Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Milkweed, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Relationships
War, Dehumanization, and Innocence
Ingenuity, Resilience, and Survival
Family
Summary
Analysis
One day, later that winter, a crowd is gathered around the merry-go-round. When Misha reaches the front of the crowd, he sees that one of the horses is missing—only three of its hooves are left behind. It was his favorite black horse. Before long, people are yelling, “Find the Jew!” Misha thinks he might have yelled too. At the edge of the crowd, a couple of Jackboots are calmly smoking.
This chilling passage shows how group mentality can help to perpetuate oppressive treatment of minorities. At this stage, the Nazi soldiers don’t have to do anything to stir up hatred, as civilians channel their anger toward the minority population they already hate. In response to the theft of his beloved horse, Misha, too, finds himself getting swept up in the hateful fury.
Themes
Later, the Jackboots find a victim: it’s a Jewish man, and as Misha will learn, one Jewish person is as good as another in the Jackboots’ eyes. They tie up the man with ropes and spray him with a huge hose while the crowds watch. By the time Misha walks away, the man is turning blue. Misha doesn’t return to the carousel until the spring. There’s no sign of the stolen horse, and the cheerful music and laughing children go on just as before.
The Nazi soldiers choose a Jewish man to serve as their scapegoat for the disappearance of the carousel horse despite the lack of evidence that the man is in anyway connected to the theft. This unjust punishment is a way of terrorizing the Jewish community, sending the message that anyone can be blamed for anything at any time. In the aftermath, the city silently ignores what happened, but Misha doesn’t forget.
Themes
