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In Maus by Art Spiegelman, Artie is trying to capture and understand his father, Vladek, and what happened to him in the Holocaust. Although Vladek tells a lot of the stories to art, he does not want it to be shared with anyone. The holocaust has changed Vladek, as a person, and how he has raised Artie. Because of the Holocaust, Vladek and Artie struggled with the relationship because of Vladek’s medical needs, his stinginess with money, and his emotional isolation of those he has lost his life.
As Vladek gets older, his health gets worse. As his health gets worse, he needs lots of medication and assistance at all times. Vladek has many health issues that need to be taken care of with medication. “Six pills for the heart, one for diabetes, maybe 25 or 30 vitamins” (Spiegelman pg. 26 Maus I ). The quote shows how many health issues Vladek has, and how important it is for someone to take care of him. However Art does not see much of this, and refuses to stay and watch his father. We see that our visit to his father “regularly “ but is clear he is only doing it to hear more of his father story.
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Vladek’s wife, mala, notices that he does not give her enough money to spend, only $50 a month. “Look! He grabs paper towels from the restrooms so he won’t have to buy napkins and tissues” (Spiegelman pg. 132 Maus I ). This quote shows how stingy Vladek can be with his money. Even though he has thousands in the bank, he saves every penny. It shows that during the Holocaust, you had to save everything to survive. It shows that even after the event, he still carries on the trait. For not being able to use his money to hire a full-time nurse, it clearly affects the relationship between Art and
Artie even becomes concerned that he is painting Vladek as a stereotypical Jew, yet he defends his representation of Vladek by saying “I mean, I’m just trying to portray my father accurately!” (134). He makes a similar statement on page 25 when he tells Vladek, “I want to tell your story, the way it really happened”. In other words, Artie is intensely interested in portraying things as accurately as he can, “warts and all.” And this even includes Vladek’s ugly traits, especially his racism. Vladek’s other negative traits have their own backgrounds too. Mala makes many comments stating that Vladek has so much money saved up, but refuses to spend it. This can be traced back to the time at the beginning of the Holocaust, when Art’s store was robbed, and then all of his possessions were taken from
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.
The past and present are two completely different moments, separated by a constantly growing space of time. Though they’re quite different from each other and separated in many ways, there are still apparent connections between the two. In Art Spiegelman’s graphic novels Maus I: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: And Here My Troubles Begin, Spiegelman integrates the concept of past versus present, most apparent in his relationship with his father. As Artie’s relationship with Vladek improves as Vladek recites his history, the present time and the past begin to blend into each other. At the beginning of Maus I, Artie is oblivious to his father’s rough experience in the holocaust, disconnected from his father and without a solid relationship. However, as Vladek recites his history, Art’s relationship with him begins to improve little by little and the lines between the past and present dissolve. By the end of the story, Vladek and Artie’s relationship has improved greatly and the lines between the past and present are completely dissolved.
The format of "Maus" is an effective way of telling a Holocaust narrative because it gives Art Spiegelman the chance to expresses his father 's story without disrespecting him at the same
Communication is not only limited to verbal interactions, but the actions between two individuals. Vladek’s experience as a Holocaust survivor shapes his mentality throughout the entirety of both volumes. His tendencies appear odd at first, but they begin to make sense as the novel progresses. Art attempts to interview his father over multiple sessions; however, Vladek tends to ramble or steer off topic. In volume one Art tries to acquire information about his father’s experience with army training and on the field. Despite that, Vladek begins to talk about his father. He adds, “the next year father wanted I would again do the same thing, but I begged him and at 22 went into the army” (Spiegelman p.47). Art realizes the change in subject, and tries to get his father to continue with his specific timeline. The act of digressing occurs multiple times in Maus, showing that Vladek is incapable of tell his story to the most accurate extent. In addition, the duo tends to argue over trivial matters. Art voices his frustration in volume two as he says, “mainly I remember arguing with him and being told that I couldn’t do anything as well as he could” (Spiegelman p.44). The combination of feeling inadequate along with continuous arguments with his father was detrimental to their relationship. Art refrains from contacting his father because he
Jane Yolen once said: “Fiction cannot recite the numbing numbers, but it can be that witness, that memory.” Preserving the memories of the horrifying incidents of the Holocaust is the best way to ensure nothing like it ever occurs again. Authors use their novels to try and pass these memories down through generations. Examples of this are the novels Night by Elie Wiesel, and MAUS by Art Spiegelman. The main discussion in these novels revolves around the Holocaust and the violence against Jews. Both have captivating stories and are worthy of recognition, but MAUS is a better novel for educating students. This is because unlike Night it discusses the familial guilt faced by the families of Holocaust survivors. In addition, MAUS gives a visual
Vladek learned many skills before the Holocaust that guided him throughout his life during the Holocaust. Vladek knew that he could use his skills to help him survive. First, Vladek taught English which resulted in not only survival, but Vladek also acquired clothing of his choice which almost no other person in his concentration had the privilege to do. After teaching English, Vladek found an occupation as a shoe repairman in the concentration camps. Vladek’s wife, Anja, was greatly mistreated by a female Nazi general, and Anja noticed that the general’s shoes were torn. Anja informed the general that her husband could repair her shoes, and after Vladek fixed the general’s shoes, the general was nice to Anja and brought her extra food.
Vladek’s controlling ways leads him to invent a life that he never had. Vladek wields his reality by reinventing his past life. When Vladek tells Art about his marriage to Anja, he portrays his marriage like a fairy tale. Vladek says, “We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after” (Spiegelman 2:136). He reinvents his past life after the end of the Holocaust as free of woe. Correspondingly, he loses himself...
Vladek Spiegelman has clearly not fully recovered from the horrors of the Holocaust. One of the ways in which Vladek Spiegelman does not survive is the way he becomes so obsessed and conservative when it comes to food or money matters. He never wastes anything, no matter how small. After Mala Spiegelman, his wife, leaves him, Vladek Spiegelman goes to the supermarket, to return foods she left behind.Vladek Spiegelman wants to return opened and partially eaten food. After much frustration from both the store manager and himself, Vladek returns successful, remarking, “I exchanged and got six dollars worth of new groceries for only one dollar!” (250). He tries to return old food even though it is not allowed, but uses his past as an excuse. The store manager, wanting to avoid the topic of what society owes Holocaust survivors, accommodates his needs, wanting to appease him. Being a prisoner at a concentration camp alters Vladek Spiegelman's personality, making him obsessive, stingy, and unable to trust others. This alters his life and relationships with his loved
Using lines and basic shapes to emphasize shading and detail and then teamed with such a complex theme, Art’s story and graphics join together in a complimentary marriage. With the nearly childlike drawings and the intense mature storyline, there is a message that this is being written by the child telling the story of the parent. The story emphasizes his father’s inability to grow and repair from his past but even without the words you can almost see that Art has never truly be able to move past his the trauma of growing up with his parents. Using his frustrations and the need to explore the history of his father’s idiosyncrasies, Art creates a poignant story not only about the tragedy of the holocaust, but of the realities of being a child growing up with survivor parents.
Art Spiegelman's Maus II is a book that tells more than the story of one family's struggle to live thought the Holocaust. It gives us a look into the psyche of a survivor's child and how the Holocaust affected him and many other generations of people who were never there at all. Maus II gives the reader a peek into the psyche of Art Spiegelman and the affects of having two parents that survived the Holocaust had on him. Spiegelman demonstrates the affects of being a survivor's child in many ways throughout the book. Examining some of these will give us a better understanding of what it was like to be a part of the Holocaust.
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...
...nd Vladek’s suffering, he still somewhat tries. He writes a book attempting to recognize what his father has been through. Although a piece of literature may never truly be able to grasp the ideas and mentality of the holocaust, Maus comes very close.
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...
What if you were a holocaust survivor and asked to describe your catastrophic experience? What part of the event would you begin with, the struggle, the death of innocent Jews, or the cruel witnessed? When survivors are questioned about their experience they shiver from head to toe, recalling what they have been through. Therefore, they use substitutes such as books and diaries to expose these catastrophic events internationally. Books such as Maus, A survivor’s tale by Art Spiegelman, and Anne Frank by Ann Kramer. Spiegelman presents Maus in a comical format; he integrated the significance of Holocaust while maintaining the comic frame structure format, whereas comic books are theoretically supposed to be entertaining. Also, Maus uses a brilliant technique of integrating real life people as animal figures in the book. Individually, both stories involve conflicts among relationships with parents. Furthermore, Maus jumps back and forth in time. Although, Anne Frank by Ann Kramer, uses a completely different technique. Comparatively, both the books have a lot in common, but each book has their own distinctive alterations.