Now for my essay (recognize I've got five children mulling around me at this time, but I have to return the library book today so it's now or never!)......
You are What You Are
"You are what you are," Uri told Misha (22). Through Milkweed we learn of the desire of hope and belonging. Misha was on a search to discover himself. He starts off by introducing himself as the name given him, "Stoptheif," (3) yet in the end he still took on the title of what someone else called him, "Poppynoodle" (208). And yet through all of this Misha hoped.
Misha hoped for angels. Olek brought angels into Misha's life in the graveyard. Enos shot down those beliefs saying, "What are your angels doing for [Jon]?" (48) Then comes the conversation with Uri when Misha asks, "Is Enos right? There are no angels?" Again, Misha hoping for something that beautiful to really exist. Uri's answer struck me, "When you're nothing, you're free to believe anything." (49) Misha is starting to catch the glimpse of hope that it's up to him what he believes. Shortly thereafter he runs into a real life angel, Dr. Korczak, who makes the very stark comment regarding the orphans, "They're children...Children." (63) Dr. Korczak is first exposing Misha to the taking away of labels. Every contact Misha had with the orphans and Dr. Korczak only gave him more hope that there was a place to belong, the hope that being given a label was not who you had to be.
Misha hoped for a family. "We were huddled kittens, the bunch of us. We were voices in the dark. Often we talked about mothers. Though I could not remember mine, I had a pretty good idea what a mother was (again, the labeling). Not Ferdi. He was always saying, 'I don't believe in them.'...'Everybody has a mother,' said Kuba. 'Everybody.'" (87) Here we see the sparking interest of Misha in thinking about family, and belonging to someone. The statment that everybody has a mother gives him hope that this could be true for him. Thus we see Misha wanting to be a Jew only to belong to someone, to something, to anything! As the soldiers screamed at them the streets he suddenly felt a part of that something. "With my new armband, I thought: I am a Jew now...They're screaming at me. I am somebody." (94) To bring this closer to home, I think about those of us who try to please others just so we feel we belong, whether it be in our family, in our wards, in our schools. We all want to belong. We all want to be somebody. No matter the cost!
Misha hoped for happiness. "'Tata, what is happy?" (158) Can you imagine having your child ask this question? This just broke my heart! I loved Tata's answer. "Were you ever cold, and then you were warm? . . . That was happy." And then Tata teaching Misha that happiness is inside; again giving Misha something to hope for. This was just a poignant, touching part of the story for me.
In the end, Misha found all that he'd hoped for, in his own simple-minded way. He found his angel, his family and his happiness all through one individual - - Wendy Janina.
3 comments:
I really enjoyed your essay Julia. It was really well-thought out.
I'm glad you talked about the angels! Good essay!
I really liked Milkweed. i read it, and I'm supposed to post as part of the blog I realize, but I am too lazy. I thought it was a really interesting twist on the holocaust, which usually focuses on casualties, and war-atrocities. This included those, because obviously in the holocaust they happened everywhere, but you see it from a detached, little-boy perspective who really just wants food and a family, and then when he finally gets a family(in a weird, disjointed sort of way)it is taken away, and he goes crazy. Which is all a lot of real-life heartache, but told in such a little boy sort of way that sometimes you read along fine, and then other times it just hits you what he is really living through. You start thinking it is better that he doesn't know what he is living through, because understanding it wouldn't make it any easier. I haven't thought this out in essay form, but I really liked the book, thought it was an interesting viewpoint, and great writing style. Loved the child-mind and the interesting things he picked out from the society around him.
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