Milkweed

Misha realizes that he does not truly know normalcy. For Misha, normalcy is marked by stolen food and water from a ditch. Misha slowly learns about money and toilets and things others may have viewed as basic facets of life. He returns to the countryside, stealing things and placing them in a little cart he pulls.

Misha becomes a huckster and finds his voice, calling out into the street for people to come and buy his wares. Misha admits, however, that he was more preoccupied with talking than selling. He thinks that before the end of the war, he had “not spoken two thousand words in [his] life” (156). Misha now speaks constantly, even when he has nothing to sell. Eventually, Misha gets enough money to buy a steamship ticket to America.

An immigration officer in America renames Misha as Jack Milgrom. Misha learns English and becomes a salesman. Misha is still small, malnutrition having halted his growth at five feet, one inch. Misha’s missing ear now looks like a “clump of cauliflower” and his appearance keeps him from getting hired at job (156). He is eventually hired to sell a vegetable chopper in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Misha begins by talking about the chopper, but eventually, people lose interest. In a desperate bid to get their attention, Misha begins talking about Doctor Korczak and the cow.

Misha continues to talk, unable to stop recounting stories about his time in Warsaw. Misha tells them everything, except for Janina. Some people stop to listen to him, but Misha sells no miracle choppers. Misha is fired but he realizes that he needs to speak. He speaks and shouts on the boardwalk and does the same in Philadelphia. Misha earns money by doing odd jobs. On the corner of Thirteenth and Market, in November, Misha meets his wife.

Vivian listens to his stories and comes back every day, bringing Misha hot chestnuts, and eventually bringing him home with her. Misha does not understand why Vivian listens to him, but soon, he tells her all of his stories. The marriage lasts only five months. Their life is marked by the scars of Misha’s past. Misha slams the door in the faces of caroling children. He tears up a copy of Hansel and Gretel when he sees it in a store window. He turns on the cold water in the shower and tries to stand it for as long as he can. Misha still steals fruit from stands, does odd things at parades, and laughs in the wrong situations. He cries for no reason and has nightmares about flames and Jackboots.

Vivian leaves him and Misha suspects that she is pregnant. Misha returns to street corners, talking about everything he saw in Warsaw. He realizes that it was important for him to talk, to speak the truth of what happened to him. Years pass, and Misha continues to tell his stories until one day, near City Hall in Philadelphia, when two women in their seventies stop to listen to him. One of the women cups his missing ear, smiles, and says to him, “we hear you. It’s enough. It’s over,” and Misha never shouts on another street corner again (158).

Misha is stocking shelves in a grocery store when his daughter finds him.

Chapter 35 begins with Misha’s granddaughter, Wendy, calling out for his attention. Misha/Jack remembers when his daughter found him at the grocery store. Katherine Milgrom has dark brown hair and is twenty-five years old. When Katherine finds him, she tells Jack that she has been looking for him for forever. Katherine says that she has saved a gift for him for the last four years. Katherine wants Jack to give her daughter, Wendy, a middle name. Jack does not hesitate and names her Janina.

Katherine takes Jack home with her without hesitation. Misha/Jack is a kind grandfather to Wendy Janina, holding her when she is upset, and is happy to watch her as she plays. Jack enjoys the autumn day and is unable to keep from admiring the milkweed pods. Jack explains how he had once told Katherine to drive around town with him. Jack had brought along a bucket and trowel and Katherine did not question him, neither did she object when he planted milkweed at the end of the yard. Katherine does not ask Jack questions. Misha explains that she knows everything that Vivian does but Jack has kept the secret of his sister, Janina, for himself.

Katherine asks if Jack will ever tell her why he gave Wendy the name Janina and Jack promises that he will. Wendy Janina calls out to Jack excitedly, calling him “Poppynoodle” (162). Jack thinks of all the names he’s had throughout his life, from Stopthief to Gypsy to Jew, and is happy that he is now Poppynoodle.