Vladek Relationship

Vladek is depicted as a hero who shows countless acts of selflessness and generosity and a villain who is, “opinionated, tight-fisted, and self-involved”. (Brown 6) Art Spiegelman’s book Maus, tells the story of how Vladek and Anja Spiegelman survived the Holocaust. Spiegelman illustrates Vladek as a man who single-handily saved his family from starvation and Auschwitz in World War I. During Spiegelman’s interviews, we get an idea of Vladek’s darker side since the war ended. Mala to speak of her astonishment and disgust in Vladek’s character. Which leaves us to question how truthfully these stories are being told. In the end, Vladek’s unsuccessful heroism is a constant reminder of his failure; survival with Anja was always easier, after her death, Vladek pushes everyone away with his “guilt and manipulation” (Brown 7)

Early in this graphic novel the reader encounters a tension between Vladek and his son, Artie. In the opening sequence the reader is told that Artie has not visited his father in two years, even though they lived very close, and details the status of their relationship. There are two types of guilt in this novel; survivors guilt which laid the foundation for family guilt.

    In the face of Morrie's overwhelming compassion and tenderness, Ivan Ilych presents an opposite lifestyle. After a pleasantly carefree childhood he turned towards ambition and pursued an ever-larger salary and an ever-increasing social rank. Ivan lived without values and without attachments, easily moving between cities and jobs. He cared little for the great inconvenience of his family, and even less for his wife: "he hate[d] her with his whole soul" (Ivn, 139). Commitment was a prison to be avoided at all costs, a detriment to his proper and official existence. Genuine love touched Ivan only rarely and certainly not during the dying moments when he needed it the most.

Back during the Holocaust Vladek didn’t have much, so now he wants to have good things that will last him. What Artie hasn’t yet understood is that his father from Holocaust learned to appreciate the things he had. So to teach Artie this, Vladek uses tough love by throwing out his coat and giving him his own. This makes Artie really upset because he doesn’t understand the concept of the love his father is trying to give him. Another time we see this is on pg.

To further exacerbate the situation, a typical father son relationship is all about bonding, trust and understanding each other. Seemingly he's not able to do so because of the distress overpowering his brain, he continues to be insensitive to Art. Art can't fathom Vladek and he starts to lose hope by saying to Francois his women, "I mean, I can't even make any sense out of my relationship with my father..how am I supposed to make sense out of Auschwitz?..the Holocaust?" (MAUS 2 14) Art later on start to get the sense of hope again and make better out of worse and asked Vladek questions of his mother Anja. Art finds out that her "diaries" (MAUS 1 159) we're destroyed purposely by Vladek. Not only does Art feel hopeless because his mother is gone but now he can't even share her voice with the world today. There was no way of expressing her

Vladek has a dream that he will be freed on Parshas Truma. The dream comes true and the day also commemorates his marraige to Anja an the birth of Artie.

It shows how frugal Vladek is when Mala makes a lot of comments about how Vladek has a lot of money saved up but never spends any of it, like not buying her a comb. The author also shows how frugal Vladek is when he refuses to spend money on necessary items. When he is an older man he becomes pretty wealthy but due to the Holocaust his mind is greatly impacted by it leaving him in the mindset of being frugal. Another example of Vladek’s frugality is when Vladek tries to return half eaten boxes of cereal.

Questions to Consider 1. Describe life in Auschwitz. What was life like for Vladek, and others, as they struggled to survive? Life in Auschwitz is the equivalent of a never-ending nightmare with little of hope of escaping.

When one cannot deal with guilt within oneself, the feeling of guilt can be transferred to affect another. Art struggles throughout his life to understand why he never had a great relationship with his father. After trying to write with no luck, Art heads to his regular appointment with Pavel, another Holocaust survivor. Pavel suggests that maybe “(Vladek) took his guilt out on YOU, where it was safe… on the REAL survivor.” (7, p 44) Vladek felt guilty about surviving the Holocaust, but instead of accepting it,

The holocaust has effected more lives than anybody could imagine, the tragedy has not only affected those who were there or primarily affected but those of every generation to come after that. This illustrated by Art and Vladek’s inability to get along, Vladek’s personality quirks, Anja’s suicide, Art’s guilt, are all factors that contributed to the rocky family relationship the Spieglemans had, and are all due to the horrors of the holocaust. The horrors of which did not end when the Nazi’s were defeated in WW2, rather continuing to have an impact on further generations, in which all of their stories will never be

Recently illegal immigration has become a very pressing issue among people. Many people around the borders are being greatly affected by the issue and think immediate action needs to be taken to put a stop to the issue. The Documentary Border War: Battle Over Illegal Immigration takes a stand on the issue using many examples of pathos, ethos, and logos to try and persuade people that illegal immigration is a very serious issue and we need to put a stop to it. This documentary follows the lives of people who have been affected by illegal immigration, and explains how they feel about the issue. Another way that people can look at the issue of illegal immigration is through the eyes of the immigrants, and the reasons why they might be trying

Between 1933 and 1945, 11 million people were murdered in the Holocaust, of this six million were Jews and of this, 1.1 million were children. Of the nine million Jews who lived in Europe before the Holocaust, an estimated 2/3 were murdered. Despite all these odds and statistics, Vladek Spiegelman managed to survive, and then share his story with his son, so he could share their story with the world. Another reason that Vladek Spiegelman is a good subject to write a biography on is, his personality. He seems to have to sides to him, Vladek Spiegelman before war and Vladek Spiegelman post - war. We get to see the impact and affect the Holocaust had on it’s victims, with our own eyes. Moreover, Vladek Spiegelman is an inspiration and a reminder of the potential dark side to human nature. Thus, writing a biography on Mr. Spiegelman is informative, moving and above all, inspirational.

The loves of my life, most beautiful people I have come across with and will always truly

Ivan Ilych’s marriage to Praskovya Fedorovna is not built on true love, instead it is built on Ivan Ilych once again, trying to fit in with society. To prove that Ivan Ilych did not get married based off true love the narrator says, “Ivan Ilych might have aspired to a more brilliant match, but even this was good. He had his salary, and she, he hoped, would have an equal income.” (Tolstoy) This quote proves that Ivan Ilych was conforming to society and he married his wife just because it was the right thing to do since everyone else was doing it which is shown when the narrator says “Ivan might have aspired to a more brilliant match” meaning that he was not completely satisfied with his wife. Ivan Ilych did not look at the deeper meaning of marriage, he only looked at the materialistic and physical things that came along with his wife which is why they both did not live a happy life together. When Ivan Ilych got ill the narrator says, “her husband had a dreadful temper and made her life miserable, she began to feel sorry for herself, and the more she pitied herself the more she hated her husband. She began to wish he would die” (Tolstoy). This expresses the hate that Praskovya Fedorovna felt towards her husband due to the fact that she realized Ivan Ilych never cared for her or her family and he only cared about his social status. Ivan Ilych was a bad husband because of his immorality and thus his wife is insurgent against him. Here,

The death penalty has been carried out in several ways throughout its existence which include Lethal Injection, electrocution, Gas chamber, Hanging, and Firing squad. There has always been the thought of just which way is the best way to put someone to death. Lethal Injection has been the newest form of execution for the death penalty. It was “first adopted by the U.S. state of Oklahoma in 1977” to replace all other forms of execution because “it was considered cheaper and more humane” (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991).” During a lethal-injection procedure, a prisoner is strapped to a gurney” where three drugs are put into the person’s body (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991). The first drug is “sodium thiopental, a barbiturate anesthetic, which is supposed to induce deep unconsciousness in about 20 seconds.” (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991) The second drug is “pancuronium bromide, a total muscle relaxant that, given in sufficient dosages, paralyzes all voluntary muscles, thereby causing suffocation” (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991). The last drug is “potassium chloride, which induces irreversible cardiac arrest” (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991). The result is “death usually occurring less than two minutes after the final injection. In truth, lethal injection is a better way to give someone the death penalty” (Ecenbarger, 1994 and Weisberg, 1991). Although recently there has been much controversy over lethal injections becoming “botched” to where it