The Shawl Analysis

I believe the family of three in focus throughout The Shawl is most likely imprisoned at a war camp, solely because they are underfed, scared, and always threatened to be shot if acting out of place. With this in mind, it can be said that Cynthia Ozick’s short story revolves around the major theme of survival.

When one is attempting to survive, it usually means that they are deprived of most of their resources and desperately need support. In the beginning of The Shawl, Rosa is described as a “walking cradle” because she hides her daughter Magda between her breasts and under a shawl. However, since Magda’s presence is unknown to others, she does not receive any food. Alternatively, Rosa breast feeds her and gives her most of her rations as
There may be times when oppression takes over your life and you’re left with no means of revolt. This is seen in The Shawl as Rosa describes the view from her prison barracks: “On the other side of the steel fence, far away, there were green meadows speckled with dandelions and deep-coloured violets”. It seems as if Rosa is yearning to go there, meaning her current lifestyle is of much less stature. I believe flowers are symbolic for Rosa because she wants to be like them, free on the other side of the fence, in paradise. As such, I believe the people who imprisoned her took away her dreams and her only means of happiness, Magda. As soon as Magda was discovered, someone of ‘authority’ lifted her and threw her onto an electrified fence, instantly killing her. Cynthia Ozick shows how cruel and unjust oppression can become. This reminded me of when racial profiling was common in the USA, especially during the time the hip hop group Niggaz Wit Attitudes was on the rise. One of their songs, “Fuck The Police” spoke of their reality: “A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown and not the other color, so police think they have the authority to kill a minority”. These musicians fought against the FBI and police that were denying their rights, and in return they fathered rap music and are inspirations to teens today. In my opinion, Rosa failed to fight the guard taking Magda away, and thus failed to create a bright future for her family. In other words, I think that Ozick is trying to tell the reader to never give up because when you do, nothing good can come out of