic life. The one day she is without her shawl she falls victim to the “thieves” who took her innocent life from her without thinking twice. From the way the story is written it seems as if Rosa points the blame directly on Stella for her baby’s death.
You mentioned that the shawl was Stella’s way of escaping the cold, but was that really her only intention when she took the shawl? When I was reading this story I got the impression that she was jealous of Magda. I felt some of her reasoning for taking the shawl was due to jealousy and bitterness. We are told that Stella, more than once, labels Magda as an Aryan, and implies the idea of eating her once she is gone, because in her mind Magda will not live for very long.
Even though Stella is obviously “jealous of Magda” I think it’s important to look at the bigger picture and think outside of what we are told through the text. Yes, Stella portrays jealousy but she was only a fourteen year old naive girl living and experiencing concentration camps first hand. She was only a child forced to be an adult and care for herself while struggling to survive. All the while she was witnessing Magda being mothered and nurtured by Rosa. She too only wanted to feel secure and protected. She wanted the same warmth, shelter, and safety that the shawl provided for Magda. So can she really be to blame for a child’s death when she too was just a child? Although she seems the easy target to blame, given certain information, aren’t the “thieves” and men holding them in the concentration camp the actual bad guys? They are the source of the problem and they are the ones to blame for Magda’s death, not Stella.
I think your post regarding Rosa’s behavior is definitely an interesting approach. I also think that by ritualizing with the shawl, writing letters, and creating an imaginary life for Magda that this is a way for Rosa to attempt to cope with her loss. Like you stated it is Rosa’s way of creating a barrier. I think she has created this barrier in order to try to protect the memory of her dead daughter or maybe to try to stay in control of a situation that she was unable to control before. You state that “Rosa fails to see the support she does have and rather dwells in loneliness;” however I think the reason she is unable to recognize this support is because she doesn’t think anyone can understand what she has gone through. It is for this reason that she tells Mr. Persky that “My Warsaw is not like your Warsaw” (19). Although, Persky lived in Warsaw he was never put in a concentration camp like Rosa so she is trying to emphasize the fact that his experience doesn’t compare to what she experienced. For people who have gone through a traumatic experience such as Rosa did, it is very likely for them to remain silent about what they have seen or experienced for the fear that they will be further ostracized. For this reason I thought it was significant that towards the end she seems to begin to open up to Persky. It shows that she is making an effort to move on with her life.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up the fact that Stella is unable to understand why Rosa is clinging to the past. However, do you think Stella making it seem like she has already moved on from this event as a cover up for her true emotions? It seems hard to believe that someone that has gone through an experience like this could completely move on from what has happened to them. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying it’s impossible for someone to move on, but maybe Stella’s way of coping with what has occurred is by trying to disregard it. This is a mechanism that is also used with people who have suffered from trauma; they choose to just go on with their lives like if it never occurred. What do you think? Do you think that Stella has been unaffected by this event, and as a result she has been able to move on with her life? or has she truly been able to move on and just wants her aunt to do the same?
In response to Jazmin’s comment/questions:
ReplyDeleteYou pose some very good questions that I have not taken into account. You state that, “…maybe Stella’s way of coping with what has occurred is by trying to disregard it.” I agree that this is a way to cope and move on as if the situation did not happen, but then again, Stella has a life in the city, works and supports Rosa—who chooses to live alone. So, I believe that in most cases, she has moved on and created a life for herself. People have different ways of coping. For Rosa, she feels most comfortable in isolation. For Stella, she is building a life from what she has lost. Of course, with an event so tragic as the one that Stella, Rosa, and others have endured, one cannot simply forget. I am sure that it lingers in Stella’s mind, and therefore very much affected by the event. I do feel she is able to overcome the adversity and wants the best for Rosa. They are all each other have. It would be interesting if there were another story based on Stella’s view rather than Rosa’s.
Rosa has resentment toward Stella for taking the shawl. I wish she could realize that under the circumstances they endured, Rosa might just have done the same if the roles were reversed. Although, I can’t help but feel sympathy for Rosa. All in all, it is a very difficult topic to state whether or not someone has moved on from such traumatic events, for it is something that we can’t place ourselves in or begin to understand.