Genorosity, Compassion, And Perspective in Jerry Spinelli's Book Milkweed

What is an identity? Many people do not understand there true identity leading to conflict in the world around them but also inside of them. Identity is something many young children teenagers and young adults struggle with leading them to feel unfit. For example, in the novel Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli the main character Misha Pilsudski is an example of how having an unknown identity can cause many types of conflict. Jerry Spinelli demonstrates this through his main ideas of Genorosity, Compassion, and Perspective.

First and foremost, the main claim of generosity is demonstrated throughout the book. On page fifty-seven after the main character was walking back from the stalls and saw a man lying in the straw. Misha states “Do you want to live with us” (Spinelli 57). Generosity is demonstrated because even though Misha does not have much to offer he offers a place to stay to the man without a home which signifies that an important claim is there is always some way to give back even if there is not a lot to give.

In the real world, this could signify the importance of giving back to communities in need in order to help those who need it because the world revolves around the importance of generosity just as Spinelli’s book is centered around the claim of the importance of generosity.

Furthermore, an example of a strong claim demonstrated is compassion. On page one hundred sixty-one after Mr. Milgrom struck a match and lit a candle he said, ‘we ourselves will be the candle flames.

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’ He put his hands on his chest. ‘Feel your hearts, how warm they are.” (Spinelli 161). Compassion is demonstrated through the authors use of personification of describing the warmth of compassion and the human traits of the heart when demonstrating compassion. Also, the author uses metaphor to compare the compassion given by humans to the flame of the candle. In today’s society compassion is a key component of a successful community and also it is one of the key virtues of a highly effective person within the world leading many to poses this trait.

Finally, the third main claim within the book is perspective. On page one hundred thirty-six after the two characters are discussing angeles. The narrator states, “ Everbody has an angel hiding inside. When you die, your angel comes out. You can die, but not your angel. Your angel never dies” (Spinelli 136). Perpespective is demonstrated through the authors use of metaphor comparing death to angeles being born. Also, perspecitve is being used because the author is demonstrating a possible outlook on death as a posiitve thing then a negative. In the world today death is viewded as many different perspectives such as Americas negative outlook and Mexicos postive outlook around death.

In conclusion, The author Jerry Spinelli incorprtes three main claims within his book Milkweed these include Genorosity, Compassion, and Perspective. Genorosity is demonstrated through his use of giving a place to live to someone in need. Compassion is demonstraterd through the decrption of what it means to have heart. Persepective is demonstrated as the author illustratues a postive outlook on death such as that of the Mexican culture.