Cynthia Ozick’s story is about a Jewish family, a mother and two children, during the Holocaust. They have been imprisoned in one of the Nazi concentration camps.  The author describes how a shawl has kept the littlest girl alive by providing warmth it and because it soothes her suffering from the lack of food.  One day the eldest daughter (Stella) stole the shawl from Magda (the youngest), using it for her own warmth, and this caused Magda to go looking for it.  While the little girl is looking for her shawl, one of the Nazi guards takes the screaming Magda and hurls her against the electric fence around the compound, killing her instantly.  Through the terrible events, the hunger, and the cruelty of  the Nazi guard, Cynthia Ozick creates a very horrific tone in this story.  Ozick explores the basic questions “what is love, what is evil, and is a person alone or a member of society?”