The Use Of Symbolism In The Shawl By Cynthia Ozick

Everyone has heard the spine-chilling experiences the Jewish faced in the Holocaust, but few understand the true atrocity of it unless they themselves experienced it. The true horror of how the inhumane Nazis decimated the Jews, forcing them into concentration camps and treating them as animals, comes to life in the story “The Shawl” by Cynthia Ozick. Through the use of symbolism and carefully orchestrated imagery, Ozick conveys the horror and despair the victims of the Holocaust encountered in their battle to survive due to their unspeakable struggles, conditions, and daily decisions which challenged their morals and stripped them of innocence as they were labeled monsters to society. Ozick emphasizes the chilling nature of the Holocaust …show more content…
Rosa’s maternal instincts leads her feed “almost all her food to Magda.” However frustrated that Magda gets life through the shawl and is catered too by Rosa because she’s a baby, “Stella gave nothing.” Stella’s resentment of Magda leads Rosa to believe that she wanted “Magda to die so she could put her teeth into the little thighs.” As Magda became stronger, Stella’s resentment grew which is depicted through the eloquent imagery Ozick uses. Rosa knew Magda was to die soon but had hope as the shawl kept her “buried away deep inside” guarding her from the harsh realities everyone else faced. Magda utilized her eyes which were “horribly alive, like blue tigers” too guard her shawl as if her life depended on it for in a symbolic matter it did. Ozicks word choice here shows the protectiveness Magda had for the shawl. Frustrated by Magda, Stella took the shawl causing the infant’s later death. Stella rationalizes her actions by stating “I was cold.” Ozick words it this way to show Stella wasn’t only physically cold, but that her heart had gone cold as she had lost the power to pity others and empathize with them. This shows how the nature of the Holocaust, changed the nature of its