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Chapter 37
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, a barefoot old man appears in the ghetto. He says he has escaped, and that there is no resettlement—it’s all a trick. Other people, citing postcards from relatives, shout at him that he’s lying, but the man just wearily repeats his story. In a faint voice, he says something about ovens and people’s ashes falling like snow. Nobody believes him.
Under the terrible circumstances in which people are already living, it’s difficult for them to believe that things could get still worse, and they continue to cling to hope despite evidence to the contrary.
Themes
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 back. Misha realizes that the old man was telling the truth, and that this is why Mr. Milgrom no longer tried to stop Janina from going out at night.
Mr. Milgrom realizes that in order for the kids to survive, they will have to run away. He can’t protect them himself, and their best chance for survival is to rely upon Misha’s skill at escaping.
Themes
That night, Mr. Milgrom embraces the children for a long time. He is crying and whispering 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 go. When Misha tries to insist, Janina screams, kicks, and spits. When they return home, Mr. Milgrom is so furious that he shakes Misha, but then he hugs the kids again. It goes on like this for several more nights.
Janina characteristically resists being forced in any direction she doesn’t want to go. Mr. Milgrom is pulled between his desire to cling to the children and his desire for them to escape to safety, suggesting that there’s often a tension between the demands of survival and the bonds of love.
Themes
