Escaping the Past (pg. 136) In Art Spiegelman’s Maus a scene where Vladek and Anja are escaping to Sosnowiec shows the couple trying to get away from their past and move on into their future. However the images where Anja has a tail shows that the past isn’t something avoided with such ease. No other animal has had a tail so far in the story, showing that even as hard as she is trying to disassociate herself with her past, it will follow her. Anja now having a tail allows the expresses that you can’t abandon such a large piece of your identity. Things with as much significance as religion will follow you. Also, in these frames, they couple is shown wearing masks, masks of pigs. They needed to desert their faith to have a chance of survival.
To cover up their Jewishness, they put on the countenance of Poles to blend in.
In City of Dreadful Delight, Judith Walkowitz effortlessly weaves tales of sexual danger and more significantly, stories of the overt tension between the classes, during the months when Jack the Ripper, the serial murderer who brutally killed five women, all of them prostitutes, terrorized the city. The book tells the story of western male chauvinism that was prevalent in Victorian London not from the point of view not of the gazer, but rather of the object. Walkowitz argues that the press coverage of the murders served to construct a discourse of heterosexuality in which women were seen as passive victims and sexuality was associated with male violence. Much of City of Dreadful Delight explores the cultural construction and reconstruction of class and sexuality that preceded the Ripper murders. Walkowitz successfully investigates the discourses that took place after the fact and prior social frameworks that made the Ripper-inspired male violence and female passivity model possible and popular.
The Holocaust is one of the most horrific and gruesome events in world history. It took a great toll on millions of lives in one way or another. One person in particular is Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. Maus, by Art Spiegelman, consists of two main narratives. One narrative occurs during World War II in Poland, and the other begins in the late 1970s in New York. In relation to each other these two narratives portray the past and present.Throughout the novel, we often see Art Spiegelman questioning why his father acts the way he does. Although the war is over, the events of the Holocaust continue to influence the life of Vladek. Why do we allow the past to effect the present? Vladek's personality is largely influenced by his Holocaust experience. In Maus I and II, Vladek was stubborn, selfish, and cheap because of his experiences in the Holocaust.
In the Maus series, the life of Vladek during the Holocaust was detailed. The animals were used to illustrate a point of view.
During World War II and the Holocaust, there was not only mistrust for the government but there was also plenty of mistrust for prior friends and neighbors. In the graphic novel, “Maus (Volume I and II) Vladek Spiegelman makes it very clear to his son, Artie, that one cannot count on their friends. He makes the point that in time of hardship, friends will abandon you quite quickly. Vladek says, “Friends? Your friends…if you lock them together in a room with no food for a week…then you could see what it is, friends! (Maus, VI. 5-6). Throughout the novel, we see examples of this gloomy point proven repeatedly.
In Maus by Art Spiegelman Anja underscores her response to Vladek’s suggestion to send Richieu away by using dramatic body language as well as facial expressions to ossify her thoughts on the crazy idea. Her actions showed that she stands by her answer and that it would not change it anytime soon. In the image Anja is holding Richieu vigorously skintight, as if he were part of her. This expresses how deeply she cares for him, and that she was always going to keep him by her side. Anja’s facial expression tells Art how serious she is about not giving Richieu away to anyone. Anja had dark circles around her eyes, nevertheless forcing the focus onto them. The eyes appear larger in this image than any other time in the book. They make her seem
Upon a first reading of Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path”, it appears to be a simple story about an old woman going into town to procure medicine for her sick grandson, who has swallowed lye (Welty 3). After further readings and doing research, the deep meaning and depth of the story becomes apparent. The worn path is much more than a routine route regularly traversed into town and back to home. The protagonist Phoenix Jackson has many more layers than the way she is perceived as an apparent no account drifter, charity case, whose only reason to head into town is to see Santa Clause (Welty 2). There is significant meaning behind the interactions with people, places, and objects that Phoenix crosses paths with on her journey into town. Every interaction and situation presents Phoenix with the opportunity to learn and grow as a person and as a culture. The sick grandson represents more than a sick boy at home waiting for medicine to heal his physical ailment (Welty 3). Welty uses a myriad of symbols to tell the story of the long and arduous journey blacks take going from slavery to free Americans. A journey that takes lifetimes of accumulating knowledge, gaining wisdom, and then passing everything learned to the children. The next generation builds on to, and hones the gained wisdom and further refines the knowledge as they pass it on to the next generation. It is the gained wisdom that is constantly reborn like the Phoenix in mythology (Mercantante 527). In, “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, Phoenix Jackson symbolizes the past and present population of black Americans and the worn path represents her experiences and the wisdom she has gained, soon to be reincarnated in her grandson, the future generation of black America.
In Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the audience is led through a very emotional story of a Holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with the author, who is his son, and his wife. Throughout this novel, the audience constantly is reminded of how horrific the Holocaust was to the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the novel finds very effective ways to insert forms of humor in the inner story and outer story of Maus. Although the Holocaust has a heart wrenching effect on the novel as a whole, the effective use of humor allows for the story to become slightly less severe and a more tolerable read.
Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to discover that he has been transformed into a repugnant vermin. One may never know what initiated this makeover, but the simple truth is that Gregor is now a bug, and everyone must learn to live and move on in this strenuous situation. In Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the characters that interact with Gregor, including his mother, his father, and his sister Grete, must come to terms with his unfortunate metamorphosis, and each does so by reacting in a unique way. Gregor’s family members are constantly strained by this unusual event, and all three of them are pressed to their breaking point.
It seems to be very rare to stumble upon a honest, crystal-clear self reflection and criticism, a true necroscopy of one’s self, because it is much easier to “beholdest [..] the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye” [Matthew 7:3]. Perhaps it is only through the eyes of a vermin that Franz Kafka was finally able to open up completely to his father but, most importantly, to himself, reaching a level of frankness that could not even be attained in “Letter to His Father”. In “The Metamorphosis”, the theme of humanness and identity is revealed through the eyes of Gregor Samsa, who, in his claustrophobic, anxiety-ridden state of being trapped in the body of a vermin, experiences having his whole conception of identity being changed while watching his life slip away in front of his eyes, as his family contributes to his final act of giving up.
Jack Marucci’s story is very moving and empowering. His story is what some would refer to as the true American dream. Marucci’s story started when his son said he wanted a wooden bat. This bat was made in the shed behind Marucci’s home. Never did Jack Marucci think that the bat he was making for his son would become such an iconic item for Major League Baseball.
The Metamorphosis is said to be one of Franz Kafka's best works of literature. It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novel Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows resemblance to some of Kafka's diary entries that depict him imagining his own extinction by dozens of elaborated methods. This paper will look into the text to show how this is a story about the author's personal life portrayed through his dream-like fantasies.
The novel Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata takes place in post-war Japan, an era of change, where there is a struggle between keeping Japanese traditions and becoming Westernized, or “modernized”. In this way, the setting reflects a major conflict in the novel: past versus present. This struggle is subtly, yet clearly, expressed in the characters throughout the story as they face the cultural shift as well as deaths, and must decide whether or not to move on and accept change or to remain stuck in the past. The character Chikako Kurimoto, ex-mistress of the protagonist’s father, Mr Mitani, clings to the past. She continues to serve Mr Mitani after his death by cleaning the tea house, which does not need cleaning because the protagonist Kikuji, his son, does not practise tea. She also meddles in Kikuji’s life, in a way transferring her possessiveness of his father onto him, and uses tea ceremonies to inject herself into his life. Another way she ties herself to the past is by continuing the annual tea ceremonies held by Mr Mitani after his death. Through keeping the tradition of tea, Chikako attempts to feel connected with Mr Mitani.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka is a gloomy tale about a young man, Gregor Samsa, who transformed into a bug. He is endowed with human pathos among heartless characters that continue to alienate him, even after his physical transformation that left him unrecognizable by the people closest to him. His metamorphosis is an extension of the alienation he already felt as a person by his family. Gregor soon realizes that the very people you help, often leave you helpless.
Franz Kafka’s stories and novels contain such disturbing situations that the word Kafkaesque has been created to define the most unpleasant and bizarre aspects of everyday modern life. A master of dark humor and an artist of unique vision, Kafka captures perfectly the anxiety and absurdity of contemporary urban society (Norton Anthology 1866). In 1912, Kafka produced his longest, as well as his most famous novella written, The Metamorphosis. Metamorphosis means change, which is something readers see a lot of in this novella. The story is about a man, Gregor Samsa, who wakes up and sees that is has been transformed into a bug. He, as well as his families, lives are completely turned upside down. They had all depended so heavily on Gregor,
Janwillem Van De Wetering says, “Greed is a fat demon with a small mouth and whatever you feed it is never enough.” Guy De Maupassant’s “The Necklace” tells of Mrs. Mathilde Loisel’s longings for the finer things in life. Her desires are so intense she risks her husband’s affections, the friendship of an old chum, and even her mediocre lifestyle to pursue these cravings. One small decision based on an ill-placed desire causes a slow drawn out death of the spirit, body and relationships.