The Shawl 2

The character Rosa takes quite the emotional journey throughout the book.  She is traumatized in the concentration camps by the brutal Nazi's and she is devastated by the murder of her young daughter Magda. Her daughter's murder was truly a tragedy, Rosa was doing such a good job of hiding her and then Stella ruined it by taking the shawl.  Although I don't really know what Rosa was like before being in the concentration camps I do believe that experience changed her.  It is impossible to watch your child get murdered and not be affected.  After Rosa is out of the concentration camps she moves to the States with Stella and she builds a successful life, she owns an antique store and does well for herself.  Rosa doesn't believe that she deserves the life that she has built for herself so she smashes everything she has worked for and it all crumbles in front of her eyes.  Rosa is very much in a victim mindset.  Her experiences in the concentration camps have left her almost living in the past.  She doesn't believe her present or her future deserve to be bright.  She wants to live in the dark, dark, dark.  In Florida, Rosa lives in a grimy hotel, which resembles more of a black hole than a hotel.  She deprives herself of everything she truly deserves. After her traumatic experiences she deserves to live the best life possible but she continues to tell herself that she is a victim, and shouldn't.  She writes letters to an imaginary Magda trying to keep her memory alive but I really think it is more harmful than helpful to her.  By writing letters to Magda she lives in the past, a past that has hurt her immensely. She doesn't know how to take those experiences and grow from them. All she lets herself know is how to be a victim.