User:Barbarofirehorse/sandbox

Synopsis
In the novel Milkweed, most events take place in Warsaw, Poland, during World War II in the 1930s. The main character Misha -who acquires multiple last names throughout the plot- is introduced to a band of thieves when he meets Uri, a fellow thief who act as a guardian to Misha. Peter D. Sieruta noted, “Misha’s early days with Uri are almost carefree”. While out stealing with Uri, Misha witnesses German invaders “Jackboots” capture Poland. He describes the Jackboots as “magnificent” and later states that he wants to become a Jackboot. Shortly after Poland is captured, Uri decides to create a false identity for Misha, “which Misha gratefully adopts to fill the void that is his past”. This fabricated background states that Misha is a Gypsy born in Russia to a large and old family. His mother was a talented fortune teller, he had “seven brothers and five sisters,” and a beloved “speckled mare” named Greta. In this story bombs and hateful, polish farmers separate Misha’s family untill he winds up as a orphan in Warsaw.

After running away from a Jackboot, Misha ends up in a garden where he meets Janina. Misha describes Janina as a “little girl,” who reveals she is also Jewish. Janina invites Misha to her seventh birthday party and without knowing what birthday cakes are, Misha panics- thinking that they were trying to “burn down the cake”- and blows out the candles and runs away with a part of the birthday cake. With Jackboot control over Warsaw tightening, a curfew is established and “stupid” Misha ends up getting his earlobe shot from being out past curfew. City conditions worsen with low food supplies, people losing their houses including Janina and her family, loss of electricity, and Jews are being harshly prosecuted. Eventually all Jewish people in Warsaw including Misha, Janina, and the gang of boys are moved into the ghetto. Janina's uncle Shepsel describes their new living conditions as if living in a "closet".

News goes out that Himmler, a prominent Jackboot, is coming. One day, a parade of Jackboots passes, and Misha tries to catch the attention of the ugly, unresponsive man who he thinks is Himmler, but instead is knocked to the ground by Buffo, a man who enjoys killing Jewish children. Once Uri reassures Misha that the man he saw was in fact Himmler, Misha decides that he no longer wants to be a Jackboot. Misha Each night Misha steals by slipping through a hole in the wall that is “two bricks wide”. His friend Janina wants to mimic him, so she begins following him on his stealing expeditions.

As time passes, the conditions of the ghetto worsen. One day as Misha is “walking along,” Uri appears. Uri, who has been gone for a long time, warns Misha that deportations are coming, and that all of the people will be cleared out of the ghetto. Some time later, an old man appears advising the people that there is no resettlement, and instead the Jews are going to be taken away and killed. That night, Janina’s father Mr. Milgrom tells Misha that when he and Janina go out to steal, they need to run away. Janina and Misha stay in Poland though because Janina refuses to leave and kicks Misha when he tries to convince her to leave the ghetto.

Since the Jews are being taken away street by street, it takes some time to clear all of the people out of the ghetto. One night when Misha and Janina return from stealing, the hole in the wall is gone. Without a way into the ghetto, Misha dashes through the crowd of Jackboots and Jews who surround the train station Stawki Station with Janina behind him. They make their way into the ghetto to find the room where they had lived deserted. Janina runs in desperation to find her father, and Misha loses sight of her in the crowd of people. Following, he sees her thrown into a boxcar by a Jackboot. Misha is hit with a club, and kicked before Uri, who appears to be a Jackboot, shoots him.

Misha awakens near the train tracks in a state of confusion. A farmer finds him and takes him to a farm where Misha stays for three years working and sleeping in a barn with the animals and eventually runs away.

Not knowing what to do next, he rides on trains, and ends up back in Warsaw where “there [is] rubble and there [is] nothing”. He removes his armband leaving it on the sidewalk. Misha talks wildly about his past in the streets for years. Most people try to ignore him, except for a woman named Vivian who stops to listen to his stories. She marries him, but leaves after five months; pregnant. Many years pass, and we find Misha working in a Bag ‘n Go market where he meets his daughter Katherine for the first time. She has her own little girl, Wendy, who calls Misha, her new grandfather, Poppynoodle. Katherine takes him to her home where he lives for the remainder of the novel. Misha still thinks of Janina, although he will tell nobody, and he digs up the milkweed plant and plants it in his own back yard.

Characters
Misha Pilsudski, “a child of indeterminate age and background” is a small, short orphan boy who survives by using his size and quickness to steal food and escape danger. Through most of the novel Misha has no recollection of a past and “much less an understanding of the world around him.” Milkweed was published the same year, 2003. He spends time with his friend Janina and a group of homeless boys.

Misha’s Friends
Uri is a “scrappy, slightly older boy” who acts as a ringleader for Misha and the other thieves. Described as ”fearless on the streets,” Uri often helps Misha escape danger. One critic compared Uri to the infamous Fagan, a character in the novel Oliver Twist. Unlike Misha and the other orphans, Uri does not live in the ghetto but is found at the blue camel, the place where Jackboots live.

Janina Milgrom, is a small young girl with curly hair, who gets frustrated, upset, and pushy frequently throughout the novel. She is “[a] fiery young friend” of Misha and frequently mimics him. Misha later gives his granddaughter the middle name Janina in memory of his friend.

Doctor Korczak, a bald man with a goatee and mustache, takes care of orphans. He is kind hearted and caring.

Vivian is a “normal, sensible person” who enjoys Misha’s mad sounding talk of his past. Later she marries Misha and lives with him for five months before she leaves.

Misha’s Relatives
Katherine is a friendly “young woman. . . [with] dark brown hair” who is Misha’s daughter. She is twenty-five years old with a daughter of her own named Wendy. Misha “wasn’t sure” about Katherine when Vivian walked out, untill she finds him year later.

Wendy is four years old and is Misha’s granddaughter. She calls Misha “Poppynoodle.”

Janina’s Family
Mr. Milgrom is Janina’s father. He is a pharmacist who makes medicine, but he stops working a job after restrictions are put on Jews. Uncle Shepsel is Janina’s Uncle who decides that he will convert to Lutheranism so he will no longer be treated as a Jew.

Mrs. Milgrom is Janina’s mother who is sick and dies on her mattress.

The Gang of Boys
Kuba is a boy who Misha calls “the clown”.

Enos is a “grim-faced” boy.

Ferdi is an orphan boy who Misha calls the “smoke-blowing Ferdi”. When asked questions “[his] answers [are] never long. . . he [blows] more smoke than words”.

Olek is a boy who only has one arm.

Big Henryk is a large boy who will “say yes to everything”. He doesn’t wear shoes but instead wears “gray bank coin bags on his feet”.

Jon is a boy who doesn’t speak. Misha sees him as “gray”. He is thrusted onto the cart of dead bodies and taken away during the novel.

The Jew Haters
Herr Himmler is a head Jackboot who has “half a little black mustache. . . [and] a scrawny neck. . . “

Buffo is a slow, fat man who kills Jews with his hands and uses his belly to suffocate children to death. He chews mint leaves, so his breath always smells minty.

Major Themes
Examples of symbolism in Milkweed are angels and milkweed pods. In The Horn Book Magazine Peter D. noted that “[the] angel statue and [the] milkweed plant that somehow grows in the ghetto,” were a few of the novel’s motifs. Likewise, Suzanne Manczuk explained “Two things come to symbolize hope. . . statues of angels. . . and the unlovely but enduring milkweed pods.” Milkweed addresses the themes of survival, caring for others, and existence itself. Anna Rich wrote “Misha. . . survives the Warsaw ghetto, where hangings, beatings, and murders are daily occurrences”. In The Houston Chronicle Marvin Hoffman described how “Misha contributes a portion of the meager booty from his forays under the wall to the ‘outside’-sometimes no more than a single potato-to Dr. K’s [Korczak’s] children.” This is an example of Misha caring for others. In The Bookseller, Wendy Cooling said the novel was “about people, about caring and about life itself”.

Awards and nominations
Milkweed has received “[the] 2003 Golden Kite Award and a 2003 Carolyn Field Award.”