How does one deal with the Holocaust and its memory? This is the question that “Rosa” brings to mind, but does not necessarily answer. Rosa Lublin’s niece Stella theorizes that there are three lives: before the Holocaust, during, and after. Rosa claims: “Before is a dream. After is a joke. Only during stays.” Rosa’s answer…
Tag: Rosa
Rosa by Cynthia Ozick – Literary Devices
Setting The setting of Miami, Florida, figures prominently in this story. The incessant heat and humidity add to Rosa’s suffering and make her even more reluctant to leave her room. “Where I put myself is in hell,” Rosa writes to Stella early in the story. The frequent mentions of the intense, suffocating heat confirm this…
Rosa by Cynthia Ozick – Themes
The Holocaust “Rosa” gives a dramatic example of how the Holocaust not only took the lives of the millions of Jews who died in concentration camps, but also emotionally crippled millions of others who survived. While Rosa and Stella survived the camp physically, both are disabled emotionally, though they deal with it in very different…
Rosa by Cynthia Ozick – Characters
Finkelstein Finkelstein is the manager of the Hotel Marie Louise. Rosa is trapped on the hotel’s private beach when she inadvertently trespasses. After she escapes, she rages at Finkelstein for having barbed wire around the perimeter of the hotel beach. Rosa Lublin The title character of the story, Rosa Lublin— who reflexively gives her name…
Rosa by Cynthia Ozick – Summary
The story “Rosa” is set in 1977, the same year in which it was written. “Rosa” is written in the third person limited point of view, but the reader is allowed only Rosa’s viewpoint on events; letters in the story are, of course, written in first person. Because Rosa’s mental state is unstable, her perceptions…