Truth In Cynthia Ozick's 'The Shawl'

The horrific tragedy of the Holocaust is a story that everyone unfortunately knows. The stories of inhumane acts and unspeakable acts of hate have been told thousands of times. But these experiences are just that- unspeakable. For many, the pain is too great and the wounds are still fresh. For the ones who choose to express their sorrows through writing, it seems that the evils done to the characters cannot even be told plainly. It is often told through metaphor or in vague terms, leaving it up to the reader to examine and experience the story. In “The Shawl,” Cynthia Ozick tells the story of a mother struggling to keep her baby alive in a voice that conveys the meaning poetically, while speaking the truth. From the very first paragraph Ozick