Maus Sparknotes

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In 1939, the Nazi invasion of Poland began causing many traumatic experiences for Jewish people across Europe. Maus by Art Spiegelman is a book that is written based on the real-life experiences of Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish man who was alive during the reign of Hitler and experienced the life of Jews during this time first-hand. Vladek lived a normal life as a Jew during the Holocaust before suddenly being recruited into the Polish army where he had to go into battle against the Nazis. The Polish lost the battle and Vladek was forced to surrender which caused him to be captured as a war prisoner. This capture caused him to realize the true injustice toward the Jews first-hand and led to him to take more risks in order to fight for a better …show more content…

If we have to die, let’s die here!” but Vladek responds with, “No! I didn’t agree with that! I’m not going to die here! I want to be treated like a human being!” (Spiegelman 54). When he is captured into the war prison experiencing injustice day in and day out, he grows sick of it as he wants to be treated like a human and he is willing to take risks for that. This shows how being captured caused him to develop into a more resilient person who was willing to take risks for a better life rather than just accepting the life he had now. Vladek experienced many injustices throughout his time at the war prison, which opened his eyes to the mistreatment toward the Jews first-hand, this constant mistreatment caused him to grow resilient and more willing to take more risks for a better life. The experiences that he faced help to reveal the theme that despite hardship and injustice, giving up is the worst possible action you can take. Vladek faced many hardships throughout his life and was treated as though he wasn’t even a human, but he never gave up and took risks for a better

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