The Shawl

                Motherhood plays an important role in The Shawl, by Cynthia Ozick.  Woven throughout the story is the reoccurring theme of Rosa’s identity, found within the unbreakable bond that is formed between mother and child.  Rosa’s defines her “present life” as her time spent in Jewish ghettos, being marched to and housed in various concentration camps, and most importantly her time spent nurturing her young child Magda, under extremely harsh circumstances.  “Rosa gave almost all her food to Magda, Stella gave nothing; Stella was ravenous, a growing child herself.  Stella did not menstruate.  Rosa did not menstruate.  Rosa was ravenous, but also not: she learned from Magda how to drink the taste of a finger in one’s mouth.”(pg 5)  Rosa’s literary role as a mother is like that of any other, she finds herself sacrificing everything to provide for her child.  She strives to give nourishment where none can be found, tries to protect her daily from being seen by the S.S. soldiers who will take her life, and vows to create a life for her outside of the camp when the war is over.  Sadly, Rosa is unable to make the ultimate sacrifice for her child, giving her own life, which haunts her for the next forty years.  Over time, Rosa is not able to move on from the death of her beloved daughter.  Instead, she continues to live a life of pain, masked by lengthy letters creating an imaginary life her daughter never lived.  “Rosa wanted to explain to Magda still more about the jugs and the drawings on the walls, and the old things in the store, things that nobody cared about, broken chairs with carved birds, long strings of glass beads, gloves and wormy muffs abandoned in drawers.” (pg 69)  Although Rosas survival did not depend on the physical existence of Magda, the emotional and mental relationship she kept sustained her mother-like role for the remainder of her life.

When the Emperor Was Divine

                When the Emperor Was Divine, by Julie Otsuka, begins by painting a vivid picture of life in America circa 1940 for the average Japanese-American family.  However, as the reader delves deeper, it is apparent that what is happening to this family is not average at all, but instead a tragic symbol of the actions of a racist and paranoid government, in a post Pearl Harbor world.

                Though all the characters introduced at the beginning of the novel (Mother, Brother, and Sister) hold much importance to the theme of strength and loss of humanity, the Mother best reflects the entire emotional journey one would take when losing their identity and becoming prisoner of a government who claims they have your best interest at hand, yet deny you of any and all civil rights earned as a citizen of the United States of America.

In order to express the range of emotion the mother is going through, Otsuka uses the first chapter to allow the mother time to reflect on what was happening, while displaying the immense reaction she was having to the thought of the unknown future of her husband and children.   “The bird spread his wings and flew off into the night.  She went back inside the kitchen and took out a bottle of plum wine from beneath the sink.  Without the bird in the cage, the house felt empty.  She sat down on the floor and put the bottle to her lips.” (pg. 48) Mother would not let the unidentified inevitable negate her responsibility to her children, and eventually her husband.  Instead she carries on, deciding to let the future come to her.

What’s In a Name?

                Push , by Sapphire, tells the horrific tale of Precious Jones, a victim of incest, horrific physical, sexual, and emotional violence who eventually gives birth to two of her father’s children, while searching for a destiny that breaks the vicious cycle of abuse that has left her poverty stricken, homeless and illiterate. 

                Language and emotion play a pivotal role in Precious’s interpretation of the experiences she has had in her life.  Through the intentional lack of structure, grammar, and other basic literary rules, Sapphire allows the reader to become a part of Precious’s innermost thoughts, fears, and regrets. 

“I left back when I was twelve because I had a baby for my fahver.  That was in 1983.  I was out of school for a year.  This be my second baby.  My daughter got Down Sinder.  She’s retarded.  I had got left back in the second grade too, when I was seven, “cause I couldn’t read (and I still peed on myself).”(pg.4) 

Emotion is another device that Sapphire uses to piece together the memories of cruelty that Precious went through, and hope for the life that she aspires to have, especially regarding her education.   Sapphire allows Precious to communicate her feelings in a variety of ways, for example in her journal.  Here we see the moving voyage Precious takes as she begins the painful process of recalling memories that have been suppressed, all while beginning her expedition into literacy.

 “Ms. Rain say more now, much more.  She wan more from me.  More than 15 minutes an she write back.  Say walk wif it.  The journal?  I say.  Yeah, she says, Walk wif da journl.  Everywhere you go, journl journal go.  You know I go walk with Abdul etc., take journal, write stuff in journal.”(pg.98) 

Precious Jones overcame extraordinary odds and allowed her innate motivation to lead her to a better life for her and her children.  Although she can be seen as a compilation of many of the travesties reported to state agencies all over the country, Precious Jones is a survivor.