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Milkweed
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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:38:32 -0600
Jonathan,
Your question about what our Newbery Discussion thought of the ending of Milkweed is
an important one. It's an issue I know I struggled with personally because it was so very jarring to be taken out of the tone that had been set through the entire novel. But several in the group felt strongly that the ending chapter was important on several levels, and I know I personally found their points compelling: the ending stresses the importance of passing on the story of what happened--the importance of telling. In that sense, the way the child bore witness through much of the narrative is carried through in the narrative itself as he grows and bears witness for the next generation. Also, the ending shows that this child did indeed survive and grow into adulthood. At the same time, the adult life of which we are given a glimpse is one that in many ways keeps his character consistent with the child he was--he still in one sense lived in and for the moment, never fully adusting to "normal" life. Finally, it is the fact that the ending offers hope--the sense that survival can and did happen, and this boy's did not walk down those railroad tracks into a future unknown to the reader. However difficult that future may have been, he had one.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 16 Dec 2003 01:38:32 PM CST
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 13:38:32 -0600
Jonathan,
Your question about what our Newbery Discussion thought of the ending of Milkweed is
an important one. It's an issue I know I struggled with personally because it was so very jarring to be taken out of the tone that had been set through the entire novel. But several in the group felt strongly that the ending chapter was important on several levels, and I know I personally found their points compelling: the ending stresses the importance of passing on the story of what happened--the importance of telling. In that sense, the way the child bore witness through much of the narrative is carried through in the narrative itself as he grows and bears witness for the next generation. Also, the ending shows that this child did indeed survive and grow into adulthood. At the same time, the adult life of which we are given a glimpse is one that in many ways keeps his character consistent with the child he was--he still in one sense lived in and for the moment, never fully adusting to "normal" life. Finally, it is the fact that the ending offers hope--the sense that survival can and did happen, and this boy's did not walk down those railroad tracks into a future unknown to the reader. However difficult that future may have been, he had one.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, Wi 53706 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 16 Dec 2003 01:38:32 PM CST
