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Husband
When Aanakwad’s husband realizes that they cannot go on living as a family because of her despair at being apart from her lover, he sends for the other man’s uncle to come and fetch Aanakwad. At the time, there are no roads, only trails, so the uncle lives a long trip away. When he arrives, he takes Aanakwad, her daughter, and the infant she had with the other man in his cart. The group is attacked by wolves on the trail, but it is assumed that everyone other than the daughter survives.
Uncle Quotes in The Shawl
The The Shawl quotes below are all either spoken by Uncle or refer to Uncle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Shawl Quotes
The other thing I said to him was in the form of a question. Have you ever considered, I asked him, given how tenderhearted your sister was, and how brave, that she looked at the whole situation? She saw that the wolves were only hungry. She knew that their need was only need. She knew that you were back there, alone in the snow. She understood that the baby she loved would not live without a mother, and that only the uncle knew the way. She saw clearly that one person on the wagon had to be offered up, or they all would die. And in that moment of knowledge, don’t you think, being who she was, of the old sort of Anishinaabeg, who things of the good of the people first, she jumped, my father, indede, brother to that little girl? Don’t you think she lifted her shawl and flew?
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Uncle Character Timeline in The Shawl
The timeline below shows where the character Uncle appears in The Shawl. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Shawl
...The husband eventually realizes that this life is untenable, and sends for the other man’s uncle so that he can come fetch Aanakwad. At this time, there are no roads in...
(full context)
The uncle eventually arrives in a wagon drawn by horses and with sled runners. Aanakwad and her...
(full context)
...to close in, and Aanakwad, in order to save herself, her baby, and her lover’s uncle, threw her daughter to the wolves. The son is stunned by this story, remembering how,...
(full context)
