Questions on The Shawl
In two well-written paragraphs, please answer one of the following questions.
1. What is the function of silence in this story? How does silence save Magda yet worry Rosa? What about Rosa’s silent scream at the end? Can the silent scream be understood meta-poetically – about the simultaneous inability yet necessity to write about the Holocaust?
2.How does the shawl function as a symbol in the story? For Magda? For Rosa? For Stella?
3. Choose three metaphors from the story – there should be at least one “positive/aesthetic” metaphor and one “negative/ugly” metaphor – and explain the images used, the meaning of the metaphor and the effect of the metaphor.
4. Discuss images of nutrition and starvation in this story. What is their effect?
5. Discuss how and why Ozick uses the third person narrative, yet we feel as if we are in her head, seeing things through her eyes?
6. How do you think this story would look through Stella’s eyes? (Stella is Rosa’s niece)
