Friday, February 27, 2015
A Little Perspesctive
After reading "Old Woman Magoun" this week, I was left with many questions about the implications of the title character's final act. Was it truly merciful to allow Lily to die? Was Old Woman Magoun just a bit mad? It had been difficult for me to reach a conclusion on these matters until I read another story, putting some things in perspective. In another class, we read a story titled "The Shawl", written by Cynthia Ozick. This story is about a Jewish woman in a concentration camp who has given birth to a child, and struggles to just barely keep the baby alive, tucked away in her shawl. It was so strange to read this after having just read "Old Woman Magoun", because we have two mothers with completely different ideas about what is best for their children. For me, desperately trying to keep a baby alive in a Nazi concentration camp seemed insane and delusional. This is where I began to understand Old Woman Magoun's motives. As a reader, it was an automatic response to think that Lily's situation wouldn't be "that bad" because wouldn't it be better to be alive? But after reading "The Shawl" I saw a more extreme depiction of a similar situation and realized the importance of perspective. A line in "Old Woman Magoun" reads, "When they set out, the old, heavily stepping woman, in her black gown and cape and bonnet, looked down at the little pink fluttering figure. Her face was full of the tenderest love and admiration, and yet there was something terrible about it." (425). This woman was not a crazy killer. She loved Lily, and was heartbroken by what she had to do. In Old Woman Magoun's eyes, she saw a life of sexual abuse and servitude for Lily, and sending this innocent girl to go with these men must have seemed insane. She did what she honestly believed was right, and I love how another piece of literature was able to bring me closure with this story.
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I saw the same connection between the two works. After reading "The Shawl", I actually found Lily's death to be more merciful. I think it was something to do with that Lily was in immediate danger. The baby in "The Shawl" seemed tragic, but I felt Lily's death was more clearly depicted, making it worse.
ReplyDelete"The Shawl" was fantastic at clearing up motives though, I would agree.
I feel as if the woman from "The Shawl" would have recognized her child as some symbol of hope in quite the hopeless place. Having never read it I cannot be completely sure, but I think there is a way to justify her actions. It is by no means natural for anyone, especially a mother, to want kill their child (emphasis on the want), so there will always be that struggle over mercy killing and its faults vs its positives.
ReplyDeleteI feel these are two very different circumstances. Lily was never allowed to live she was kept as a child to "protect her", but she never experienced the real world and because of her grandmother she never got to. Whether or not it is better for her to have not experienced the real world is debatable, but I feel that to be denied human experience was denying Lily humanity.
ReplyDeleteYes, Alex, they are different circumstances. But I realized that from Old Woman Magoun's perspective, Lily's fate may have seemed to be in terrible jeopardy and her decision seemed right to her. I don't think she is evil.
ReplyDeleteNicky, I agree, the baby probably symbolized hope in the camp. It is just so interesting that that in a much more extreme case of inescapable horror, the mother would choose to keep her child alive.
ReplyDelete"The Shawl" is such a heart-breaking story. Very good connection, too!
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