In the short story “ The Loudest Voice ” by Grace Paley we read about Shirley’s life and traditions that are passed on by her parents. She’s offered a spot to play the biggest role in a Christmas play at her school. This is when we see her parents get into a disagreement about whether or not participating in the play goes against their beliefs and traditions. It’s up to the reader to decide who’s right and wrong in the argument, and how it can interfere with their beliefs at home. 

Shirley is a young jewish girl who lives with her parents Misha and Mrs.Abramowitz. We don’t know when or why they came to America exactly but Shirley’s mother states that they came to America a long time ago to escape tyrants where they lived. Both parents have strict beliefs about their traditions but throughout the story we see her father is more understanding and doesn’t instrict traditions as much as her mother. Mrs.Abramowitz believes participating in a Christmas play is disrespectful and going to cause Shirley to lose their tradition.Misha argues that there is a lot worse happening in the world right now to be so worried about a play. He also says Shirley isn’t a fool, if anything it’s going to help her learn and understand tradition and history even more. Both parents have opinions that can be up to debate whether they’re right or wrong.

Throughout the entire story Shirley’s mother shows her dislike in the play and how she does not agree with Shirley participating in the play. When she first finds out about the play and is talking to Misha about it she states “ I’m surprised to see my neighbors making tra-la-la for Christmas”(p.3). This is the first time we see her dislike of the play. She doesn’t only dislike the play because her daughter is performing. She finds it shocking that even the people around her think it’s ok and don’t agree with her views on it.  This statement lets us see her insight on the play she believes is childish or dumb to perform and to sing in the play. Later on in the discussion we see another one of her point of views when she says “We fall into a creeping pogrom, that our children learn a lot of lies, so what’s the joke? Ach, Misha your idealism is going away”(p.3). Christmas can be viewed as a tradition that can keep kids young and happy.  As kids they are still innocent and believe in Santa Clause, most kids love Christmas because of the idea of it. This shows she thinks it’s wrong to have kids believing in lies and celebrating a holiday with a play is more negative if anything for the children. She doesn’t agree with the idea of celebrating a holiday that she thinks is just teaching lies to children and would probably rather kids learn the truth instead of believing what they’re told.  

Misha believes the opposite than his wife. He thinks the play isn’t negative at all and that it can actually help their daughter in different ways that her mother doesn’t see. Throughout his discussions with his wife we see his insight into the holiday and play. He tells his wife during their first discussion “ In Palestine the Arabs would be eating you alive. In Europe you had pogroms. Argentina is full of Indians. Here you got Christmas”(p.3). He’s telling his wife being upset over her daughter being in a Christmas play isn’t justifiable when other places in the world there are much bigger problems happening. How bad could Christmas be when kids in other countries are being murdered, enslaved and lacking necessary resources. He believes she’s being ungrateful for how fortunate they are for being in the United States.  Misha also believes the play can be beneficial to Shirley by helping her learn about other traditions and about history.  He says “ Christmas, what’s the harm? After all, history teaches everyone… Does it hurt Shirley to learn to speak up?”(p.4). Misha is looking at it as an opportunity to help Shirley grow as a person. He sees the play as a way Shirley can educate herself and understand others’ history.  Not only that but as a way she can grow her personality by being the main role in the play. It can help her become more confident in her speech and possibly grow her career paths in the future. He says “ So maybe one day she won’t live between the kitchen and the shop.”(p.4). Misha and his wife came to America for a better life and to avoid hardships in their home country. He is seeing this play as a chance to help his daughter have a better life than they did. Being able to provide your children with a better life than you had is one of the biggest factors people would decide to move to another country. This is the perfect chance for Shirley to do just that. 

Both parents have very different points of views on the holiday play Shirley is participating in. Throughout their dialogue we understand what they both believe and why they disagree with each other so strongly. On one hand Shirley’s mother finds the play disgusting and ignorant. She doesn’t want her daughter to fall victim to lies and beliefs that she believes is trying to influence her daughter. On the other hand her father believes it can help their daughter grow as a person, educate herself and could possibly lead to a better life. He also believes there are other areas in the world where people have to go through a lot worse problems than worrying about Christmas. He feels that they should be grateful about their daughters’ role in the play instead of having to worry about much bigger problems in other parts of the world.

Work CitedPaley, Grace. “VT Edition: Grace Paley Reads ‘The Loudest Voice.’” Welcome to the VPR Archive, 12 Dec. 2016, https://archive.vpr.org/vpr-news/vt-edition-grace-paley-reads-the-loudest-voice/