Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 2

The Shawl

Most of the people use ironic to say what they thought in the

opposite and in the humorous way, but the normal author use the ironic to

illustrate the feeling of the character. Due to the complexity of the authors

mind, he dont want to tell us directly what the thing was going on in the

story, so he use this devise to show the information. The story that I was

going to discuss is The Shawl. This story happened around 1993, when the

Nazis stepped up to wipe out all the Jewish in Germany. All the main

characters were located in the concentration camp. In the Shawl, Cynthia

Ozick used the figurative devices to indicate the theme of survivor.

The story began with Rosa carried her little daughter by the shawl

which it can comfort her keep her safety. Rosa tried to protect Magda, who

is the only baby that survives in the camp, from the guard. However,

Magda sister, Stella, dont fell the same way as her mom. She tries to get

rid of her sibling. She uncovered the shawl from Magda, and that lead

Magda to dead. Due to their status, they dont have much choice to choose

what they want. The irony reflects the feeling of the character in each

situation. At the beginning of the story, the author said, the face, very

round, a pocket mirror of the face: but it not Rosas bleak complexion

you could think she was one of their baby. In this statement, the narrative

describe that Magda looks differently, just like the German, nevertheless
Rosa is still trying to protect Magda, the baby, from German solider, so it

means that there is no any mercy in the camp even the baby that shared the

same race with the soldier.

Moreover, in the shawl, the author also uses the development of the

baby to illustrate the difficulty of living in the camp. After the story show

the dilemma of what Rosa have to choose between let her children go with

the stranger or be with her, the author used the metaphor to engage the

reader of what Rosa feel that the bad thing will going to happen with her

baby. The neat grip of the tiny how shining, an elfin tombstone of

white marble gleaming there. He express that the first teeth of Magda will

be the last development of her life because she is going to die soon.

To conclude, Cynthia Ozick use many of the figurative languages-

ironic and metaphor- to make the reader feel more engage in the story. He

tries to not tell us directly of how each character feel. In my opinion,

Cynthia s writing style is more effective in telling the story.

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi