"The Shawl'' was first published in the New Yorker in 1980. The story was reprinted in Cynthia Ozick's 1989 collection, The Shawl, where it was paired with "Rosa," a story that picks up the tale of the same characters some thirty years later. "The Shawl" is about the Holocaust, the systematic slaughter of some six million Jews, as well as at least that many gypsies, homosexuals, and other "undesirables" by the Nazis during World War H. Although Ozick was born and raised in the United States, she is well-versed in Jewish history and tradition, and her story quickly became one of the best-known stories about the Nazi death camps. "The Shawl" is particularly admired for its compactness. In only two thousand words, Ozick manages to evoke the horror of the Holocaust for her readers. The story touches on many themes, including survival, motherhood, nurture, prejudice, and betrayal.
The Shawl Summary
"The Shawl" opens with a description of three people, suffering tremendously, who are walking. The narrator notes that Rosa has a yellow star sewn into her coat, and Magda has blue eyes and yellow hair, like one of "them." Soon it is clear that Rosa and Stella are Jewish women who are being marched to a concentration camp. Magda, an infant, will be killed if she is discovered, so Rosa considers giving Magda to someone by the side of the road. But Rosa fears that she will be shot if she leaves the line, or that the person she tries to pass Magda to might not take her, or... ยป Complete The Shawl Summary
Source: Short Stories for Students, ©2012 Gale Cengage. All Rights Reserved. Full copyright.
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