Guilt In Maus

In the story of Maus, guilt is portrayed in many different ways throughout the entirety of the story. We not only see guilt through Vladek as a post survivor of the Holocaust but also through Artie as he learns what happened during the times that his dad suffered through his past. Does the evidence of guilt from the characters in the story of Maus negatively affect the relationship between Artie and Vladek? If so does this contribute to the way they communicate, making it hard for Artie to truly know what happened during the Holocaust? The story of Maus is a book based off a book being written by Artie from the experience that Vladek went through. Sometimes the relationship they have, makes it hard for Artie to tell a story without being too biased and basing it off of emotions towards his father.

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.

The Maus books are award-winning comics written by Art Spiegelman. They are the non-fictional stories of Art and his father, Vladek. In the book, Art Spiegelman is a writer, planning to portray Vladek’s life as a Jewish man during WWII Europe in comic book form. While Art gathers information for his story through visits to his father’s house, much is learned about their relationship and individual personalities. Through this analysis, Maus becomes an example of how the Holocaust has effected the lives of survivors and their children for decades. Survivors suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which impairs their ability to live normal lives and raise their children. By

In chapter one of book II Art reveals that he feels extremely guilty about not having to go through the Holocaust like his father did and says "Somehow, I wish I had been in Auschwitz with my parents so I could really know what they lived through! …I guess it's some form of guilt about having had an easier life than they did"(Spiegelman, MausII,16).

After the Holocaust on May 8th, 1945, a book called Maus was released which is revolved around survival. The author, Art Spiegelman intended the story was to reflect upon his past and express his feelings world how he had to deal life was at the time.The book is a story of Art’s father named Vladek, he tells his point-of-view to the world to show multiple struggles he had to withstand. The theme of Art Spiegelman’s book Maus is survival; Art Spiegelman shows the theme of survival by using tone, mood, and point-of-view throughout the graphic novel. Vladek is the main character of Maus and shares his point of view. Vladek tells a true story about how he survived the Holocaust and the things he had to accomplish to make it through alive. This book is based on a true story of what had happened during the Holocaust.

Art and Vladek have not been able to connect as much as they would like because of their contentious relationship. When discussing their relationship to Pavel, Art’s avuncular therapist, Art says, “Mainly I remember arguing with him... and being told I couldn’t do anything as well as he could” (II: 44). When Art was young, he never had a chance to truly consociate with Vladek. Vladek was too affected by the Holocaust to become close with Art, and this engendered Art and Vladek’s distant relationship. Since Art has a distant paternal relationship, it forces him to be more independent when Art could have learned a great deal from Vladek. Since they are not close, they are both losing an important part of their life, and this will have a negative effect on both of them. It also is evident that neither worked towards becoming close, as they still misunderstand each other and argue often. During an argument, Vladek says, “Always you’re so lazy! Every job we should do as to do it the right way.” Then, Art replies, “Lazy?! Damn it, you’re driving me nuts!” (II: 21). They continuously have arguments that eradicate any attempt to create a better relationship. Their irreparable differences seem to drive these arguments. When Vladek and Art approach their differences with arguments, it creates a significant burden on their relationship. This burden has caused them to become distant. Since Art is distant with Vladek, he has and is neglecting a great deal of wisdom which can be crucial for him, especially since Vladek survived an enormous genocide of the Jews. Vladek can teach Art to become resourceful, adaptive, and most of all, grateful. These traits can help Art to become a better person in a time where there is no holocaust for Art or anyone else to

In the novel Kokoro, Natsume Sōseki uses his character Sensei to represent how guilt can weigh too heavily on a person. Throughout the story, Sensei's interactions with the Narrator, both verbal and nonverbal occurrences, showcase how guilt leads to other negative emotional experiences, such as loneliness and misery. Sensei's internal struggle with guilt shapes the entirety of his adult life and the unfolding of the events in the book. This paper aims to show the implications that Sensei’s guilt has upon his life, especially his relationships with others.

Comics exist to expose the ethnic representations that seek to control the development of collective perceptions, memories and emotions and especially fear by investigating the techniques through which this control is maintained. Maus I is a true account of a Holocaust survivor, Vladek Spiegelman, and his experiences as a young Jew during the horrors leading up to the confinement in Auschwitz. Maus II is about Vladek recounting his own history to his son Art

The books Maus I and Maus II are biographical comic books written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman. In these books Spiegelman tells his father’s story of survival through the horrors of the Holocaust. Spiegelman simultaneously presents an inner story of the conflict between him and his father, Vladek Spiegelman as both he and his father try to come to terms with the past, and work to have a normal life. This feelings of tension and conflict suffered by Vladek and Art in Maus I and II is caused by a transitional and rebounding feeling of survivor’s guilt caused by Vladek’s passing down of his own guilt, Art’s guilt of neglect, and Art’s attempts to come to terms with his own guilt of survival.

Maus is a graphic novel that features Art Spiegelman as he interviews his father, Vladek, about his experience during the Holocaust. His father, Vladek, is elderly and has a troubled marriage. He is a very frugal person and does not like to spend his money. The book goes into detail about Vladek’s life as he goes from being wealthy to living in poverty. He goes through two marriages and raises his son. The author shows the characters in the book as Jewish mice, the Polish people as pigs, and the Nazis as cats. This is to dehumanize the tragic events of the Holocaust. Vladek’s will to live is strong and this allows him to live through the horrors of concentration camps. He was separated from his wife, nearly starves to death, watches his friends

Anja’s life, much like Vladek’s and most holocaust survivors is one of horror and misery. Anja committed suicide in 1968 when Art was age 20, this would leave Art feeling empty, shallow, numb, and angry, and then later guilty, as Art remembered the last time that he spoke to his mother, she asked him if he still loved him as Art would turn away and say “Sure ma”, while he felt “resentful of the way she tightened the umbilical cord” (Spiegelman, 104). Many of Art’s and Anja’s issues stem from the death of Richieu. Anja clearly has unresolved issues about motherhood and likely feels as if she got her son killed, and otherwise Art feeling like he can never live up to his brother, as he is just an artist, which his father will never let him forget. Furthermore Art feels guilty that his mother’s story will never be heard as Vladek burnt her diaries, an act in which Art felt was murder, much like he believed the suicide of his mother killed Art

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.

Abstract:     Guilt has physiological and psychological effects. The psychological effects can include something bad, such as feelings of worthlessness or inferiority. Guilt can also serve in a positive way as a motivator. A person may suffer physiological effects such as insomnia and physical pain.

The comic book memoir The Complete Maus, written by Art Spiegelman and narrated by both Spiegelman father and son, is a unique novel because it is the first of its kind. The novel received a decent amount of varying reactions from the public but was recognized and rewarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for the originality of the book. A comic strip genre mixed with the memoir of the holocaust, from Art’s father’s first-hand experience, throws a whole different wave of emotions and feelings about the book’s content towards the reader. The use of a comic strip novel with this particular topic and mix of genres balanced the biographical, autobiographical and historical missions that he set to achieve when developing this novel perfectly. He is