The Shawl

Part 1: The Shawl

• From whose point of view is the story?
• How is Stella described?
• Why does Rosa think that Magda could be "one of their babies"?
• What is described as a "dead volcano, blind eye, chill hole" and why?
• Why does Rosa think Stella is waiting for Magda to die?
• At what things does Magda laugh?
• Why is Magda compared to a tiger?
• Why is it surprising when Magda howls?
• Describe "the arena."
• When Magda is howling, what is Rosa's dilemma? What does she decide?
• When Magda is thrown against the fence, to what is she compared?
• How does Rosa silence herself when Magda dies?

Part 2: Rosa

• To whom does Rosa write letters? What happens to them and why?
• How does Stella appear in Rosa's dreams?
• In Rosa's world, what kinds of things are black?
• Why has Stella moved here?
• Why does Rosa call the men of "higher quality" than the women"
• Why does Rosa dislike newspapers?
• To whom does Rosa say, "my Warsaw isn't your Warsaw," and why?
• What kind of a childhood did Rosa have? What did she hope to do?
• Why does Rosa deny speakiing Yiddish?
• What did Simon Persky do for a living?
• Why does Rosa feel shame in front of Persky?
• How does Rosa feel different from the "old women" at her hotel?
• What does Stella refer to as Rosa's "idol"?
• What is missing from Stella's laundry and where does she look for it?
• Why does Rosa describe James Tree's letter as "more eating alive"?
• What are the four Buddhist stages of R.A.?
• What does Rosa do with most university letters? What does she do with Tree's letter?
• Rosa calls Stella "Stella Columbus." Why, and in what context?
• Who was Magda's father? Why does Rosa call her "yellow blossom," and "cup of the sun"?
• Before she can open the box containing the shawl, what must Rosa do?
• Why does Rosa compare the night-time citizens of Miami to bedouins?
• Where does Rosa look for her missing item? Why?
• What do the bodies on the beach remind Rosa of?
• What does Rosa compare to a jonquil? What kind of a beach is this?
• Why is Rosa frightened when she can't escape the beach?
• Why does Rosa call Finkelstein an S.S.? Why does she think Finkelstein are different from her?
• Why does Rosa call Miami beach "a box for useless buttons?"?
• What are the "three lives" Stella speaks of?
• What comes to look like "an old bandage, a discarded sling"?
• When Stella tells Rosa, "this is long distance," what happens?
• Why is Rosa (or Stella) suspicious of Magda?
• What don't the Americans in Rosa's store know about "the tramcar"?
• Rosa tells Magda, "No lies come out of me to you." Is she telling the truth? Why or why not?