stay where she is and survive. She muffles her scream by putting the shawl over her mouth.

It is hard to believe that Rosa Lubin was able to keep her baby Magda secluded in the concentration camp for almost a year.  Magda was dehydrated and starving despite Rosa giving her most of her own food. The poignant story “The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick relates one day in the life of  Rosa, Magda, and Stella [Rosa’s fourteen year old niece] who are trying survive the Nazi’s concentration camp.

The shawl seems to have magical qualities because it satisfied Magda when she had no food or drink.  Where Magda went, the shawl went also. Magda watched over her shawl like a hawk; and she would let no one touch it. The shawl had comforted, entertained, and satisfied Magda, particularly when she stuck the corner in her mouth and sucked on it.  

Mysteriously, Magda, about fifteen months old, does not talk or make any sounds.  Rosa has taught her daughter to walk, but Magda is obviously not well with widening eyes and a bloated stomach. It is obvious that she probably will not last much longer.

Stella, jealous of Magda, steals the shawl away. Stella claimed that she was cold and needed the shawl for warmth. Rosa could see that Stella’s heart was cold as well.

When Magda could not find her shawl, she began to hunt for it. Before Rosa knew what was happening, Magda was out in the yard where the soldiers could see her.  For the first time, the baby began to cry out.  Rosa hurried to get the shawl from Stella to get Magda to come back.  When she returned to the door of the barracks, Rosa saw she was too late.

“Magda was high up, elevated riding someone’s shoulder. Above her shoulder, a helmet glinted. Below the helmet a black body like a domino and a pair of black boots hurled themselves in the direction of the electrified fence…”

Symbolism

Before she could think what to do, Magda was flung into the air and her body splayed against the fence instantly electrocuting her and burning her body black.  As her body traveled through the air, it reminded Rosa of a beautiful butterfly that lands on a silver vine.  The beauty was brief, and the horror was lasting.

The time that passed was seconds, but it was life altering. What had Rosa seen in that time? As she looked to find where Magda had gone, Rosa saw the other side of the fence.  Symbolically, the view represented another time and place.  Through the electrified, deadly fence, there was a green meadow with beautiful flowers of assorted colors growing innocently.  In contrast, the barracks held flowers of excrement and the aroma of greasy smoke that covered everything.  Rosa saw butterflies representative of lost summer days.  Where were those happy times?

Rosa could near the hum of the fence.  It was like voices whispering to one another.  When Magda’s body hit the barrier, the voices “chattered wildly.” They sounded like the last sound that Magda made out in the yard…”Maamaaa, maaaamaaa.” This is a sound that would haunt a mother forever.

What were Rosa’s choices? If she went to Magda’s body, the soldiers would kill her. If Magda ran away, they would shoot her. There was screaming welling up through her spine. She took Magda’s shawl and stuffed it in her mouth and sucked up Magda till it dried.

One should be careful of hunting for symbols.  The enotes Study Guide on "The Shawl" gives an excellent summary of how critics have attempted to proclaim symbols in the story, which the author herself has denied the existence of and has labeled "pop psychology."  Of course, an author's intentions are not definitely the final word on a story, but in this case her statements seem logical.

In short, the shawl--the dominant object in the story--does not symbolize something concrete.  It does symbolize several abstract ideas.  To Rosa, the shawl is what keeps Magda safe (it hides her).  To Magda, it is her security blanket and that which takes the place of food (she sucks on it, instead).  To Stella, it is the safety and security that comes with being a baby in a mother's arms, and, later, it is that which will keep her warm.   

The shawl is an image, a symbol, and probably an objective correlative--an object that evokes an emotional response in the reader following the chain of events the object is involved in.  In this case, the reader experiences the shawl protecting Magda, being an object of envy for Stella, being stolen from Magda by Stella, resulting in Magda's death, and, finally, being used to cover Rosa's scream.

And, of course, all is for nothing.  In the face of prejudice and hatred and violence such as portrayed in this story, the shawl cannot save the baby. 

Cynthia Ozick, in The Shawl, provides the reader with a third person, omniscent and deeply moving account of Rosa, Magda and Stella's existence as they endure unspeakable misery at the hands of "a pair of black boots," the only real description of the recognizable enemy. The story takes place during World War II, in "a place without pity," the girls obviously victims of the devastation caused by the Holocaust. Magda, the baby, is different, with her hair, "as yellow as the star sewn into Rosa's coat" and the irony is not lost on the reader as Magda could have been "one of their babies," inferring that, although Rosa, her mother, is Jewish, Magda is the result of a rape by a German soldier, almost making her "Aryan."  

Survival is a main theme of The Shawl and the girls must pay a high price just to perpetuate their suffering. Stella "took the shawl away and made Magda die," reveals the conflict that the characters unconsciously resolve; Magda's death. Stella's actions indicate that she has lost all hope and "the cold went into her heart," leaves the reader in no doubt that Stella has given up. Cold symbolizes death; whether it be Magda's actual death, caused by the fact that she is no longer concealed by her shawl and is "grieving" its loss, or Stella's gradual and almost unnoticed acceptance of her fate which is revealed to the reader in the fact that, after she takes the shawl, she is "always cold, always."  

Roas's determination and her attempts to prevent Magda's death reveal her courage but also the hopelessness of the situation, the real and the imagined and the ultimate contradiction contained in the short story.

When Rosa fetches the shawl from Stella, the reader is transported to a better place, "another life," one where there are butterflies and the light is "placid and mellow." It is as if Rosa emerges from the "dark," having "tore" the shawl away from Stella and can envision herself free from the oppression, represented by the "steel fence." The differences between the barracks and the world outside is also highlighted as Rosa considers the "meadows" compared with the "bitter, fatty floating smoke," that pervades their space. These words support the theme of survival and show Rosa's resilience and determination and how desperate she is.

Flight, "floating" and "air" are representative of some kind of release, or even escape, mentioned at the beginning and which give Rosa some hope that her baby will survive as she "dreamed of giving Magda away." It is expounded upon at the end when Magda, "looked like a butterfly" (a simile in itself) as she was thrown at the fence. This shows Rosa's confusion. The extending of the metaphor, as Magda has "fallen from her flight," should reinforce the idea of escape but instead the reader is more drawn to the effects it has on Rosa, left behind, unable to move for fear of being shot. It is Rosa who has effectively "fallen." There is also confusion in the mixing of metaphors as now Magda is "swimming through the air," not flying and "splashed against the fence," creating a new image for the reader.

The Shawl gives the reader many opportunities to  consider the effects of the Holocaust on the survivors and what they may have done or may not have done. The story draws the reader in and exposes some of the realities and the fact that it is a very personal story for each and every one of them.     

There are variety of main points and themes the author explores in “The Shawl.” The theme of survival becomes apparent through each character’s interaction with the shawl throughout the story. Magda’s unlikely survival during the death marches and in the concentration camps is due to the shawl. As a baby, Magda is wrapped in the shawl against her mother’s breast during the marches. Because she is hidden by the shawl, she manages to survive. The shawl also keeps her quiet after Rosa’s milk dries up and she becomes hungry, because she uses “the corner of the shawl and milk[s] it instead.” The theme of survival also pervades Rosa’s experience as she struggles to support her baby and hide her from the soldiers. She gives the baby almost all of her food and learns to “drink the taste of a finger in one’s mouth.” When she fails to save Magda from the electric fence, Rosa still finds a way to survive by stuffing the shawl in her mouth and screaming into it instead of shouting and running to her child’s body, an action which would mean certain death.

The author also makes family a prominent idea in the story, but the experiences of the women emphasize that tragedy and crisis change how one perceives familial roles. Rosa strives to be a mother to both of her daughters, but she imagines giving Magda away to another family in a nearby village during the march. The only reason she does not do so is for fear of being shot by the guards for stepping out of line. Rosa’s relationship with Stella seems fraught as she looks at her daughter’s bony figure “without pity” and imagines that Stella is waiting for Magda to die “so she could put her teeth into the little thighs.” Basic human needs for survival also influence Stella’s thoughts and actions. She feels jealous of Magda and yearns to be “hidden away, asleep, rocked by the march.” Perhaps it is a combination of jealousy and the human need for warmth that pushes Stella to take Magda’s shawl, but we can see that she later recognizes the consequences of her actions, because afterward “she was always cold, always” with the understanding that her actions led to her baby sister’s death.