Symbolism in "The Shawl"

After careful thinking and analysis, I realized the critics of The Shawl by Cynthis Ozick were correct. Critics have used the item of the shawl to connect with the main character, Rosa Lublin, a concentration camp survivor during the Holocaust. Critics have stated that the object of the shawl "can sustain a starving child or inadvertently destroy her, or magically conjure her back to life." I do realize this is true.
In the beginning of the book, Rosa had a baby girl named Magda. She would keep her baby swaddled in a cloth, or shawl in order to protect the child against members finding out about her child with I am assuming what is known as an "Aryan." On page 5, Ozick starts to describe the shawl, saying that "it was a magic shawl; it could nourish an infant for three days and three nights." For this metaphor the author makes the shawl to be a needing factor in the child's life. For this shawl, baby Magda can be buried warmly and peacefully, sucking on her mother's breast for comfort and nourishment. It is also the ironic reason that for the lack of the shawl Rosa's daughter died during this time period. On page 8, Ozick describes a scene where I am assuming that Magda is a little bit older and does not need her shawl anymore. Ozick writes, "Maaaa...a! Rosa saw that Magda was grieving for the loss of her shawl, she saw she was going to die." Because of her having the shawl taken away from her, guards found little Magda and she was killed against an electrified fence they threw her against.
Later on in the book, Magda's shawl reappears, showing the true symbolism and a connection so strong between mother and daughter. On page 31, Rosa is much older now and has finally received the shawl she asked her neice to send to her. Ozick describes the meaning of the shawl: "The holy fragrance of the lost babe .Murdered. She put the shawl to her lips. Magda's swaddling cloth." To Rosa, the shawl is the only item she has left to connect her relationship to her dead daughter. Of COURSE she would cherish it! For this reason symbolizes and brings together the importance of an inanimate object in this book, to instill memory, sadness, yet hope in its characters.