“It was many, many such stories – synagogues burned, Jews beaten with no reason, whole towns pushing out all Jews – each story worse than the other.’ The Complete Maus, is a graphic novel written by American artist Art Spiegelman, documenting the survival of his father; Vladek Spiegelman, throughout the systematic persecution of his ‘inferior’ race in the 1933 Nazi Germany. This autobiographical tale enlists anthropomorphic mice and cats to depict the racial divide between the Germans and Jewish cultures. Maus has constructed two perspectives through the use of voice, in order to present comparisons between the life before and after the invasion and destruction caused by the Nazi regime, and highlight the loss of character experienced by those …show more content…
who survive. Maus operates through two first person perspectives, offering Vladek’s attitudes and perspectives as he recounts his survival of the holocaust, which is juxtaposed with Vladek’s son’s; Artie’s, vantage point of the effect the holocaust has caused on his father. By including the process involved in gathering his father’s story of survival, an emphasis is constructed through juxtaposition of life pre and post war is created, showing the physical, mental and emotional loss a holocaust survivor encounters. Part one – A survivor’s tale; The Seik, uses Vladek’s voice to recount his construction of his past self as a romantic, alluring man. This has been implied through the title; The Seik, as it suggests a sexually alluring man, which has been mirrored in Vladek’s romanticised recount of his actions in winning over Anja’s heart. The use of the image in this opening scene depicts Vladek as a mouse, thus revealing his Jewish origin, and further cements his stance as a desirable, powerful leader via aligning him with the rule of thirds in a dominant pose that consumes majority of the frame. His facial expression is one of distaste and anger towards a female who is positioned in a submissive pose grasping his leg desperately, which revels the beginnings of the disconnect between reality and truth of his character, and the jarring of his nature pre and post war. Via the use of Vladek’s voice, a past representation of Vladek has been created that reveals his romantic, alluring nature, which presents the loss of character experienced by holocaust survivors. This juxtaposition of Vladek’s character pre and post war is created when comparing his nature between the first two chapters that switches between the voice of Artie revealing the strained relationship between father and son, and the idealistic nature presented through Vladek’s recounts.
Chapter One; The Seik, shows his alluring, romantic nature before the events of the Holocaust, whilst Chapter Two; The Honey Moon, opens with the voice of Artie presenting a frail, highly strung Vladek who is compulsively counting out his medication. The inclusion of this frame highlights the physical suffering he has endured from the Holocaust, and reveals how the war has stripped him of good health. The use of dialogue; ‘About mom.. 11...12...13’ shows Vladek ignoring Artie, which begins to reveal the dysfunction between their relationship, and the shift in nature and temperament that Vladek has undergone. The counting of his pills also signifies the lack of trust he’s developed for others, which is a product of the suffering he’s endured in the war, which further highlights the mental and emotion loss he’s undergone. This loss has again been mirrored through the repetition of the domestic scene of Art and his father, where Arties perspective of Vladek is consistently seen to exercise control over his son, and his distaste and lack of appreciation towards his new wife Mala as it appears to the reader that Vladek is attempting to adhere to the traditional standards of being married, …show more content…
however the only commonality between the husband and wife is their survival of the war, which reveals the impact the holocaust has had on the individuals, and how it continues to govern their personal relationships, and create one of total dysfunction between all members of the family. Arties vocal expression of his father’s dysfunctional relationship, and ill health acts to present the attitude that a loss of character is experienced by those who survive the holocaust. The historical representation of Vladek, created through his first person voice, continues to depict him in a favourable manner; a forward thinking, independent survivor with the ability to draw on his own resources to survive the holocaust.
This has been shown through the conversation between Vladek and his family in the chapter; The Noose Tightens, in which he is promoted to lie about his dealings with the black market. Vladek is determined to make a living for his family, and due to his knowledge of their wealthy, privileged background, he hides a portion of the money he earns to prevent them wastefully spending money that is necessary to survive. This idea of being forward thinking is furthered in the chapter; Mouse holes, when Vladek returns to a chimney where he stashed gold powder and cigarette cases, as all Jews had their belonging removed or destroyed by the Germans whilst sectioned to concentration camps, and these belongings were traded to ensure his survival. When Vladek’s voice is viewed in comparison to the modern-day representation revealed through Artie’s voice, the extent of the loss caused by the holocaust is effectively
presented. This forward thinking, independent character is a contrast to Arts depiction of his father in post-war times. The inclusion of Vladek’s worsening relationship with Mala highlights the dysfunction experienced by survivors. As the story progresses, it becomes clear through Mala’s dialogue; *insert quote* that she is only remaining with him to care for his diminishing health. Vladek has gone from a resourceful individual who taught English to Kapo’s in the Auschwitz camps in exchange for food, clothing, and protection, to a frail, ill-health man who is heavily reliant on his son and wife to carry out daily tasks. This change is emphasised when Vladek requests Artie and his wife return from their holiday with friends in order to look after him after the departure of Mala, and again emphasised as his health further deteriorates leading to multiple hospitalizations. Through the contrasting perspective of Vladek and Arties Voice, the attitude that the holocaust survivors undergo a loss of character is effectively presented. The use of contrasting representations of voice in the novel Maus, works to present the idea that holocaust survivors experience a loss of character. Vladek’s depiction of himself as a romantic, alluring, man, is juxtaposed with Artie's voicing of a highly strung, frail, man highlights the physical and emotional damaged caused by the holocaust. This attitude is furthered Vladek’s representation of himself as a forward thinking, resourceful individual, in contrast to Artie’s perspective upon him of a needy father whom is heavily reliant upon others to carry out daily tasks. This juxtaposition of voice presents contrasting perspectives upon the central character Vladek, to represent the loss of self-experienced by holocaust survivors.
During 1925, Mein Kampf was published by the Nazi Leader Adolf Hitler. In this autobiography, where Nazi racist ideas originated, he depicted his struggle with the Jews in Germany. These ideas sparked World War 2 and the Genocide of the Jews. The tragedy of the Holocaust inspired authors, such as Art Spiegelman who produced a Graphic novel, where both the text and images helped him convey his own ideas and messages. In fact, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus is an effective medium for telling a Holocaust narrative and specifically his father’s story of survival. Through this medium, he is able to captivate the readers while providing interesting insight into the tragedy of the Holocaust by using the symbols of animals, the contrast between realism and cartoon imagery and the various basic elements of a graphic novel.
On page 53, “Vladek bathes in the cold river to clean himself and prevent diseases.” Vladek knew he needs to stay clean to avoid infection. That skill helped them live out of danger and kill him instead of being killed by a Nazi officer. On page 85, “Vladek told the Nazi officers that he was headed to deliver sugar to his shop. Vladek needed to lie to the Nazi officers so he wouldn't get killed for dealing without coupons. He needed a way for his a family to have good money and health to stay alive during this event of there lives. Also, he needed to stay alive because he brought money into their household. Vladek found different strategies to stay alive during the Holocaust and keep his family safe from death to pass the story on to show what Jewish people had to live
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.
By means of comic illustration and parody, Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about the lives of his parents, Vladek and Anja, before and during the Holocaust. Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II delves into the emotional struggle he faced as a result of his father’s failure to recover from the trauma he suffered during the Holocaust. In the novel, Vladek’s inability to cope with the horrors he faced while imprisoned, along with his wife’s tragic death, causes him to become emotionally detached from his son, Art. Consequently, Vladek hinders Art’s emotional growth. However, Art overcomes the emotional trauma his father instilled in him through his writing.
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.
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.
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 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 Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus unfolds the story about his father Vladek Spiegleman, and his life during the WWII. Since Vladek and Art are both the narrators of the story, the story not only focuses on Vladek's survival, but also the writing process and the organization of the book itself. Through these two narrators, the book explores various themes such as identity, perspective, survival and guilt. More specifically, Maus suggests that surviving an atrocity results in survivor’s guilt, which wrecks one’s everyday life and their relationships with those around them. It accomplishes this through symbolism and through characterization of Vladek and Anja.
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.
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 time. It shows this through its comic book style drawings on a topic that is difficult to explain. With the illustrations throughout the story, it shows the true meaning of a picture is worth a thousand words. Compared to any other type of Holocaust book, it would be hard for a person who did not go through the Holocaust to understand what was taking place during that time.
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.
In Art Spiegelman’s comic series, MAUS, each race in the storyline is analogously depicted as a different animal. This essay will explore the various benefits, drawbacks and their counteractions, that are confounded with author’s choice of this illustration. It can be argued that choosing animals to represent humans, in an event as complex as the Shoah, dehumanizes victims even more. Humans conventionally see species of animals as collective entities rather than individual beings. Thus, by representing all the Jewish people as one type of animal, the reader might unconsciously generalize all the victims’ sufferings and discourses into one coherent image, in order to make sense of things. On the other hand, depicting each race as a certain animal
When reading a traditional book, it is up to the reader to imagine the faces and landscapes that are described within. A well written story will describe the images clearly so that you can easily picture the details. In Art Spiegelman’s The Complete Maus, the use of the animals in place of the humans offers a rather comical view in its simplistic relation to the subject and at the same time develops a cryptic mood within the story. His drawings of living conditions in Auschwitz; expressions on the faces of people enduring torture, starvation, and despair; his experience with the mental institution and his mother’s suicide; and occasional snapshots of certain individuals, create a new dynamic between book and reader. By using the form of the graphic novel, Art Spiegelman created a narrative accompanied by pictures instead of needing to use immense worded detail.
Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a novel about the Vladek and his experience as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. It narrates the reality of the Holocaust wherein millions and millions of Jews were systematically killed by the Nazi regime. One of the themes in the story is racism which is evident in the employment of animal characters and its relationship with one another.