Comparing Maus I And Maus II

Spiegelman has presented his father’s memoirs in a creative way by portraying racial groups as animals and by making the story into a graphic novel. By presenting it in comic form, Art Spiegelman is able to better capture the emotions of those in the graphic novel. Not a dedication in the conventional sense, the book eternalizes the memoirs of Vladek and those around him.

Vladek shows heroism in life threatening situations when everyone else has given up. After receiving a letter from the Polish government, Vladek leaves his family to fight the war against Nazi, Germany. After facing the terrible conditions of a P.O.W. camp and the back-breaking work of the “volunteer labor assignments” (Spiegelman 54) Vladek returns home to his family only to find their situation in shambles. In Vladek’s efforts to bring in money when there is none to be made; he constantly risks his life so the Zylberberg’s can live a modest life, compared to the luxury they were used to. When the Jewish families are forced to move to Stara Sosnowiec Vladek

The tone in Maus is depression; this is shown when Vladek tells the story in his perspective and reveals what kind of events occurred during the Holocaust. This relates to survival because even though Vladek had a feeling of discouragement through his experiences, he still managed to survive. Vladek explains when he was captured as a war prisoner and what they gave them to eat. “The other prisoners get two meals a day. We Jews get only a crust of bread and a little soup.”(Spiegelman, 55) This shows how hard it was for the Jews and how hopeless Vladek’s story was. Another heartbreaking part of the story was when Vladek had to work hard and act as slaves to the

Many characters’ lives are enveloped by a mental issue and they are a representation for these issues. Art covers these multiple issues. The Holocaust affected millions of people and of these millions, Vladek, Anja, and Mala all were left with

Malouf tells stories within the story to illustrate the value of storytelling in looking at what it is to be human, qualities such as grief, paternal love, fear, heroism, loyalty, pride, dignity, etc. He takes a critical moment out of the Iliad and looks at universal human values and lessons to be learnt in times of deprivation and loss.

The main characters are people who want to survive but there is a long and difficult way in front of them which they will have to conquer. However, they have already adapted to this kind of life and they are survivors. This page is interesting and admirable because of the middle panel where the readers can see Anja and Vladek from behind going in the unknown direction. They are singled out because other survivors seem to know where they are going because one of the people says: “We’ll be hiding at this address. When you find a safe place, try to contact us, Vladek” (Spiegelman 125). The survivors care about the well-being of one another. Anja and Vladek are depicted from the upper angle which implies their vulnerability and the fact that they have no shelter. There is nowhere to go and the only path is through the road in the shape of the swastika. It is clear that they are the survivors of the Holocaust, but it does not mean that they have solved all of their problems. They are alive and they have to find new life now which is going to be difficult. It can be observed from the panel that they are elegant and brave people and they are Art’s parents. They are holding hands, because their intimacy is all they have and they are probably wearing all of the clothes they possess. It is obvious that they were people who were not poor, but the Holocaust happened and made them lose their

The focal point of this report will be on the content of poem 64 and how it, reflects Catullus himself and his relationship with Lesbia. Further, I will examine the mirroring of characters and emotions and ambiguity of the poem as it stands in relation to his other works.

This essay will explore the function of the narrative which helps the readers to perceive the meaning of the narrative. It will do so in terms of the point of view, narrative voice as well as the structure of the narrative. Furthermore, the setting of the story will be another focus which exploits the generic convention which reflects the social anxiety behind the story at the time. I

Second, the choice of a comic format serves as a vital aspect in the reader’s understanding of the visual society and making awareness through generations as more attuned to the image than to the word. In Vladek's world, being and living as a human meant living in fear. Vladek escapes the fear of death for a time through the intercession of an S.S. officer who wanted to learn English from him and in return provided him with some protection (78). This

(pg. 39, The Perversion of Loss) He feels guilty about having been born after the Holocaust, and that his parents had to live through it, while his life has been easy. This strains Art and pushes him further away from his father, when he asks himself which of his parents he would save from a concentration camp he tends to pick his mother. This guilt is visible when Art is talking to his wife and tells her that he “somehow wishes he could have be in Auschwitz with his parents, so he could really know what they lived through.”

In Maus I: a Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History, the plot is not linear and sequential because it is a story within a story. It starts off by Artie coming over to his father house to visit and then start talking about his father's, Vladek, story. The characters are introduced and the story begins with Vladek having a good life, getting married, having a child, and owning a factory. The the rising action comes in with Germany taking over Poland and Vladek is sent to work where he almost got killed, and was a prisoner of war. There are also a lot more complications he and his family went through. The book is mainly all about the rising actions before the climax which is when Vladek and Anja are sent and separated

Although Art can’t feel exactly the same guilt his father felt, Art still feels guilt for not having suffered as his parents did. Art never had to live through what his parents did; therefore he does not know what the Holocuast was like. Sitting at his desk, Art proclaims “At least fifteen foreign editions are coming out. I’ve gotten 4 serious offers to turn my book into a T.V. special or movie. In May 1968 my mother killed herself. (She left no note)” (5, p 41). The disjointed nature of Art’s statement portrays his guilt in the sense that no matter what he accomplishes, his life will be insignificant in comparison to his parents’. Because he cannot accept that he will never experience what his parents have, Art has difficulty ever feeling accomplished and instead just feels more guilt. Both Vladek and Art struggle to let go of their pasts as they both find themselves consumed with what has happened rather than what is yet to come.

Art’s choice to include a 2-page prologue before the beginning of the book proper helps to very clearly illustrate the relationship that Art and Vladek have had up until the beginning of the book. Art is abandoned by his friends, and his father attempts to comfort him, however this appears to Art, and therefore the reader, as more of a comparison between Vladek’s experiences during the holocaust and Art’s childhood suffering, especially with the mention of “no food for a week”, which Art has utilised to create a sense of emotional distance, of an incompatibility between the two.

What is meant by this is that the he continues to perform the same behaviors and actions which helped him to survive the concentration camps. He is unwilling to throw anything away, regardless of how small. He collects random pieces of wire that he finds on the road for later use. He also is very meticulous and counts and recounts his pills along with his ledger balance. All of these traits have driven a wedge between him and Art, with Artie visibly frustrated and limiting contact with his father as much as possible. Vladek’s personal trauma is not self contained but bleeds out and infects surrounding family members, especially his son. As Artie documents the horrors of his father’s experiences the line is blurred between father and son and the relationship is transformed into a therapist/patient dynamic. Recounting his life operates as a type of talk therapy and places Artie in the position of counselor where he develops vicarious

Vladek too appears to feel guilty about having survived the Holocaust. As Spiegelman’s guilt continues he visits a man named Pavel and the two discuss the guilt and what it means to be a Holocaust "survivor." Pavel suggests that Vladek himself actually felt a sense of guilt for having survived the Holocaust whilst so many of his friends and family did not. And maybe Vladek took this guilt out on Art the "real survivor" as Pavel calls him.