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 night, Misha and Janina can’t get back inside the ghetto—their usual holes have been filled in. Janina grows agitated as they hear screams and gunshots on the other side. They spend the next day wandering through Warsaw, eating dried fish and trying to blend in. That night, Misha finds that they can get into the ghetto through the gate near the train station. But when they get back to the apartment, Mr. Milgrom and Uncle Shepsel are gone. Uncle Shepsel’s book about Lutherans lies on the floor.
Finally, the threat of deportation reaches the Milgrom family—even Uncle Shepsel, despite his pretensions, isn’t spared. The authorities seem to have finally caught on to Misha’s paths in and out of the ghetto—but instead of using the opportunity to escape, Misha and Janina run straight back into the ghetto search of their family, again illustrating the unbearable tension created by the situation in the ghetto.
Themes
Janina runs toward the train station, and Misha loses sight of her in the throngs of people. He instinctively works backward through the crowds so that he doesn’t get swept toward the trains. At last, he sees Janina—or he thinks that he does. He’s never sure. He thinks he sees her shadowy figure being held by a pair of soldier’s arms. She’s thrashing and screaming, and then, as Misha runs toward her, she’s flying through the air, into a boxcar. Misha thinks that she resembles a milkweed puff as she flies.
Misha is never completely sure what happens to Janina, but it seems as if her search for her father and her fascination with the trains thwarted any hopes of escape. She disappears in the same way that she lived: fighting and resisting. Misha’s last sight of her epitomizes her resilience and her irrepressible spirit.
Themes
Misha tries to go after Janina, but a snarling dog stops him, and then he’s kicked and clubbed to the ground. A Jackboot grabs him by the hair and flings him against the wall. He hears a familiar voice saying, “Die, piglet!” Then he sees red hair. As Misha cries, “Uri!” a gun goes off.
In the shocking climax of the story, Misha is stopped from pursuing Janina by a familiar face—Uri’s tough love on display again. It seems he’s been part of the German Army all this time, all the while still trying to keep Misha safe and distanced in spite of Uri’s alliance with the Nazis.
Themes
