Ozick's The Shawl: Faith, Voice, and Free Will - Essay Example

17 June Ozick’s “The Shawl Faith, Voice, and Free Will “The Shawl,” a short story by Cynthia Ozick, attempts to relive the psychological trauma of the Holocaust. Ozick does not have firsthand experience of the Holocaust, but through Rosa, she remembers the hardships of the Jews and other victims of the Nazi concentration camps. To remember is important, because to forget can result to a repetition of this horrible crime against humanity. This paper analyzes what the story means to Jews through exploring its symbols, images, plot, and characters. “The Shawl” stands for the synecdoche of the Holocaust and argues that despite the absence of voice and free will, Judaism continues to survive and prosper, because of people’s faith in God. The shawl serves multiple functional and spiritual purposes, which attest that through faith, nothing is impossible. The shawl magically nourishes Magda, when it turns into a “milk of linen” (Ozick). This can be paralleled to the many times that God fed His people, so that they would not die from hunger. When Ozick says that Magda’s mouth, which suckled the shawl, smelled like “cinnamon and almonds,” Berger argues that this imagery implies the “contents of the spice box (besamim) whose aroma is inhaled by Jews during the havdalah ceremony, which signifies the end of Shabbat (the Sabbath)...” For Magda, the shawl is also her “sister” (Ozick). Moreover, it protects her from the eyes of the German soldiers too. Berger compares the shawl to a “tallith” (prayer shawl).” The shawl hides Magda from the German troops and even from the likes of Stella, who Rosa knew “was waiting formed to die so she could put her teeth into the little thighs” (Ozick). Berger also argues that the spiritual protection that the shawl provides extends to Rosa, because it keeps her from screaming, when she sees Magda thrown to the electric fence. Without the shawl, troops will hear her screaming and shoot her on the spot. The shawl suppresses her voice, but extends her life. “The Shawl” stands for the synecdoche of the Holocaust. Rabin argues that the story is a “synecdoche” to the suffering of the Jews. The plot contains a clear beginning, climax, and ending, where suffering intensifies until the end, and in different ways, the characters endured, even when, sometimes, their spirits did not. Stella, for instance, does not recover from the coldness of the Holocaust. After being the cause of Magda’s death, because she took the shawl away, Ozick describes Stella as being “cold” all the time: “The cold went into her heart” (Ozick). Coldness is her way of coping with the Holocaust. It is not a healthy way, but it helped her detach herself from her bleak conditions. The plot of the story encapsulates the inhumanity of the Holocaust. It starts with the death march. Rosa is focused on her infant daughter, Magda, whom she wraps in “a magic shawl [which] could nourish an infant for three days and three nights” (Ozick). In the concentration camp, Magda stays securely silent and undetectable until Stella takes the shawl for herself. As a result, Magda feels bereft without the shawl and looks for it. She walks away from her mother saying “Maaa,” her first attempt in speaking. For Magda, the shawl is like her mother too. Rosa feels happy that Magda seems to be speaking and is not mute after all, but soon realizes the impending death of her daughter. Rabin asserts that Magda’s voice represents hope and autonomy: “Magda's finding her voice is redemptive, even as it brings about her death.” Rosa’s silence, as she stifles her screams, will soon give way to her finding of her own voice later on. She sees Magda being carried away and when she is hurled to the electrified fence of the camp: “She looked like a butterfly touching a silver vine” (Ozick). Butterflies represent freedom. It seems that at death, Magda is freed from further suffering. This is especially true when the story suggests that Germans raped Rosa. She says: “You could think she was one of their babies” (Ozick). By saying the word “their,” she refers to the Germans and their Aryan race. This hints that Magda is possibly a child of a German soldier. Ironically, she dies from the cruelty of a German soldier too. This man cannot recognize his own race from this child, because he has become too inhuman to see their similarities. Judaism continues to survive and prosper, because of people’s faith in God. Rosa swallowed the shawl until “…until she was swallowing up the wolf's screech and tasting the cinnamon and almond depth of Magda’s saliva, and Rosa drank Magda’s shawl until it dried” (Ozick). The wolf stands for the Nazis. They are the hunters that preyed on the Jews. By mentioning “cinnamon and almond,” Ozick reminds the readers of the redemption that faith provides. When it is dried up, it means that something fills Rosa. The shawl fills her with hope. She might not have survived her daughter, but she survives the Holocaust. This gives her the opportunity to live a new and better life, the life that Magda never lives for herself. “The Shawl” shows that Rosa will survive better than Stella, because she signifies the butterfly that can fly free from her survivor guilt and bitterness. She can fly freely, as long she accepts the past and regains her faith in God. “The Shawl” represents the synecdoche of the Holocaust. It is a short story that summarizes the brutality of inhumanity. This paper argues that despite the dearth of voice and free will during this most trying time, Judaism continues to survive and flourish, because of people’s faith in God. Those who lose their faith also lose their direction, and find no meaning in their suffering. Despite of millions of senseless deaths, survivors have to go on, to move on. They owe their new life to the dead, to themselves, and to God who spared them. They must walk under God’s shawl. God is the ultimate shawl for all. Works Cited Berger, Alan L. “Shawl.” In Cronin, Gloria L., and Alan L. Berger, eds. Encyclopedia of Jewish-American Literature. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Web. 17 June 2012. . Ozick, Cynthia. The Shawl. New York: Vintage International, 1990. Print. Rabin, Jessica. “The Shawl.” In Werlock, Abby H. P., ed. The Facts on File Companion to the American Novel. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Web. 17 June 2012. . Read More