Art Spiegelman's Maus - Prisoner on the Hell Planet - A Case History

Alexie's father was the reason he began to read which later became his passion. His father loved to read, and even though they did not have a ton of money, his father went out of his way to stock up on books. One-day Alexie decided to pick up one of his father's books and taught himself how to read. Before that, he had never read a book and could not even understand the words. A paragraph intrigued him; each house on the reservation was a paragraph, and each member of his family was a paragraph. The family members were separate people; however, there were still related making all of them together an essay. Then there was the Superman comic book he picked up one day. Although he could not read the panels of words the illustrations told the story. He would make up a story to go with the pictures and pretend to read the panels. Looking back at these times Alexie realized how lucky he was growing up with all these resources to teach

Elaine and Robert, Mattie's two unmarried children, along with other family and friends, are encouraging her to be what they expect a seventy-eight year old woman to be. They talk about how she needs to get rest because she is slowing down and can't keep going as steady as she seems to think. When she decided to try and help a young juvenile, Wesley Benfield, become a better person by taking him to church and offering him to stay the night with her, Robert thought that Mattie was sick.

Andie is a high school senior that has only a father because her mom abandoned them. Andie is a very talented girl because she makes her own designs of clothes. She has two friends whom she hangs around with, which is Duckie and Iona. Steff a rich boy confronts Andie as she is getting in her car trying to smooth

Mattie is a strong self confident mechanic, she pushes through the hardships and helps her friends do the same. Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, with two flat tires, little to no money, and a small childtoddler given to her by a stranger. UMattie takes a look upon seeing Taylor,M having a rough time, Mattieshe invites her inside for some coffee and juice. (Chapter 3) When Mattie first meets Taylor, she sees that she is

As he grew up to become a writer, we see pain in the story he tells. “I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life” (pg.18). Alexie wanted to be someone greater than what others expected him to be. People would put him down constantly, but he fought back just as much. He tried to save himself from the stereotypes of being just another dumb Indian. He had more determination to prove others wrong when it came too exceeding in reading to further excel in his daily life.

Alexie's father was the reason he began to read which later became his passion. His father loved to read, and even though they did not have a ton of

Throughout the novel, Artie displays anger and resentment towards Vladek and Anja. During this time, he describes the extreme guilt and anger that he feels towards his mother's suicide. He states that "I could avoid the truth no longer...I felt angry, I felt numb!" (100, Spiegelman) He explains that he feels like a prisoner to his overwhelming guilt, due to the fact that he rejected Anja when she desperately needed love. After learning that Vladek burned his mother's diary, Artie is devastating and his anger, heartbreak and guilt is only amplified. Because the last connection to his mother has been destroyed, he lashes out in anger at Vladek and calls him calls a "murderer” (158, Spiegelman). This contributes to Artie's overall tension and leaves him unable to accept full closure. However, as the book progresses, he slowly begins to express the pain and intense anger he feels towards his

At this point, Alexandra had spent numerous days and nights alone, those days when she only had her little brother, Emil, to accompany her; however, he eventually went off to school and to pursue his own career. As a result, Alexandra was left to confide in her neighbor Marie who didn’t quite understand her, herself, and her dreams.

The amorous life of Janie would decide the majority of the affairs she would find herself in, molding and gradually solidifying her character. Her adolescence was marked by the influences of Nanny. Being her primary caregiver, Nanny’s character and prominence within the life of Janie would prove to influence

Maus has an interesting way in approaching a historical account such as the relationship with his father and the Holocaust. One of the most interesting aspects of Maus is the way in which Spiegelman uses animals to distinguish the various races within the comic

This is one of the strongest panels on the page. On the very top of the panel, Artie’s mother lays naked in a bathtub, which looks like it is full of blood, and on the bottom is says “menopausal depression.” By the looks of this, Artie is trying to find alternatives to why his mother committed suicide one way may have been because of menopausal depression. The next section on the same panel is a group of dead bodies which are assumed to be dead Jews, and underneath the bodies it says “Hitler did it.”

On the last few pages, Artie discovers that his father has suffered another heart attack, and Mala has returned to him. While Artie helps his father, Vladek explains how he and Anja were reunited after the

Morality is adaptable in extreme situations. The Holocaust is an example of what happens to one’s morality when forced to adapt to animalistic behavior in order to survive. Life in Auschwitz required a purging of one’s human dignity for survival. Prisoners were constantly exposed to perpetual dehumanization, which inevitably led to the dehumanization, and restoration of one’s mental, physical, and social adaptation. Because of this, one’s morality begins to erase. It is in the adaptation of living in a merciless world that the line separating right and wrong begins to blur. Primo Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and Art Spiegelman’s Maus, both represent how morality and ethics are challenged in the means of survival.

The book includes thought-provoking black and white images, some displaying Adolf Hitler as a child with his family. He had a younger brother named Alois Jr. who ran away from home at the age of 14 and was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts, his

What I’ve discovered, though, is that there are a lot more of us than I had previously thought. In all actuality, I was pretty sure we were the only ones even sent here in the first place. But, I am commonly left out of the planning so it’s not surprising that I was clueless.