Literary Analysis Of Milkweed

The book “Milkweed” by Jerry Spinelli tells a story about a boy who survived the horrible days of World War 2. He struggles every single day to find his identity and what is happening in the world. The book “Milkweed” itself shows many signs of survival. Both literally, and figuratively. This novel describes what the Jews did to survive and how they survived. The theme of survival is represented by different objects. The author, Spinelli, uses many literary elements to describe and support the theme of survival. The main three are: setting (where and what time), symbols such as the plant Milkweed that represents a new hope, and conflicts (what is the fight/fighting in the story).

As stated, the author uses the literary element of setting

The plant is shown to grow in abnormal places. As stated, hope helps reinforce survival. It also shows that heaven is real and is here. How when you blow, that is your cause of death and when the seeds fly, that represent your “angel” going to heaven. This plant, milkweed, can represent hope for the Jews. The plant grows basically anywhere it is put in. It shows that there is hope for a new life and that you can recover from the bad that you are experiencing. The seeds scatter which shows survival. You recover when you run away, as shown at the end of the book. The plant represents so many people who experienced the holocaust first hand. As the plant, the people survived the hardships of living in Warsaw with the hope of survival in the middle of the war. This shows another way Spinelli develop this

For example, Uri teaches Misha that one important survival skill is to remain invisible. Spinelli uses different literary elements such as the setting of the novel, the symbolism and conflict in the novel and within the characters to help us understand an important historical event, the