The Shawl

Throughout the stories we have read in this class we have seen many different types of people go through many different hardships in life. From growing up in a poverty stricken area to being placed into a camp because they are different from everyone else, we have seen all sides. In the story, The Shawl,  we see three Jewish women who are about to be taken into a concentration camp during the time of the Nazi rise. It isn't blatantly expressed that these characters are Jewish but the subtle hints of the symbols Nazis used to separate and tag these people are shown. The title, The Shawl, represents a deeper meaning then what is seen in the word "shawl" as have all the other stories read in the class. the webster dictionary defines a shawl as a piece of fabric worn by women over the shoulder or head or wrapped around a baby. By the definition we see what the shawl can represent in the story, and the importance of it. By definition it can be a piece of fabric used to cover a baby which is important and signifies comfort, warmth and care. The Shawl in the story represents the same idea of a piece of comfort in these desperate times of much needed comfort. One of the women, Rosa, has an infant which she loves dearly. As any parent would, she puts her daughter, Magda, in front of any and everything she has or wants during these times. The shawl is a material object in the book which Rosa gives to her daughter to give her a sense of comfort. Instead of Magda showing emotion when she felt sad, hungry, or uncomfortable she would go back to the shawl in which her mother gave her. Even when she felt times of hunger or thirst she would go to the shawl and suck on that to get satisfaction instead of shedding tears. Overall, the shawl represented a crucial aspect to Rosa and Magda's relationship and also a crucial aspect to the story as a whole within the Holocaust. It represented, in the story, the sense of home and comfort that these people were stripped of when being brought to these camps because of their beliefs.