Family should be the bricks to build the foundation of an individual’s character. The Shawl by Louise Erdrich is a short story which conveys the importance of family engagement. Erdrich exhibits individual’s inability to express their love for people and the uncertainty that surrounds love which describes love as an adventure or a risk. The first generation is reflected in the story of Aanakwad, a woman married with two children, yet in love with another man, bearing his child with an affair. The second is of a man raising three children after the death of his wife. Initially, this young boy has no heart for his mother. Then, he begins to build a relationship with his abusive father. Finally, the narrator’s feeling toward his family is almost neutral. The effect of these constant bad relationships in the narrator’s life creates a less judgmental individual. Erdrich explores the theme through repetition, metaphors and personification to portray theme of neglect and abuse in two generations of a family. Also the more fragmented the structure of novel is, the more successful and engaging the plot will be.…show more content… The first impression given to describe her is dull and uncaring. The impact of characterizing her irrelevancy foreshadows his father’s absence. At one point in her life “she became a gray sky” (Erdrich 70) blending into the questionable and cold atmosphere. The narrator which can be does not care about his mother by using a gloomy metaphor and would rather keep her anonymous. He also speaks of her through third person saying “her name was Aanakwad…” (70) and after struggling while running towards her as a child “something broke” (71) . This hateful relationship allows the initial response to the short story to be more interesting as it is blunt and charismatic. This is significant as it relates to the theme of abuse in which an individual changes