ipl-logo

What Is Milkweed Theme Of Identity

565 Words3 Pages

Milkweed
By: Arya Sandella and Shreshth Srivastava

Did you know that in the Warsaw ghetto, there were more than 400,000 people forced into an area the size of 1.3 miles? The book Milkweed is about a boy who does not know much about himself and has to steal all his food. He stays in the city of Warsaw for a while, and then moves to the ghettos. He stays with a girl named Janina and her family, while he is there, he begins to realize the severity of the holocaust. In the end, trains come to take the Jews to extermination camps, Misha passes out and escaped. We think the theme of this book is developing one’s identity is essential to their growth as an individual. There are three reasons for why this is true, the main character, Misha, doesn’t know who he is, he changes his identity extremely easily, and he spent a lot of time trying to …show more content…

“I think of all the voices that have told me who I have been… Call me thief. Call me stupid. Call me Gypsy. Call me Jew. Call me one-eared Jack… Now I am… Poppynoodle.” Throughout his life, he has gone through many struggles to try to figure out his identity. He has also had many different identities while he was trying to figure out which one really represented him as an individual.

In conclusion, the thesis of the book Milkweed is developing one’s identity is essential to their growth as an individual. The major reasons that this is true are Misha not knowing who he is, him changing his identity without thinking about it, and him putting a lot of effort into finding his identity. In the beginning he didn’t know anything about himself, when he started to gain identities, he would accept them easily. He would change from a gypsy to a jew and more, and then he realizes all the different identities he has developed. Think about living with 7 people in the room that is the size of a

Show More
Related

  • Symbolism In The Bean Trees And Mirror Image

    1270 Words  | 6 Pages

    Thought out a persons ever changing life, the one thing that is always consistent is their name. However, sometimes a persons identity will change so much that their own name seems foreign when speaking it out loud. This creates the need for a new name to match a new identity. Kingsolvers The Bean Trees and Lena Coakley’s Mirror Image both apply characterization, conflict, and symbolism to show how identity changes with names and labels.

    Read More

  • Identity In The Poem Identity By Julio Polanco

    198 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Julio Polanco’s poem, “Identity”, the author develops the theme that one should be true to himself through the extended metaphor of ugly weeds feeling beautiful. The narrator wanted to be freed from the burden and pressure of trying to fit in so he’d “rather be a tall, ugly weed” (Palanco). This expresses the idea that inward appearance trumps outward appearance and inner beauty is achieved through being yourself. The metaphor conveys how he wanted freedom and to live an adventurous life without being forced to be something other than himself and that had a greater meaning than beauty.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Identity In Night By Elie Wiesel

    948 Words  | 4 Pages

    One reoccurring theme that is present in the Holocaust is a change of identity with everyone involved. The incidents people confronted, especially the Jews, during this harsh time was life changing and traumatic. The identity of many in the concentration camps changed; young and innocent children developed into mature men. Elie Wiesel in the novella, Night, faces a change of identity within himself and the surrounding people, the Jews, through a variety of events that he encounters.

    Read More

  • Physically Abused In Elie Wiesel's Night

    556 Words  | 3 Pages

    “‘I have terrible news,’ he said at last. ‘Deportation.’ The ghetto was to be completely wiped out. We were to leave street by street the following day” (Wiesel 11). Throughout the vast novel, Night,by Elie Wiesel, the protagonist Elie had gone through agonizing experiences, for the duration of the gruesome and unspeakable genocide.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative: How My Identities Shaped My Life

    1157 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout my life I have come from and created a few identities for myself. Perhaps, the most dominant identities that have been apart of my life are being an athlete and being a family orientated man. In this paper I will write about how my identities have shaped my life. First off I believe my biggest identity is being an athlete.

    Read More

  • Night By Elie Wiesel Identity Analysis

    1527 Words  | 7 Pages

    “A traumatic experience robs you of your identity” (Dr.Bill). Concentration camps during the agonizing Holocaust disallowed their prisoners to obtain a personal identity. The renowned memoir, Night, written by Holocaust survivor, Eliezer Wiesel, published in 1954 expands the apprehension of the life altering challenges and torment the Jewish society encountered from 1933 to 1945. Identity consists of an individual's distinctive characteristics, beliefs and mannerisms which was forbidden for the Jewish hostages of the Holocaust to attain. Elie’s identity was shaped and reshaped by the traumatic experiences the Jewish community persevered through.

    Read More

  • Identity Development In The Breakfast Club

    1347 Words  | 6 Pages

    Adolescence can be described as a period of awareness and self-definition. According to Erikson (1968), it is an important period in the enduring process of identity formation in the life of an individual. The movie ‘The Breakfast Club’, focuses on a group of five adolescents, and their pursuit to find their prospective identity. This essay will focus on the process of identity development in these five adolescents, with particular reference to the character Andrew Clark. In addition, it seeks to highlight the different identity statuses, as well as, the factors that facilitate or hinder identity formation.

    Read More

  • The Human Condition In Night By Elie Wiesel

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    The human condition is a very malleable idea that is constantly changing due to the current state of mankind. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the concept of the human condition is displayed in the worst sense of the concept, during the Holocaust of WWII. During this time, multiple groups of people, most notably European Jews, were persecuted against and sent to horrible hard labor and killing centers such as Auschwitz. In this memoir, Wiesel uses complex figurative language such as similes and metaphors to display the theme that a person’s state as a human, both at a physical and emotional level, can be altered to extreme lengths, and even taken away from them, under the most extreme conditions.

    Read More

  • Feliks Skrzynecki Essay

    741 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Our sense of self is influenced by our interactions with our environment” The interactions a person encounters are an essential part in the formation of identity. In Peter Skrzynecki’s poem, Feliks Skrzynecki, a linguistic barrier between the father and son is present due to persona, Peter’s lack of cultural identity. The poem examines the relationship with his father explores how he has a constantly changing identity as he encounters his surroundings. Similarly, in Postcard, the persona’s identity is altered through the interactions he has with the environment around him.

    Read More

  • Reflective Essay On Night By Elie Wiesel

    653 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel Night by Elie Wiesel, which was first published in 1958, tells a great first-hand account of a terrible event named the Holocaust. In this story, it gives a detailed memoir of a young kid named Eliezar who has to endure this appalling crisis. As the Holocaust continues to go on around them, he and his family remain optimistic about their future. Even though they were optimistic, the Holocaust finally closes in on them. Once this occurs they were pulled away from their homeland and relocated to their designated site where they were split by gender.

    Read More

  • Identity In Gretel Ehrlich's Looking For A Lost Dog

    1036 Words  | 5 Pages

    The environment in which an individual grows up in can affect life greatly. Our surroundings influence one’s personality, self-expression, and individuality, otherwise known as identity. Finding one’s true self is the most grueling stage of life and expectations of family and society make the process even harder. One’s true identity can sometimes clash with hopes of others, thus breaking tradition and/or family ties. Pressure to change will always be present, but staying true to uniqueness will prevail.

    Read More

  • Identity In Ernest Buckler's The Locket

    1724 Words  | 7 Pages

    Throughout literature the constant theme of identity has been explored, with Northrop Frye even suggesting “the story of the loss and regaining of identity is, I think, the framework for all literature.” For characters, true identity isn’t always apparent, it needs to be searched for. Sometimes the inner struggle for identity stems from ones need for belonging. Whether one finds their sense of identity within friends, family, or in a physical “home”. It’s not always a place that defines identity.

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Identity In Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed

    704 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jack is a young orphan living in Warsaw, Poland when World War II broke out. He is affected by the events around him. Jack’s experiences during the war lead to his personal growth and self-identity. At first, Jack’s firsts gains a sense of identity on the streets of Warsaw.

    Read More

  • The Chrysalids Argumentative Essay

    2488 Words  | 10 Pages

    This novel is considered an allegory of the Holocaust. There is a similar chain of events leading to disarray when one race thinks it is superior to another. It teaches the danger of discrimination and superiority which results in eradication

    Read More

  • Derek Parfit's Theory Of Personal Identity

    1354 Words  | 6 Pages

    Derek Parfit is a British philosopher who specialises in problems of personal identity and he proposes that we separate the notions of identity and survival. He is one of the most prominent philosophers in the struggle to define the self. Parfit’s 1971 essay “Personal Identity” targets two common beliefs which are central to the earliest conversations about personal identity. The first belief is about the nature of personal identity; all questions regarding this must have an answer. Between now and any future time, it is either the case that “I shall exist or I shall not”.

    Read More

More about What Is Milkweed Theme Of Identity

Open Document