The Shawl

The shawl is a complex symbol with multiple shifting meanings. Initially, the shawl belongs to Aanakwad’s daughter. She wraps herself up in it at night, “exhausted” (362) by her mother’s inability to function in the face of her grief. After the daughter is killed by wolves, her father keeps the tattered remains of the shawl, establishing it as a symbol of the way that individuals hold tightly to traumatic memories, rather than letting them go. The memories of his daughter’s death are indeed painful and they irreparably damage Aanakwad’s husband. During the second section of the story, it is revealed that Aanakwad’s young son inherits what is left of the shawl from his father. He, too, is impacted by grief. It is only when his own son reminds him that keeping the clothing of the dead is culturally taboo and that such items must be sent off to “cloak” the spirit of the girl, that healing becomes possible. Burning the shawl becomes a way to leave the pain of previous generations in the past and to move on.