Milkweed

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2003

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Themes

The Evolving and Ever-Changing Nature of Identity

While the novel is undoubtedly about the Holocaust and the struggle of the Jewish people, it is also a novel about identity. In a time where one’s name, appearance, and identification can result in persecution and even death, Spinelli chooses to frame the novel around a nameless boy who chooses to become a Jew. Identity is a fluid and abstract thing in the novel and is reminiscent of Michel Foucault’s theory on identity. Foucault rejects the notion that identity is a permanent essence of a person’s being; instead, he believes that selfhood is composed of a multitude of constantly-shifting relationships with other people. This theory around identity fully supports the way that Spinelli structures the protagonist’s selfhood throughout the novel.

Remembering nothing about his past, Misha initially calls himself “Stopthief,” an echo of the people he so frequently stole from (9). Stopthief’s initial name is thus born from his interactions with passersby and the victims of his quick fingers. Later, Uri bequeaths a name unto Stopthief and his identity is once again altered: “And so, thanks to Uri, in a cellar beneath a barbershop somewhere in Warsaw, Poland, in autumn of the year nineteen thirty-nine, I was born, you might say” (29). Misha Pilsudski is “born,” and he happily absorbs the label of “gypsy” into his identity.

Misha’s selfhood is thus an amalgamation of his experiences and of his relationships with others. When Misha is accepted into the Milgrom family, he decides to keep his first name and becomes Misha Milgrom. In doing so, Misha also willingly becomes a Jew in a time where the distinction has the potential to mean life or death. Misha does so nonetheless because his connection to the people in his life, those who gave him a home when he had none, is more vital to him than the prejudices of the Jackboots. When Misha Milgrom enters the United States, an immigration officer renames him, and he becomes Jack Milgrom.

Misha’s identity hinges upon numerous people in his life but as his connection with each person is severed, he struggles to find himself. At the conclusion of the novel, Misha is happy to be defined by his relationship to his daughter and granddaughter, now immovable and loving constants in his life. Spinelli writes, “I think of all the voices that have told me who I have been, the names I’ve had [...] And now this little girl in my lap, this little girl whose call silences the tramping Jackboots. Her voice will be the last. I was. Now I am. I am…Poppynoodle.” (162).

The Physical, Emotional, and Moral Costs of Survival

The cost of survival for Misha and those around him is grimly high, and the characters in Milkweed risk make physical, emotional, and moral sacrifices in order to endure. While almost every character in Milkweed struggles with these sacrifices, some tolls are more apparent than others.

The physical cost of survival is embodied in the character of Uri. Though many other characters die in their attempt to survive, Uri sacrifices his life not for his own survival but for the well-being of others in the ghetto. On numerous occasions, Uri risks his own life to help others; the most notable of these is when Uri saves Misha’s life by shooting off the younger boy’s ear and convincing the other Jackboots that he is dead. Misha believes that Uri is vital in the revolt against the Jackboots, where Jackboot weapons are stolen and turned against the regime. The rebellion is eventually quashed, and its participants sent to concentration camps, but the impact that Uri had not only on Misha but also the boys and the people of the ghetto, is indisputable. Instead of running away with Misha and the boys when he warns them about the trains, he chooses to stay and continue to ensure the survival of others.

The emotional cost of survival is most evident in Misha’s many symptoms after the war. Misha slams the door in the faces of caroling children, unable to bear the sight of them without thinking of the orphans marching in rows to the boxcars. Misha continues to steal fruit from stands, do odd things at parades, and laugh in the wrong situations; these instincts and “incorrect” responses are scars of a life lived in the middle of a war. Misha tears up a copy of Hansel and Gretel when he sees it in a store window. He undoubtedly sees Janina and himself in the characters. The pain of the truth, however, fills him with guilt because he “knew that the end was not true, that the witch did not die in the oven” (154). Though Misha survives the Holocaust, he is filled with survivor’s guilt, and is haunted by the people he has left behind. Misha cries for no reason and has nightmares about flames and Jackboots. The emotional cost of survival weighs heavily on Misha but at the conclusion of the novel, he finds reprieve in his daughter and granddaughter.

The moral cost of survival is displayed numerous times throughout the novel. People are forced to steal shoes and clothes from dead bodies. The strangers who share the Milgroms’ room steal the silver menorah in order to buy food. Perhaps of all the characters, however, the moral cost of survival is embodied most fully in the character of Uncle Shepsel. Shepsel tries to manipulate Janina into giving him a cooked rat and then forcibly takes half of it. He then converts to Lutheranism because he believes it will save him from being treated like a Jew and tries to convert others as well, telling them to “repent.” Uncle Shepsel’s character is made the most clear, however, when he asks Misha, “[e]very night you go [...] Why do you come back?” (116). While Misha says that he does not know, it is apparent that he does so because he cares for the Milgroms, the orphans, and the rest of his boys in the ghetto. He returns because he is loyal to them and they are all he has. It is also abundantly clear that should Uncle Shepsel have the choice, he would leave everything and everyone behind to save himself.

Hope as Both a Negative and Positive Force

The positive effects of hope give Misha, the Milgroms, and the boys something to look towards. Misha looks to the angels and milkweed; Mr. Milgrom finds hope in his religion; Janina finds happiness in food; the boys find it in one another. Hope allows the characters to continue on. However, while hope is usually a positive emotion, it can also become a negative one through delusion and the refusal to look at the reality of a situation. This is most apparent when the people of the ghetto refuse to believe the old man’s warnings about the concentration camps. Despite his many warnings, people drown him out with laughter and mockery, desperately clinging to their own hopes for resettlement. This sort of delusional hope is also reflected in Big Henryk “clumping after the piper,” swayed by promises of the candy mountain (138). Janina likewise believes that the trains will take them to the candy mountain, despite many warnings to the contrary.