Janina Milgrom Character Analysis in Milkweed

Janina is a young Jewish girl, seven years old at the beginning of the novel, whom Misha befriends when he wanders into her backyard and steals a tomato from her garden. She’s Mr. and Mrs. Milgrom’s daughter and Shepsel’s niece. Janina has curly hair and huge brown eyes. Upon meeting Misha, she invites him to her birthday party. She and Misha reunite during the march to the ghetto, when Misha attaches himself to her family. Janina is spirited, willful, and very spoiled. She can even be quite bratty, screaming at her sick mother, throwing Misha’s belongings over the ghetto wall, and trying to get him into trouble. Janina is also stubborn, determined, and brave. The summer after they move into the ghetto, Janina starts following Misha when he smuggles in the city at night and cannot be dissuaded from smuggling herself—no matter how much Misha tries to avoid her, and even after Mr. Milgrom forbids her. After her father tells her to stop sneaking out of the ghetto with Misha, she just sneaks out by herself. Despite her demanding nature, Janina is also capable of kindness, smuggling food for the little kids who share their cramped apartment. After Mrs. Milgrom’s death, Janina becomes despondent, but she regains some of her old spark after Misha goes to great lengths to smuggle an egg for her. When Misha tries to get Janina to run away from the ghetto to avoid the deportations, she throws a fit and refuses to leave. Misha last sees her being grabbed by a Nazi soldier and thrown onto a boxcar. Many decades later, Misha gives his granddaughter, Wendy, the middle name Janina.

Janina Milgrom Quotes in Milkweed

The Milkweed quotes below are all either spoken by Janina Milgrom or refer to Janina Milgrom. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

I loved my story. No sooner did I hear the words than I became my story. I loved myself. For days afterward, I did little else but stare into the barbershop mirror, fascinated by the face that stared back.

“Misha Pilsudski…,” I kept saying. “Misha Pilsudski… Misha Pilsudski…” And then it was no longer enough to stare at myself and repeat my name to myself. I needed to tell someone else.

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Janina Milgrom, Uri

Page Number and Citation: 31

Explanation and Analysis:

I had an idea. The next day I snatched two loaves of bread. One I gave to Uri, the other I took to the house of Janina the girl. It had snowed overnight. Brown stubble poked through the white blanket covering the garden. I pushed the snow from the top step. I set the loaf down, knocked on the door, and ran.

The next day I came back to look. The bread was gone.

That was how it started.

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Uri, Janina Milgrom

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

I told her how I found a low place in the wall and simply stepped over. I added: "I can go anywhere." I was not boasting, I was simply stating a fact. I had come to love my small size, my speed, my slipperiness. Sometimes I thought of myself as a bug or a tiny rodent, slipping into places that the eye could not even see.

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Janina Milgrom

Page Number and Citation: 76

Explanation and Analysis:

Janina looked at me. “What happened?”

“Unlucky orphans,” I said. I told her that was what Enos called them—orphans who did not live in Doctor Korczak's home, or any other, and who roamed the streets hungry and begging and sick.

“Be glad we're not unlucky orphans,” I told her.

“Is gray Jon an unlucky orphan?” she said.

“Oh no,” I said. “He's a lucky one. He's with us.”

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Janina Milgrom (speaker), Jon, Enos, Doctor Korczak

Page Number and Citation: 84

Explanation and Analysis:

She stood on tiptoes and held it as high as she could and let it go. It sailed toward the sky.

"That's my angel," she said.

Then they were all around us, milkweed puffs, flying. I picked one from her hair. I pointed. "Look." A milkweed plant was growing by a heap of rubble.

It was thrilling just to see a plant, a spot of green in the ghetto desert. The bird-shaped pods had burst and the puffs were spilling out, flying off. I cracked a pod from the stem and blew into the silk-lined hollow, sending the remaining puffs sailing, a snowy shower rising, vanishing into the clouds.

Related Characters: Janina Milgrom (speaker), Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker)

Related Symbols: Milkweed, Angels

Page Number and Citation: 143

Explanation and Analysis:

Uncle Shepsel opened his eyes and smiled down at me. I had seen the same smile in the room lately, as he read the book that had changed him from a Jew to a Lutheran. […] Suddenly his expression changed. He seemed confused. He looked hard into my face and did not seem to know me. "You go. Every night you go," he said. "Why do you come back?" I did not have an answer. Maybe he found it in my face, for after a while he turned and walked off.

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Uncle Shepsel (speaker), Janina Milgrom

Page Number and Citation: 148

Explanation and Analysis:

I smacked her. I shouted at her. But I could not change her. I could not understand her moods, her outbursts. I mostly accepted the world as I found it. She did not. She smacked me back and kicked me. In time I found my own best way to deal with her. On many days I went off to a favorite bomb crater and lowered myself into it and licked traces of fat from between my fingers and closed my eyes and remembered the good old days when ladies walked from bakeries with bulging bags of bread.

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Mr. Tobiasz Milgrom , Janina Milgrom

Page Number and Citation: 167

Explanation and Analysis:

Then I saw her. […] She was a shadow cut loose, held above the other shadows by a pair of Jackboot arms. She was thrashing and screaming above the silent masses. […] And then the arms came forward and she was flying, Janina was flying over the shadow heads and the dogs and soldiers, her arms and legs turning slowly. She seemed so light, so right for the air […] I thought she would sail forever like a milkweed puff on an endless breeze, and I was running and wishing I could fly with her, and then she was gone, swallowed by the black maw of the boxcar[.]

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Janina Milgrom

Related Symbols: Milkweed

Page Number and Citation: 185

Explanation and Analysis:

The man placed his foot on my chest. "You're a Jew," he said.

"Yes," I answered. I pointed to my armband. "See?"

“What are you doing here?"

"I'm following the train. Janina. I'm going to the ovens."

"What ovens?"

"The ovens for the Jews. I'm a filthy son of Abraham. They forgot me. Can you take me to the ovens?"

The man spit in the weeds. "I don't know what you're talking about. You make no sense. Are you insane?"

Related Characters: The farmer (speaker), Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Uri, Janina Milgrom

Page Number and Citation: 192

Explanation and Analysis:

I think of all the voices that have told me who I have been, the names I've had. Call me thief. Call me stupid. […] I don't care. Empty-handed victims once told me who I was. Then Uri told me. Then an armband. Then an immigration officer. And now this little girl in my lap, this little girl whose call silences the tramping Jackboots. Her voice will be the last. […] I am . . . Poppynoodle.

Related Characters: Stopthief / Misha Pilsudski (speaker), Janina Milgrom, Wendy Janina, Uri

Page Number and Citation: 208

Explanation and Analysis:

Janina Milgrom Character Timeline in Milkweed

The timeline below shows where the character Janina Milgrom appears in Milkweed. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Ingenuity, Resilience, and Survival Theme Icon

...of them split the crumbled cake. Uri tells Misha that its icing says, “Happy Birthday, Janina.” (full context)

...steals a beautiful cake from a bakery. He places it on the back steps of Janina’s house, lights the candles, knocks, and runs. (full context)

The next day, Misha steals two loaves of bread and takes the extra to Janina’s house. He puts the bread on the back step, rings the bell, and runs. When... (full context)

Misha tries to steal a loaf of bread for Janina every day. Janina starts leaving him small gifts in exchange—like a piece of candy or,... (full context)

War, Dehumanization, and Innocence Theme Icon

The next time Misha goes to Janina’s house, it’s night. After he drops off the bread and starts walking down the street,... (full context)

Misha keeps delivering coal to the orphans. He also brings Janina coal and bread whenever he can. One day, when he knocks on Janina’s back door,... (full context)

Then, Misha spots Janina walking with her family. He makes Janina laugh by telling her about the Nazi living... (full context)

Misha offers his sausage to Janina’s family, and though her mother protests, Janina, her father, and her Uncle Shepsel finally finish... (full context)

Later that day, Misha tells Uri about the closet-sized room in which Janina’s family is living. Uncle Shepsel had rushed up the stairs of a house and planted... (full context)

...leaves, Mr. Milgrom tells an indignant Uncle Shepsel that he was simply doing his job. Janina explains to Misha that her father is a pharmacist, but Misha doesn’t even know what... (full context)

...listening to Mr. Milgrom’s exchange with the customer, Misha goes over everyone’s names: Tobiasz Milgrom, Janina Milgrom. Happily, he adds that he is Misha Pilsudski. Uncle Shepsel glares at the children... (full context)

Inside the ghetto, Misha runs to the Milgroms’ apartment. Janina’s parents aren’t home, since they both have to work jobs outside the ghetto walls. Janina... (full context)

They spot a knot of children fighting over a potato, and Misha explains to Janina that those kids are “unlucky orphans” who roam the streets alone. Janina asks if Jon,... (full context)

...roasted rat and takes it to the Milgroms’ apartment. Uncle Shepsel greedily takes half, and Janina saves the other half to share with her parents. But when they get home, Mr.... (full context)

...jar of pickled herring. He eats a piece and gives the rest to the Milgroms. Janina studies her piece of herring with wonder and then savors it slowly. No sooner have... (full context)

...Himmler is the Nazis’ second-in-command. Later that day, Misha shares this news with the Milgroms. Janina says she’s going to kick Himmler. (full context)

...when he talks to him. Today, he tells Misha that he’s a good boy. When Janina protests, Mr. Milgrom says that they’re both wonderful in their own way, and he can’t... (full context)

...everyone claims to have heard the cow mooing somewhere in the ghetto. As Misha and Janina squabble over the cow’s existence, Uncle Shepsel says that there is no cow. He’s been... (full context)

Janina no longer has hair bows or socks, and her shiny black shoes are just scraps.... (full context)

...Just before he squeezes through the gap in the wall, he’s shocked to discover that Janina has followed him. At first, he refuses to let her follow him, but she says... (full context)

Misha is uncomfortable with Janina coming along on his smuggling run, but he can’t stop her from following him. He... (full context)

...and finishing by treating himself to a canned peach. When he refuses to share with Janina, she starts screaming, so he hastily shoves a peach in her mouth. However, her screams... (full context)

...to Doctor Korczak’s orphanage as usual—he always dumps half the food through an open window. Janina protests that Misha is supposed to feed her family, but Misha tells her that he... (full context)

...down Misha’s pants for protection, and Kuba starts hitting him with the bone. Just then, Janina appears, kicking and punching Kuba. But when she realizes Kuba isn’t hurting Misha, she wants... (full context)

...at first, until Enos explains that it’s a camera, which Misha has never seen before. Janina, meanwhile, is dancing for the couples while they snap pictures, hold their noses, and laugh. (full context)

Janina follows Misha every night when he goes out smuggling, though Misha tries to ignore her.... (full context)

One night, Misha and Janina return while a lineup is in progress. Up until this point, Mr. Milgrom didn’t know... (full context)

That night, Misha and Janina go through the wall as usual, but they don’t steal food. Misha shows Janina the... (full context)

Pretty soon, Misha and Janina are stealing food again. One day, they find Buffo punishing some boys who’ve stolen piles... (full context)

The next day, Misha sees Janina mocking Buffo—a perfect imitation. Misha pushes Janina into an alley, unable to stand the thought... (full context)

That night, Misha returns from smuggling and finds that Janina has snuck out of the house anyway. In the morning, she has brought three potatoes... (full context)

One day, after an unrewarding night of smuggling, Misha and Janina wake up from napping in an alley in the ghetto. Janina notices a brown seed... (full context)

...back through the hole, knowing that it’s closely patrolled. A short time later, he finds Janina: her sack of food is spilled on the ground, and she’s staring up at a... (full context)

When Misha gets back to the Milgroms’ room, he finds Janina crying in Mr. Milgrom’s arms: Mrs. Milgrom has died. Misha had always wanted to call... (full context)

...other side of the wall. Everyone runs except the Milgroms. Mr. Milgrom tells Misha and Janina to cover their eyes, and he tucks them into the grave beside Mrs. Milgrom. As... (full context)

...Milgroms’ tiny apartment now, including twin little boys. The adults don’t speak to Misha or Janina, but the little boys play with them. Janina is kind to them in return, leaving... (full context)

...after having been cold—but he explains that happiness is inside a person. Misha looks at Janina sitting sadly on the floor. She hasn’t been happy since the day of the burning... (full context)

...in the street, Mr. Milgrom prays and sings over the flames. Then, he makes Misha, Janina, and the twins join him in dancing in a circle. Janina remains slumped and reluctant,... (full context)

...the gift of a new comb. Misha happily combs his tangled and lice-ridden hair, but Janina refuses to open her present, so Misha combs her hair for her. She doesn’t smile,... (full context)

...gives Misha the job of being the menorah. They and the twins sing songs, but Janina won’t get up from the floor. Hanukkah continues in this way. Eventually, the candle burns... (full context)

Janina stops going smuggling at night; she even stops complaining. Misha combs her hair for her... (full context)

...he shows the egg and pickles to Mr. Milgrom, explaining that he wanted to make Janina happy. Mr. Milgrom looks at Misha for a long time. He says that the egg... (full context)

However, even as Janina grows thinner, she becomes more like her old self. She starts following Misha again, and... (full context)

...away. Misha tells the orphan boys and his family about Uri’s warning. Mr. Milgrom comforts Janina, assuring her that there won’t be trains, and that there’s nothing more the Nazis can... (full context)

Janina becomes obsessed with the idea of the trains. Early one summer morning, after a night... (full context)

...day, the ghetto is emptied. One day, Mr. Milgrom urges Misha to stay close to Janina no matter what. Misha realizes that Mr. Milgrom knows Janina has continued smuggling, and that... (full context)

The next day, Mr. Milgrom tells Misha that when he and Janina go out smuggling that night, they must not come back—they must run and never come... (full context)

...something that Misha doesn’t understand. On the other side of the wall, when Misha takes Janina’s hand and pulls her past their usual haunts, she plants her feet and refuses to... (full context)

One night, Misha and Janina can’t get back inside the ghetto—their usual holes have been filled in. Janina grows agitated... (full context)

Janina runs toward the train station, and Misha loses sight of her in the throngs of... (full context)

Misha tries to go after Janina, but a snarling dog stops him, and then he’s kicked and clubbed to the ground.... (full context)

...When he touches his ear, there isn’t much of it left. Then, suddenly, Misha remembers Janina—but the trains are gone, and the station is empty. He finds a scrap of a... (full context)

...often hallucinates, seeing Buffo, Uri, Himmler, Doctor Korczak’s orphans, and Mr. Milgrom. He’s used to Janina being there, copying everything he does, but now he can’t find her. One day, he... (full context)

...and steals when he can’t find work. He rides many trains, but he never finds Janina. (full context)

...what she’s doing this time. As Misha’s granddaughter performs an awkward headstand, he thinks of Janina. (full context)

...because she wants Misha to give her one. Without even stopping to think, Misha says, “Janina.” Katherine invites him to live with her and Wendy, so Misha drops his apron in... (full context)

...to plant in a corner of their yard. Katherine doesn’t ask any questions. Misha keeps Janina’s story secret, too. He’ll tell them someday. (full context)

Wendy Janina wears herself out on the swing and climbs into Misha’s lap on the rocking chair.... (full context)

Milkweed

Janina Milgrom Character Analysis

Janina Milgrom Quotes in Milkweed

Chapter 7 Quotes

Chapter 9 Quotes

Chapter 16 Quotes

Chapter 17 Quotes

Chapter 30 Quotes

Chapter 32 Quotes

Chapter 35 Quotes

Chapter 39 Quotes

Chapter 42 Quotes

Chapter 45 Quotes

Janina Milgrom Character Timeline in Milkweed