Another Look at The Shawl

Subject: Another Look at The Shawl

My first reaction to The Shawl was the feeling of reading a modern day Chorus. The three characters' singsong voices and interrupting speech caused the same choatic stress that I felt when reading the Bacchae. However, when we were able to read the text out loud in class, I realized that the script was simply written very similar to a normal conversation. When reading the text for a second time, it was easy to interpret how inflections and pauses should be read. The Shawl forces the reader to put his or herself in the position of Miss A or John to decide whether or not John is actually psychic.

I struggled with whether I believed John to be psychic until I reflected on my second reading. I realized that he does, in fact, have psychic ability, but is afraid as to whether Charles would be accepting of his gift and thus why he lies. The cover-up John uses seems to be something he has been preparing to say for years, as if he knew what people would say when he spoke of his abilities and the doubt they held. Rather than look a loon and claim to really be psychic, it would be easier to simply admit that it was all practical reasoning. I believe that is why John was so willing to let Charles go. He knew Charles could not be right for him, because of his skepticism and therefore could easily say goodbye. Though all characters seemed to be at fault for trusting and their skepticism, it seems as though Charles is the most unaware of his situation.