Analysis Of `` Maus `` By Art Spiegelman

In the story “The Scarlet Ibis” the theme is something very intense to think about. Sometimes, by the time we realize what we have done wrong, we can no longer fix the mistake; people have dealt with this sort of conflict in their lives before, many times. Personally, I have dealt with situations like this before in my lifetime. It’s difficult, because by the time we realize our fault, it’s too late to repair the damage.

Spiegelman’s Maus is a graphic novel which explores events of the holocaust and the uniting of a father and son. Though often overlooked the dedications play an integral role in better understanding the text. The dedications do not influence the meaning of the book but do reinforce events in the book. Spiegelman dedicates the first book to his mother as an attempt to rid himself of the guilt associated with his mother’s suicide. In an attempt to not have the same short comings as his father, Art associates his most prized work with the most prized people in his life. Richieu is often disregarded in the book however he is vital in Spiegelman’s eyes. The book in its entirety is highly important as it is a dedication to a whole race.

What is lost is not always easy to replace, and losses suffered are not always easy to overcome. Grief hangs heavily and normal life suddenly becomes hard to go through with the impact of recent events. Rick Reilly addresses this in his essay The Real New York Giants. His nostalgic and somber tone reflect the gravity of the situation, remembering his dear friends who were lost in the tragic event. In his essay The Real New York Giants, Rick Reilly uses imagery, rhetorical questions, and diction to convey the impact of loss on people and how they recover and return to their daily lives without the familiar presence of people they lost.

In the book Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, the author shows a constant topic of loss, which lead me to believe that the theme of Inside Out and Back Again is that throughout our lives, we lose people and sometimes we choose not to accept that loss, but we have to realize that the only way we can truly lose them is if we forget what they lived for. This theme was shown in Inside Out and Back Again through Ha’s memory and loss of her father and the change she experiences and people she loses when she escapes from war. In, my life this theme is shown through the loss of my grandfather and a different kind of loss I experienced when my best friend Mahru moved away to Kazakhstan.

Our Life is a matter of choices. Live well and have faith and it will never go wrong. Our lives can be full of crazy ups and downs that shape our views on how life should be lived. With a similar ideology, author Flannery O’Connor’s depicts her own life struggles using different aspects and details throughout her novels and short stories. O’Connor lived by the basis that life must go on no matter the hardships. In her novels she represented various characters who made wrong choices and due to those choices suffered extreme negative consequences. Despite her struggles, O’Connor made the choice to continue on in her life yet many of her novels contradicted that same idea by having characters in her novels and short stories suffer consequences for making the wrong choices. Because the

“And it hits me, not then, but today, thirty years later. Thirty years too late”(91). Those are the words of Jessamyn Hope when speaking about her experience with regret regarding her life’s decisions, the major theme for her essay. Her essay tells the story about how she failed to overcome two life challenges, one having a direct physical impact and the other having a delayed impact. The essay “The Reverse Dive” by Jessamyn Hope is a narrative essay looking to persuade its reader through the use of analogy, empirical evidence, and appeal to emotion that one should face their challenges while they can to avoid regrets.

In FYS we were taught many ways to live in the world through the stories we read, speeches we listen to, and the projects we did. In the book, Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, and Destiny of The Republic, by Candice Millard, I saw a few prominent themes of how one should live. In these three books I learned about the author 's voice through their writings. I saw how one should live their life. In these books the authors shared common themes through their writings. The authors showed how to live life with forgiveness and live life with faith. Krueger and Potok both showed me through their novels how to forgive someone and they did this by showing that there is a bigger picture in

First and foremost, the fiction and nonfiction aspect comes into play when talking about these two specific books.

Twenty-eight-year-old Anthony Frederico was fired from his dream job as a sports reporter after making the mistake of publishing an article with a racist headline. After years filled with regret over his career-ending mistake, Frederico finds new life as a Catholic priest living by the word of god (Zauzmer 1). The world is teeming with second chances and forgiveness, which is a recurring theme in the novel, The Other Wes Moore and the classic, The Scarlet Letter. The theme of second chances is supported throughout these narratives using the literary elements of imagery and stream of consciousness.

In the midst of conflict, two characters from different books lead a similar life. Kenan, a middle age man is trying to survive the siege upon his city. Paul, a boy not old enough to understand the concept of money competing for his mother’s affection.

Despair sometimes becomes the basis of inspiration in which we live out our lives. The "City of One: A Memoir" by Francine Cournos is a testament to this notion by basing her desire to study medicine and psychoanalytic as a result of her wanting to understand her mother’s death. "City of One: A Memoir" is a story of triumph and inspiration through the notion that while an individual’s life may be difficult there is always something greater to live for. Francine Cournos life gives insight into how vicious separation within the attachment cycle can be and while early attachment theorists may say one thing about how it can affect the way we function later in life there is always a chance to stand against it.

In the aftermath of a horrific experience, it is not uncommon for a survivor to feel guilty about their survival. The most difficult thing for survivors can be finding the ability to move beyond what has happened and look toward the future. An individual is often shaped by their past experiences. If ensuing guilt is not dealt with, however, the past can hinder the ability to achieve in the present. In Art Spielgelman’s MAUS II, Vladek and Art struggle to live in the present and are laden with guilt from their pasts. When not properly dealt with, guilt can become an overpowering emotion, governing decisions and depleting self motivation. To move successfully past debilitating guilt one often must learn to be accepting of the past and

“Anything coming back to life hurts (Beloved, P.42).” A quote by Amy Denver to perfectly summarize rememory. The idea of "rememory" is expressed in the novel Beloved by the past being captured to show how it leaves emotional scars. Again and again, the characters fight a battle to forget their past, while choosing to focus only on the good to block out their mistakes. A constant theme though the novel are the characters facing the past of slavery and sins, to move on to the future.

This report is based on the best-selling graphic novel Maus, written by renowned American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. The book was originally published in 1986 by Pantheon Books. The anomalous novel depicts the life and story of Art Speigelman’s Polish born parents - Vladek and Anja Speigelman and how they survived the Holocaust. In his novel, the Jews are portrayed as mice, the Poles as pigs, and Germans as cats. The story alternates between the parents’ struggles and the present day strained relationship between Vladek Speigelman and his son, including the suicide of Art’s mother when he was 20 years old and its effect on them.

The short story “Save as Many as You Ruin” (2007) is written by Simon Van Booy, a British-American writer born in 1975. As human-beings we all make life-changing mistakes throughout life. Each choice we make comes with each their consequences. Perhaps, we might regret choices we made in our past. Contrary, we might as well regret the choices we did not make. Sometimes, life can be unkind and people have a tendency giving up before even trying. A lifetime is not forever and sometimes there are no second chances. However, in some cases, the human-being is blessed with a second chance, which exactly occurs to the main character in this story. He is granted a second chance and seizes the chance in order to save what he previously has ruined.