The Shawl Part One

  

The symbolism that I have found in this book so far is the significance of the shawl. Rosa starts talking about her shawl right from the beginning of the book, which shows that the shawl is a key component to her life and a significant material symbol in her life as well as this story. The shawl seems to me Rosa’s security blanket and is representative of protection and hope. The shawl is always wrapped around the little baby Magda, who Rosa says should have been dead already if she had not been wrapped up in the “magic shawl.” No matter how hungry or tired Rosa and Stella are, the magic shawl tucking Magda in and keeping her safe and alive, is also what keeps them alive. Of course one may be thinking this idea of hope is farfetched because Magda eventually is killed because of her howling, and Rosa does not even flee to her body but rather went to Magda’s shawl. Although Magda died, her shawl allows Rosa to remember her and want to keep pushing on so to not end up with a fate like Magda’s. Rosa’s personality from what I have figured is that her environment easily influences her. From living in those concentration camps, she became dumb to death, even the death of her own kin, Magda. From living in Florida, she learned to linger on her regrets like the rest of the old folk she was surrounded by. And by hanging out Stella so much, she began to fill up with hatred towards Stella who is so cold, selfish, and the angel of death. All of these situations make Rosa develop even more into her “madwoman” status you see in the book.

I thought that the last few books were racially controversial, but this book to me is by far the hardest hitting than any book we have read so far. It is most obvious that the main reason is the topic for this book; Jewish concentration camps. This topic is one that I always tip toe around because it is so emotionally charged; I'm not even Jewish and I find this so heart wrenching.  I have not finished the book yet, but I am anxious to read the ending of the book and see how this character’s finale is.