Milkweed: Chapter 43 Summary & Analysis

Misha works in the barn and in the fields. The farmer’s wife, Elzbieta, feeds him with the pigs. He’s tied to the post every night. Elzbieta warns him that if he runs away, the Nazis will burn down their farm, so Misha befriends the donkey and the barn mice and keeps waiting. One day, a man stops by the farm and speaks to the farmer. The farmer shouts in the house. That night, Misha wakes up to hear Elzbieta saying, “Run!” The rope is gone, and there’s a loaf of bread tucked under his shirt.

Misha spent three years on the farm. By now, the war is over, and thousands of people are trudging along the train tracks. People sell things in open-air markets; Misha finds these hucksters fascinating. He works for farmers and steals when he can’t find work. He rides many trains, but he never finds Janina.

One day, Misha winds up back in Warsaw. There’s lots of rubble, and the ghetto wall has been knocked down—in fact, the entire ghetto is rubble. Misha hears about the uprising that took place in the ghetto after he left. The uprising failed, and the remaining Jews in the ghetto were put onto trains, too. As Misha looks at what’s left of the ghetto, he finally understands what Uri saved him from.

Misha goes back to stealing food on the streets. One day, he gets a whiff of mint. To his amazement, the smell is coming from a bony, ragged man. Misha tugs on the man’s clothes, calling him “Fatman.” He pulls his old armband out of his pocket and tells Buffo to kill him, but Buffo silently shuffles away.