Compare And Contrast Magee And Milkweed

What happens to a person who has no identity at a time when identity can be one’s last hope – their salvation or a mark for death. In his novel Milkweed, Jerry Spinelli invites readers to experience the Holocaust through the eye of a young boy who misunderstands everything except the love of family and the different forms it can take. Misha, an orphan boy is taken in by a young group of Jewish thieves. He is simple minded of his own identity because Misha adopts the identity of the people around him in his life, first as a gypsy, then as a Jew when he follows his friend’s family into the ghetto. Readers are forced to focus on the simple acts of caring that takes place in a time of suffering because Misha is unable to understand what is really going on around him. Hope and selfless acts of love still exists during a time of havoc in the Warsaw ghetto, is shown through the innocent eyes of Misha. By using techniques such as dramatic irony, revealing characters’ emotion, and a unique choice of a narrator, Spinelli successfully makes his readers to feel empathy.

This story represents both physical and emotional alienation as the separation of the younger brother was detrimental to both. In the story it states “For 20 years the little family I left behind wondered if I was alive, where I was and what I was like.” (81) showing that the family was deprived and missed the physical presence of the younger brother. They had no clue on what kind of a person he was and little to no recollection of his existence. The same thing can be said about the younger brother having no recollection of his family as he was taken away from a very young age. It was after twenty years, that the older brother was able to track the younger brother home; however the damage was already done. The older brother became quieter and more refined as he was deprived from a healthy brother relationship as stated by the author “It was hardest on my brother”(81). Also, the younger brother was completely isolated from his true family from an age of four, thus affecting him dearly as the author writes “… we don’t get that much time to visit anymore … brothers who never had the chance to age together” (82). The author also writes “At first it was tentative … we didn’t talk much” (82) showing how the isolation of the younger brother resulted in minimal conversations and alienated

A supportive family helps shape your personality and instils good decision making in you. In THE FARMING OF BONES the main character Amabelle was abandoned by her family when she was

The characters in this story are all within the same family. The narrator’s mother died, at an earlier time, due to eating poisonous fish. He had a brother, sister, and father who play major roles in the family dynamic. The narrator and sister are both young and not traditional in a way their father is. For example, “'You were swayed by certain -influences. Like so many others.” (____) The father is expressing his distaste for the way the sons generation acts; however, their father, being older, is a very traditional person compared to the children. The narrator feels uncomfortable around his father due to how uptight he is; furthermore, the narrator does not know how to hold a meaningful conversation with his father due to negative childhood memories as well as the failure of his business. The failure lead to the Watanabe family’s death, his business partner committed a murder-suicide. These differences create

Jerry Spinelli’s, historical fiction novel, Milkweed describes a young orphan’s endeavor to survive in a Polish ghetto during WWII. As Misha continues to struggle, he hopes that he will survive the Holocaust. In this story, milkweed, a plant that can grow almost anywhere is a symbol of hope.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, takes place in 1940s Nazi Germany in the small town of Molching. The main character, Liesel Meminger, takes on a role as the foster child of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. She also meets a young boy named Rudy Steiner, who goes on to be her best friend and lover. In the book, Liesel faces many challenges big and small. From hiding a Jew in the basement to a thieving lifestyle, Liesel has to learn to overcome all of life's problems. Through all of this, she is supported by her foster father Hans Hubermann who is caring to people he barely knows, intelligence despite his lack of education, and generosity even when he has little for himself.

In Milkweed and The Warden’s Daughter, the author portrayed the characters and their family situations as being similar. In the beginning of the book, Spinelli showed Misha as an orphan. On page nine, Uri takes Misha to an old barbershop and introduces him to their new home. The book states, “The cellar was a home . . . Tonight you sleep on the floor, he said. Tomorrow I’ll get you a bed.” The author shows that Misha does not have a family or a real home. The barbershop would be the only home that Misha has before, and that he would remember. By the end of the story, Misha has a real family and home that he would have to learn to accept and love. In The

Milkweed is a book written by Jerry Spinelli, who is a famous American author recognised for writing children's books that feature adolescence and early adulthood. Originally published by HarperCollins on the 9th of September in 2003. It is a book about a little boys perspective on the years that the Nazis infiltrated Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The little boy is an orphan named Misha Podolski by the man who took it upon himself to protect and guide him through the tough life that was living in Warsaw in World War II. Some might say that Misha's view on life at the time was ignorant but we like to say that he is just an innocent kid who doesn't know any better. Throughout the book you can see just how innocent Misha is, The book clearly shows that although Misha is a thief, he has the purest form of kindness and innocence, due to his unawareness of

The three stories “Until Then I Had Only Read About These In Books”, Milkweed, and “The Guard” by Jennifer Roy are about Jewish children experiencing life during the Holocaust. They all experience the Nazi’s and while almost all of them feel the same way, their are still some differences. Two of the three excerpt’s are scared of the Nazi’s. Those excerpt’s are “U.T.I.H.O.R.A.T.T.I.B” and “The Guard”. The person from “The Guard” is clearly scared because they describe these horrible stories and she doesn’t make any eye contact with the guards and is scared when the guard pulls up his arm to light his cigarette, she thinks he’s going to shoot them!

hostile environment his father sought to escape. His mother betrayed him as she never embraced

Family has an affect on everyone, no matter how they feel towards them, or even if they don’t want them to. In Milkman’s case family helps him to finally realize who he is and help’s him find out how to be free as a bird, and learn to fly. While in Sharlimar Milkman discovers that one of his forefathers, Solomon, flew back to Africa and tried to take Jake, Milkman’s grandfather, with him, but dropped him. Solomon was a Slave and like milkman felt he couldn’t survive without his rightful freedom. In order to get this freedom he flies back to Africa, his homeland. Milkman is a lot like his forefather, Solomon, in the since that he was looking for freedom, and just wanted to go where he felt he belonged. Both men are willing to leave everyone behind, including the women who love them, to find this freedom. By them not being free, they are unable to find themselves, or their true place in the world. Although Milkman doesn’t realize it until the end, his family

A family is the most important and fundamental processes of development in childhood. There are many examples of works that deal with family. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the reader sees how neglection from a family setting can invoke horrible events. In The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, presents how Isolation and dislike can and will lead to unfortunate events. In Macbeth by Shakespeare, shows the betrayal of a family and how it affects the mind by playing with it in several different ways. Before a person can see effects of isolations, neglection, and betrayal of a family he/she must “climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak begins and ends rather abruptly. This, however, adds a sense of realism to this moving novel. At the start of The Book Thief, a young girl named Liesel, her younger brother and their mother are on a train to Munich, Germany. The mother was delivering her starved children to foster parents. The boy, however, did not survive the journey. Liesel was still given to the couple, in hopes she won’t receive the same fate of her brother. The exchange does not happen easily, as told on page 28, “ It took nearly fifteen minutes to coax her from the car...There was the gate next, which she clung to...she held on and refused to go inside,” (Zusak 28). As the novel continues Liesel grows to love Herr and Frau Hubermann. The novel continues and the tension begins to build. In the basement of 33 Himmel Street a Jew is hidden. The wrath of Hitler is marching closer and closer to Munich as Liesel learns to love the outlaw. Soon she would know her sins, as told on page 390, “Liesel was playing soccer when the noise arrived…’What is that?’...’A herd of cows?’...’The Jews’...They watched the Jews come down the road like a catalog of colors. That 's not how the book thief described them but, I can tell you that’s exactly what they were, for many of them would die” (Zusak 390). During the march Mr. Hubermann’s

In order for a child to live in a complete and happy family, the paternal love plays a major role in a child’s life, especially the love of a father which is as much important as a mother’s love. Moreover, a father’s love is one of the greatest influences on the child’s personality development throughout his/her life. A father’s love brings a sense of protection of security in a child. In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy present the great example of paternal love. The novel deals with a post-apocalyptic story about an unnamed man and his unnamed child as they move toward the south to find a better place to live after the catastrophic event. The son is the only reason for the father

The author lets us experience the conflict and choose the sides of the family that best describe our own sense of belonging. We become accommodated with the protagonist early on, it is the one dreaming for a better life...fortunately, dreaming about success is the motivation that keeps this family sleeping at night and working during the day. Its a story of a dysfunctional family that works together for a common cause, and