Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project

Nonfiction | Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2005

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-7

Part 2, Chapters 8-10

Part 2, Chapters 11-13

Part 2, Chapters 14-16

Part 2, Chapters 17-19

Part 2, Chapters 20-22

Part 3, Chapters 23-24

Part 3, Chapters 25-29

Part 3, Chapters 30-31

Part 3, Chapters 32-34

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 1, Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Chapter 4 Summary: “Research: Kansas, 1999”

Megan’s mother, Debra, rents Schindler’s List for Megan to watch ahead of her research trip after hearing her talk about how much the movie had affected Liz. Like Liz, Megan, her mother, and her brother were fascinated and heartbroken by the film. Megan feels “the implications of [the film] growing weightier, dramatizing a horror so complete, yet recent enough that people were still alive who had miraculously lived through it” (27).

During the research trip, at the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, the three girls use the fast, high-speed internet to find as much as they can about Sendler and the Holocaust. Megan finds the story of Elzbieta Ficowska, then excitedly discovers that Sendler rescued Elzbieta as a baby. The three realize that “[w]hat makes Irena’s story different is how much she cared who each kid was […] how she buried their names in a bottle under the apple tree so they would know who they were and that they were Jewish” (29). They decide to make this a central theme of their play, and after brainstorming titles, settle on Life in a Jar.

Following this first research trip, the trio make other library research trips. They begin to find more information about Sendler and the organization she eventually worked for, ZEGOTA, but still struggle, as “neither Irena’s heroism nor ZEGOTA were celebrated or even recognized by the Communist Polish state” (30). They decide to contact the JFR once again, and the organization gives them the contact information for Sendler’s son, Adam, in Warsaw.

Over the next few weeks, the play becomes more fleshed out. They find that, despite their struggle to turn up information, they have so many ideas that they must continually remind themselves of the time limit of 10 minutes. They work out lines, costumes, and props, and finalize the script in early November. During one contentious meeting, Liz and Megan argue over how one of the mothers, Mrs. Rosner, would have reacted. Megan argues that she would have likely been hesitant, whereas Liz argues that she would have been more than willing, given the context. Sabrina, again, tries to mediate and compromise between the two. Tensions rear again when choosing roles, as both Liz and Megan want the role of Irena; on this, though, Sabrina argues that Liz, as the less emotional of the two, should play Irena.

Sometime later, Megan asks her mother how she would feel if she had to give Megan away as a baby. At first, she doesn’t answer, but then tells Megan and Travis that she has breast cancer.

Chapter 5 Summary: “Millennium: Kansas, December 1999–January 2000”

Megan keeps her mother’s breast cancer a secret in public; at home, Debra tells Megan that she is the woman of the house, which means it is “her responsibility to prepare breakfast for her father and brother,” even when she has to be at school early for rehearsal, as well as put dinner “on the table by 6 pm so her father could watch TV in the evening and be in bed by 8:30” (37). Mr. C. tells Megan that it would be understandable if she were unable to continue the project, but she declines, telling him that she is fine. Just before Christmas, Debra undergoes surgery. Megan’s Christmas is juxtaposed against Sabrina’s and Liz’s Christmases: the former works as much as she can and spends the holiday with only her mother and sister, as the rest of her family is still in Oklahoma; the latter, as usual, spends Christmas making the rounds to various family members’ houses.

After they return from break, Megan struggles to give her all to rehearsals. At first, she tells Sabrina and Liz that she’s feeling unwell; later, she decides to tell them about her mother, but declines to discuss it.

Chapter 6 Summary: “Opening Night: Kansas, January 2000”

Shortly after the holiday break, Liz is caught with alcohol in school and suspended. She had poured some of her grandfather’s rarely used whisky into a sports bottle; her friend Wayne drank it on the way to school, then turned belligerent in class and told on Liz when the police came. After her suspension, Mr. C. criticizes her, but allows her to continue the project, a decision he came to along with Megan and Sabrina.

Debra Stewart returns home and resumes her household duties, allowing Megan more time to continue researching the project. At one point, during a January thaw, Megan takes the opportunity to go pick rock on the farm. As she does, she thinks about Mrs. Rosner, increasingly identifying with her sorrow.

With four weeks left until their first performance, rehearsals pick up steam. They convince the shop teacher to assemble prop iron bars to form a “gate” to the Warsaw ghetto. They continue to make changes to the script and begin practicing both before and after school.

Debra begins chemotherapy; due to a mix-up, shortly after, she is rushed to the hospital just in time to save her life. She is hospitalized for five days, during which time Megan’s father asks Megan to resume Debra’s household duties, asking for things to simply continue on as normal. This causes Megan to lash out, and her father suggests that “[o]ther things [the play] may have to go by the wayside” (48)while her mother is sick. Travis supports his sister, arguing that the project is particularly important. Mark Stewart acquiesces, and he and Travis agree to help with the chores in order to let Megan continue working on the project.

In late January, the girls give their first public performance. It is a resounding success—they receive a standing ovation. Liz realizes that she is crying for only the second time in memory and wonders what has changed.

In early February, they travel to Columbus for District History Day. They perform the play “flawlessly, and afterwards, still in costume, they [answer] questions from the three-judge panel” (53). After a brief conference, they win first prize and move on to State.

Chapter 7 Summary: “Where is Irena Buried? Kansas, February 2000”

Following District, the girls continue to work on—and fight over—the script, the costumes, and the play as a whole. They continue to wait for a response from Sendler’s son, Adam, to no avail. They also continue to share more about their own struggles and grow closer as friends. Later, they give their first truly public performance to a small audience at the Methodist Church sanctuary. Following the performance, Mr. C. “[marvels] yet again at the uncommon power of this simple and innocent drama” (57).

Ahead of State, they once again ramp up their rehearsal schedule. They also continue to research Irena Sendler, wondering at the fact that, despite her heroism, it is extremely difficult to find information about her. They decide that whenever they find out where she is buried, they intend to send money to Poland to have someone put flowers on it every year on her birthday.

Chapters 4-7 Analysis

Tensions arise as the girls become more possessive over the project. Mr. C.’s decision to add the older Sabrina to the group turns out to be a prescient move, as Sabrina’s pseudo-detachment allows her to keep the peace between Liz and Megan as they begin to fight for control over the project. Nevertheless, the project picks up steam quickly as the pieces fall into place. Whereas the project began precariously, with Liz uncertain that she would even be able to find anything on Irena and contemplating dropping out of the project altogether, the more they find, the more things seem to fall into their lap. This movement mirrors the later movement of Irena’s own project. What began as an inauspicious plan to financially assist the Jews through the help of the Social Welfare Department quickly snowballed into a complex network of sympathizers aiming to relocate children under new identities. The girls’ trajectory is certainly a more positive one, but the momentum is, in some respects, similar.

The girls each struggle with their own issues at home. Liz doubles back and runs into trouble at school. She ends up in trouble not because of her actions but because she was effectively an accomplice, which has parallels with the experience of those in occupied Poland later on, as well as connecting to questions of responsibility that run throughout the book. Megan’s troubles are different and certainly more devastating, but her response to her mother’s illness reinforces the theme of silence in the face of pain and tragedy, as she at first refuses to divulge the information, then only briefly mentions it before explicitly refusing to discuss it any further. Pain is something to be buried, and while this will shift over time, some form of the sentiment will remain.

The play begins to experience success, first at a local performance, then at the district competition. These successes are small and preliminary, but in some ways it’s important to foreshadow their future success before moving to Irena’s perspective. For one, it provides a positivity that is crucial heading into a devastating section of the text; for another, it highlights how little they still know about Irena and how far they are from truly understanding the world of Warsaw in 1939 and beyond.