Refugees/Homelessness
The Jew Holocaust is one of the horrific events that reflect on the plight of many refugees. Refugees are forced unsafe situations in their countries to seek for safe havens by fleeing for their survival. Most refugees suffer and once they have left their homeland, they become homeless and are forced to survive on their own. One of the outstanding pieces of literature by Art Spiegelman, the Maus wrote in the 1980s describe refugees as survivors of war.
In the last decade, the numbers of people displaced and are in a refuge like the situation have significantly increased. Several continents across the globe have experienced many civil wars and conflicts caused by different ideologies, leading to a large population movement. Many people are becoming homeless, including asylum seekers, stateless people, and internally displaced people who are forced to devise various tactics in order to survive. Their survival tactic and the long endurance in a foreign land makes them not only survivors but heroes
The idea of heroism is one of the major themes of Spiegelman's story "The Maus", his narration is based on his father's experience as a Polish Jew who witnessed and survived the Holocaust. Maus is a captivating narrative showing the horrific
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experiences most refuges undergo. It is true that refugees suffer as they are left homeless, once they flee their homeland. Refugees are individuals from countries experiencing years of political and economic instability caused by years of civil war, oppression and dictatorship. The economic situation greatly affects their living conditions because of the instability caused by wars. Instability causes fear, forcing refugees to flee, with many of them eventually losing not only their livelihood but also lose their family members.
Refugee's lives are altered by the war events as they are separated from their loved ones; they are imprisoned or killed by the authorities. The Afghanistan war is one of the many examples of the effects of wars that have continued to generate an enormous number of refugees. The Afghan war is caused majorly by the oppressive regime and warlords, these two opposing sides are in constant conflict. The Afghan war has produced more than six million refugees. Although refugees escape from their countries fleeing the wars, they are equally exposed to danger and
violence. Homelessness is majorly related with asylum seekers, stateless people, and internally displaced person, therefore these people need to develop strategies of survival. Refugees stay in camps years with little hope of returning back to their home country. There is always a wave of panic and terror as many of them live in fear and develop feelings of helplessness. Many pieces of literature highlight the plight of Afghan refugees, describing their living conditions in the camps as deplorable. Surviving is not just about coping with the situation while trying to hold the family together; it can reach an extent where one is forced to resort to dangerous survival tricks. Based on the personal experiences described by many refugee survivors, they are forced to alter their lifestyle and habits. Through Vladek experiences, we can see how those displaced survived due to their resourcefulness and intelligence. His resourcefulness and intelligence helped him overcome the Nazi regime. Most refugees suffer and are forced to survive on their own by devising survival tactics making them heroes. By presenting the worst event in the world history, Art Spiegelman unique portrayal of survival resonates the Jews experience. Vladek's refugee status show his endurance and overwhelming impact of the Holocaust. His father's memories come to life in his narration by presenting a true portrayal of the struggles of the Jewish people as refugees living in a foreign land. Many accounts of refugees revolve around the suffering from the authorities; the locals and the endurance, making them become more than just survivors. Apart from being homeless, refugees go through several traumatic events that make them not only survive but heroes of war and conflicts. Reference Miller, D. D. (2011). Representing History in Art Spiegelman's" Maus II". Inquiries Journal, 3(04).
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.
In a world where obsessive power, manipulation, hatred, and the desire to obliterate a single population reign, no one survives untarnished. The Holocaust was a horrific event led by Adolf Hitler that resulted in the persecution, torment, and suffering of millions of Jewish people all over Europe. Vladek Spiegelman survived the ruthless torture from the largest concentration camp during World War II in Auschwitz. His son, Art Spiegelman, tells two stories at once in his book Maus: one of his father’s experiences during the Holocaust and another of his present adversities with his father. Spiegelman’s book is unlike many of this genre. Written as a graphic novel, Maus allows readers to visualize Spiegelman’s feelings giving a new meaning to the famed maxim, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Spiegelman doesn’t simply write another historical account of the Holocaust. Instead, he writes of his father’s experience during the Holocaust as an attempt to not only portray the life of a Jew during that time, but to better understand the relationship he has with his father.
The books Maus I and Maus II, written by Art Spiegelman over a thirteen-year period from 1978-1991, are books that on the surface are written about the Holocaust. The books specifically relate to the author’s father’s experiences pre and post-war as well as his experiences in Auschwitz. The book also explores the author’s very complex relationship between himself and his father, and how the Holocaust further complicates this relationship. On a deeper level the book also dances around the idea of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. The two books are presented in a very interesting way; they are shown in comic form, which provides the ability for Spiegelman to incorporate numerous ideas and complexities to his work.
Survivors guilt is a mental condition that occurs when a person survives a traumatic event that others did not. This is something that many people, especially Jewish people, experienced during and after the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel's Night and Art Spiegelman's Maus, survival and survivor’s guilt are a common theme, and the main characters write about very similar situations. Wiesel is writing from personal experience, whereas Spiegelman is writing about his father’s experience. Both authors have the themes of public hangings, illnesses, and the father-son relationship woven throughout the books.
Art Spiegelman is the author and artist of Maus. The complete Maus is composed of Maus I and Maus II. Maus I was published in 1986, Maus II was published in 1991. The protagonists for this book are Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust and Art Spiegelman, Vladek’s cartoonist son. Volume I for the most part takes place in Poland, with Vladek describing his experience during Hitler’s rule to Art. Volume II is mainly on how the cartoonist Art struggles to make the book he has been working on of his parent’s journey during the Holocaust come together. In the following I will explain in more depth the setting, characters, and the art of this extraordinary book.
According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugee is a term applied to anyone who is outside his/her own country and cannot return due to the fear of being persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership of a group or political opinion. Many “refugees” that the media and the general public refer to today are known as internally displaced persons, which are people forced to flee their homes to avoid things such as armed conflict, generalized violations of human rights or natural and non-natural disasters. These two groups are distinctly different but fall ...
Refugee is an important term and concept existing in international studies. In order to understand the problems confronting refugees, we must first know the definition and the concept of refugee.
Throughout most of history people have been displaced, either through war or other conflicts. The size of these people are generally very large. In the 1940s thousands of Japanese-Americans were forced from their homes and put into camps on suspicion of being possible spies. Today, through the many wars and battles that are fought, people have their homes taken from them. In recent history not much has changed. In Syria a civil war is waged. Thousands of people are forced from their homes. Those who do survive travel. Many of these refugees know where to go and how to get there. The only reason for this is the Internet and many other technologies of the past 10-20 years.
Refugees hope to return hope eventually. But sometimes, during or after wars, governments expel people. Some people expelled from their homelands settle down in destination. On the other contrary, others wait, perhaps for a long time, to return
Refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world. When firstly arriving at ones country to seek refuge, refugees could be treated in ways one could not believe. To help prevent this The United Nations (UN) brought in the
A refugee, by definition, is a person who has been forced to leave their country due to various reasons, whether it be to escape war or religious/racial persecution, to seek refuge in another country. Seeking refuge usually isn’t easy for refugees, as in doing so, they may lose friends and family, and must adapt to live a lifestyle completely foreign to them. A prime example of a refugee is in the poetry novel, Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai. In the novel, the main character, Ha, must leave her home in Saigon, due to an ongoing war in Vietnam. This results in her having to find a new home in the United States, where she must adjust to a new school, new food, new people and a new language that she has no idea how to speak. The title
After WWII, people were quickly made aware of the problem in Europe and Japan and quickly moved to help (Kiernan 275). Today, conflicts in places such as Afghanistan, Syria, and South Sudan are becoming more frequent and ongoing which has caused more people to become displaced. Along with this, the rate at which solutions are being found for displaced people has been decreasing. Recently, many countries such as the United States have not been allowing refugees from certain countries to enter. Most of the countries under the travel ban are the countries with the most conflict and violence which therefore produces the most displaced people (“Report on Displacement”). With so many people unable to enter countries of refuge when they need it most, refugees levels are continuing to climb higher and higher. More and more refugees and internally displaced people are being forced from their homes and countries everyday. This crisis affects everyone everywhere and will continue to grow unless actions are taken to stop it. A little under 1% of the world’s population is displaced and this percentage will continue to grow unless a change is made. Out of the 65.6 million people displaced people worldwide only 189,300 of them were resettled in 2016. 28,300 people are forced to flee their homes daily due to conflict and persecution (“Figures at a Glance”). The resettlement rate is nowhere near being as high as the displacement rate which is why the amount of displaced people in the world is ever growing. Furthermore, many of these displaced people cannot afford to find a new home. Over half of the 22.5 million refugees in the world are under 18. It is extremely hard for families with children to earn enough money to care for their family and relocate at the same time (“Figures at a
Even though the refugee situation is a very serious issue, many people have no idea how bad it actually is. In the year 2014, there were about 60 million refugees worldwide. That number is expected to grow massively due to the oppression of ISIS in the Middle East. In Syria alone, 43 percent of the population are refugees. There are over 11 million people in the world that are ¨stateless.¨ Over 4.5 million refugees come from Syria, where they are
Why are there always a great number of refugees? What and who causes such big issue? Refugees based on the definition of UNHCR are ”those who are afraid of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a special social group or political view, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is reluctant to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country.” Approximately fifteen million refugees have fled their homeland in 2015 in the hope that they can live somewhere with nothing to be afraid of. The recent research conducted by UN shows that Afghanistan and Syria are the two countries in the top of the high-ranked country with the most refugees. There are significant reasons for this amount of refugees across the world. Therefore, the factors that determine the major causes of the migration and refugees can be classified as a war, corruption and repression. All these three factors have significant
First of all, wars lead to uproot citizens and force them to leave out of their home countries. When people’s lives are threatened, infrastructures devastated, food shortages prevail, and a healthcare system shuts down, people start moving to countries where life is promising. For example, according to the refugeesinternational “As of September 2013, there were more than 1.1 million Somalis displaced internally and nearly one million refugees living in neighboring countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and Yemen”. Likewise, according to Syrian refugees “An estimated 9 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of civil war in March 2011”, people who lose their loved ones leave all their belongings behind during a war. For example, when people are fleeing from their countries they leave their houses, their personal property, and all of their other belongings. Finally, they choose to leave to foreign countries where culture, climate, and lifestyle are completely different from the war an unstable p...