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“A remarkable work, awesome in its conception and execution… at one and the same time a novel, a documentary, a memoir, and a comic book. Brilliant, just brilliant.”
-Jules Feiffer (1)
This is a commentary by Jules Feiffer about “Maus”, which is a survivor’s tale created by Art Spiegelman. As you can see from the commentary, this is a wonderful story, not only its the writing but also the art. The author made the story interesting that attracts many readers by changing many things from the first 3 –page version of Maus.
To analyse this story, first of all, we need to understand about the writing of this story.
Spiegelman focuses on many things in this story and the events in 1940s made them connected. In chapter 1, Vladek is a cold man; he could break up with Lucia just because of money. “Money can buy everything” seems to be the reasoning in this chapter. Because of money, he would marry Anja, whom he didn’t love. The focus at this point is not only on Vladek’s characteristics but also on a new beginning for Vladek, he would change many characteristics. In chapter 2, we see that Vladek took care of Anja when she got sick. Hysterica is a disease that can be cured not only by medicine but also by spirit. Anja couldn’t be comfortable if Vladek wasn’t by her side. I think that Vladek did everything for Anja because of his true love. I agree that this love began because of money but it grew up into true love. If Vladek didn’t love Anja, he wouldn’t give up his job in the company to go to the sanitarium. Not only in this chapter but also in many following chapters, many difficulties they need to suffer appear. Vladek did everything to protect Anja from being kiiled by the Gestapo. What a difficult period for them. When Anja ...
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...asy for the author to show the emotions of Vladek when he talked about the past.
For balancing, the author makes it reasonable when he makes a connection between the writing and art. In the art is shown the emotion of the characters, the background, and what was going on. Many young readers who have never known about the 1940s in Europe can understand clearly through the art the difficult conditions for Jews then.
In conclusion, it’s a good story not only in writing but also in art. It talks much about the past, the life in 1940s in Europe, but it doesn’t make the reader bored. Reading this book is not only learning about literature but also learning history. The success of the story comes from the balance between writing and art.
Works Cited
(1) the back page of Maus book.
(2): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Europe (28/8/2012, 6:00pm)
Vladek’s life during the Holocaust was gruesome, but regardless of what was happening in his own life Vladek was always thinking about the safety of Anja. Vladek loved Anja dearly, if anything happened to Anja Vladek would not care about his own life, and lose the will to live. When Anja and Vladek were separated in the concentration camp, Vladek found a woman and asked her if she knew if Anja is...
Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. New York City:
In the beginning of the book, Vladek is very stubborn. As a reader, you can tell he is the stubborn one in the relationship with his second wife, Mala. The relationship is strained and seemingly entirely lacking love from both ends. For example upon Artie arriving to his father’s home, Vladek makes a fuss about Mala choosing to hang Artie’s coat on a wire hanger. “A wire hanger you give him! I haven’t seen Artie in almost two years..We have plenty wooden hangers.” (Spiegelman, Vol.I, p.11) Vladek stated. Artie made a side note that “they didn’t along.” It makes me question how they ever got married or fell in love in the first place. Leading up to World War II, he exhibits none of these characteristics in his relationship with Anja, his first wife. He is kind, caring, wealthy, and charming. One day, Vladek and Anja ran into Anja’s director from school. The director stated t...
The Maus series of books tell a very powerful story about one man’s experience in the Holocaust. They do not tell the story in the conventional novel fashion. Instead, the books take on an approach that uses comic windows as a method of conveying the story. One of the most controversial aspects of this method was the use of animals to portray different races of people. The use of animals as human races shows the reader the ideas of the Holocaust a lot more forcefully than simply using humans as the characters.
Art Spiegleman's comic book within the comic book Maus is titled "Prisoner on the Hell Planet: A Case History." This text within a text describes, in horrific detail through pictures, Artie's failed effort to get through the painful loss of his mother due to suicide. This text also in a way, represents a part of Artie's mind where he expresses his feelings of loneliness, doubt, fear, anger, and blame through the form of a dark, gloomy, depressing cartoon.
The comic implies that surviving the holocaust affects Vladek’s life and wrecks his relationship with his son and his wife. In some parts of the story, Vladek rides a stationary bike while narrating his story (I, 81, panel 7-9). Given the fact that it is a stationary bike, it stays immobile: no matter how hard Vladek pedals, he cannot move forward. The immobility of the bike symbolizes how survivor’s guilt will never let him escape his past. Vladek can never really move past the holocaust: he cannot even fall asleep without shouting from the nightmares (II, 74, panel 4-5). Moreover, throughout the story, the two narrators depict Vladek before, during and after the war. Before the war, Vladek is characterized as a pragmatic and resourceful man. He is resourceful as he is able to continue his black business and make money even under the strengthened control of the Nazi right before the war (I, 77 panel 1-7). However, after surviving the holocaust, Vladek feels an obligation to prove to himself and to others that his survival was not simply by mere luck, but because h...
This novel and film commentary analysis or interpretation will be first summarised and then critiqued. The summary will be divided into twenty- four episodes. While summarising it is well to remember that the film was made out of the book.
The graphic novels Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman possess the power to make the reader understand the pain and suffering that takes place during the Holocaust. Spiegelman uses animals instead of humans in his graphic novels to represent the different races of people. The use of visual mediums in Art Spiegelman’s Maus enhances the reading of the narrative. The graphics throughout the novel help the reader fully understand everything that is happening.
things. The main fear Vladek has is taping into his memories only to relive the pain he suffered and
When the story of Vladek is not being told, the reader often sees the relationship between the author, Art, and his father. For the most part, these instances are often disagreements between the father and son. Because Vladek thought Art’s jacket was raggy and unacceptable, he threw it in the garbage and gave him a new, up to date, jacket: “Such an old shabby coat. It’s a shame my son would wear such a coat! ... “I have for you a warmer one. I got at Alexander’s a new jacket, and I can give you my old one; It’s still like new” (69). Despite the fact that Art is not very pleased with his father throwing away his jacket, the reader can find humor due to the fact that Vladek thinks that the jacket is so torn up and old, not actually realizing that the style of jacket is a part of Arts culture, therefore it is how Art wants to look. Another instance in which the father and son divide happens is when Vladek compares his son to the famous cartoonist, Walt Disney: “Yah. Someday you’ll be famous. Like what’s-his-name...You know... the big-shot cartoonist... Walt Disney!” (133). Even though Art takes offense to this because he and Walt Disney are not the same type of cartoonist, the reader can find humor in this because Vladek is oblivious to the difference between what Art does versus what Walt Disney
In Maus, Art Spiegelman does not make any apologies about what he includes or leaves out from his story. Maus is not meant to be a story that encompasses World War II or the Holocaust, but rather, a story about the life of his father, Vladek Spiegelman:
Throughout the book Maus, we get to see a glimpse of the suffering Vladek went through during the Holocaust. Starting off before the war started we see the Vladek is living a care free life in Poland. He is described as a handsome bachelor with many woman at his fingertips. After he decides to settle down with Anja, his live becomes even more worry free. Vladek is a family man through and through, and would do anything for them. This, to me, is his defining feature before the Holocaust. Even though he states later in the book that the camps were every man for himself, you can tell that Vladek truly doesn’t believe in that. He tries time and time again to get his family and friends to safety even after numerous attempts go poorly. When he gets separated from them, he makes sure they are doing fine, and puts himself in positions to gain better treatment of his few friends. Even after the war Vladek is still the same family driven man he was before. He wants his son Art to live with him so they are close together, and he takes Mala back just for the company. Vladek doesn’t want his son to leave, since he knows he might not ever see him again due to his health. This is the same type of feeling he felt in the camps, when he saw his family get torn apart. As for this says about society is that people who people like Vladek would survived the Holocaust, value family and friends even more. Many people, especially ones in the Jewish community, lost multiple generations of family, and those who survived value family higher than anything else. Another way that the Holocaust changed Vladek is with his neurotic behavior. Before the war, he was carefree with his money and belongings. He lived the lavish lifestyle and did not worry about what wo...
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
...uses the reader to be more invested in the story and therefore truly strive to understand the world portrayed instead of just shallowly absorbing the setting. This is a strength because it gave the reader unique outlook on the Asian cultures because the audience feels personally involved in these situations. There are a few weaknesses in the book. I think perhaps, by putting the audience in these men’s shoes you cause them develop a bias. The reader will possibly have and emotional tie to the characters and because of this not see straight facts of history. The book is highly recommended to readers interested in pre-modern history, the book is a good look into the eastern world especially if one lacks research experience with that part of the world and its history.