...transpired, the graphic novel "Maus" by art Spigelian, details his father, Vladek's survival through the horrors of the holocaust. Deeply scarred from everything that has happened, what remains of his personality is now a pitiable product of all that he is been through. Vladek survival of the holocaust has a lot to do with his own resourcefulness and actions, these helped him through the horrors of the war and now are part of him, his reluctance to waste anything is a testament to this. Vladek's constant insistence of having Art staying with may be due to a fear of losing more people close to him. Not all of Valdek's personality arose from the holocaust. We can see glimpses if his former self from what he does. Vladek's personality is heavily influenced by his sufferings in the holocaust, carrying much of what it took to survive in the holocaust into a peaceful society where such skill were no longer needed. Suffering much more than most people he feels that suffering of others do not compare to his as his, such as the time where he scoffed at Art's friends. During the holocaust food was scarce, to survive one must save everything he has and waste nothing, Vladek did so during the holocaust but also seems to do just as much "Ever since Hitler [he] [doesn't] want to waste a crumb", much to the annoyance of everyone around him. Much of the survival of Vladek and Anja was due to his own actions and skill. He had trust in his own ability which helped him and Anja survive the war...
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...In Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman presents not only his father’s Holocaust narrative but also his own personal narrative, especially with regards to his relationship with Vladek. Readers learn that Artie and Vladek do not always get along, and there is a palpable tension between them. Vladek seems frugal and argumentative, while Artie appears self-centered and uncaring. In both cases, the characters’ faults are not glossed over. They are portrayed realistically, with positive and negative traits on full display. These portrayals accomplish two different goals for Spiegelman: one, they emphasize Artie’s interest in accuracy as opposed to sentimentality, and two, they allow the audience to discover Artie’s own personal trauma—namely,...
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...Effects of the Holocaust on Art Second generation survivors are the offspring of the survivors of the Holocaust. Though, these individuals are not directly impacted by the trauma of the Holocaust they are considered to have acquired the scars without the wounds (Albeck 1994). In the graphic novels Maus I and II by Art Speigelman, Art tells the tale of his father Vladek who is a survivor of the Holocaust. Throughout the novels, Art makes references or portrays within the comic how this has affected himself in one way or another. By constructing the panels in a way that shows how one event is connected to or lead to the other: the text demonstrates that Art has experienced some psychological scarring from the Holocaust as a second generation survivor. In a broader statement, the Holocaust has had a psychological and cultural effect on its survivors. In a television interview titled, “The Holocaust through the Eyes of a Maus” with Art Speigelman: Art states that the purpose of this graphic novel was to recite his father’s story as a survivor of the Holocaust. Art mentions that Maus is about the past and the present intertwining irrevocably and permanently. One of Art’s intentions were to gain a relationship with his father. Through this process of coaching Vladek, trying to collect information about the events that occurred he gained a relationship as interviewer/interviewee. Multiple situations throughout the novels Maus I and Maus II, Art indicates that the Holocaust has been the...
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...Kenny Smith April 20th, 2003 The role of men in society has been a vital. Men were subjected to the same inhumane and horrifying events that happened during the Holocaust. When one thinks of a man, you think of father, solider and other manly things. A great deal of pride comes along with being and man. Along with pride, testosterone, intensity, and all sorts of other factors key into the characteristics of men. However, the Holocaust completely stripped men of most of these characteristics. The Holocaust did not allow men to be men. Holocaust art, the “Tale of the Sprinter” by Sudeep Pagedar, and Vladek Spiegelman in the memoirs Maus by Art Spiegelman are examples of how men suffered during the Holocaust and the amount of empathy produced from the suffering of these men. Empathy is the ability to see something from somebody else's point of view and to walk a mile in their shoes if you will. Men are very prideful individuals who are very dominating members of society. The atrocity of the Holocaust has been displayed and expressed through various pieces of art and literature. Famous Holocaust painters like Felix Nussbaum have expressed this atrocity through art. Felix Nussbaum was a prisoner at Auschwitz who died there in 1944. The image to the right is one Nussbaum’s paintings that survived the Holocaust. Besides the man sitting on this wooden box, you see two other men in the rear who appear to be using the bathroom. The condition that these men were forced to live in...
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...Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale—And Here My Troubles Began The Holocaust was one of the worst epidemics in the entire world. Many people were killed, more importantly the Jewish community, with millions dead. Families were torn and never mended. Among these families were the Spiegleman’s. Art Spiegleman was the son in the family who wrote about his father’s experience in the Holocaust. Maus I and Maus II are his two works of art that share historical information and his personal struggle. Within Maus II, Art talks about the start of his father’s struggles and what will be the beginning of a life changing event. The Holocaust affected victims just as the American Great Depression did its victims. This chapter starts out with Vladek continuously counting his pills, and then Artie and Francoise are staying with him just for a little since Mala left. Vladek keeps everything; he doesn’t want to get rid of anything, even crumbs. In chapter three, page 78 of Maus II, he is trying to give Artie a piece of fruitcake, and Artie refuses, and says he isn’t hungry. Vladek then tells Artie, “So, fine. I can pack the fruitcake in with the cereal for you to take home,” then Artie refuses to let Vladek give him the food because he doesn’t want it. Vladek then says, “I cannot forget it…ever since Hitler I don’t like to throw out even a crumb.” This shows that Vladek is still afraid to get rid of anything, because he is still in fear of the past. They begin talking more about Auschwitz, and how in...
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...that takes the reader on a journey through the holocaust and WWII with Vladek Spiegelman, the Father of Art Spiegelman. Context: Vladek was separated from his wife and was just recently placed in Auschwitz. He was working as a tinman. Vladek is working at the Auschwitz tin shop, though he has never been trained in this profession. During this time, Anja is at Birkenau, a larger camp two miles to the south. Whereas Auschwitz is a camp for workers, Birkenau is just a waiting area for the gas chambers and crematoriums. Thesis: Spiegelman uses Perspective, Imagery and contrast to emphasize what Victimized people go through. Body Paragraph 1 P: Contrast is pivotal in Graphic novels it helps add emphasis to drawings and naturally gives more meaning to many different aspects. Contrast is used a lot in the E: The middle 2 panels. E: Through the use of shading the black background is contrasted to the white characters in the foreground. The black colour is dark and scary and there is a lot of it in this page, it highlights what the Jews were faced with. The pure white Colour of the jews in the foreground highlights the innocence of the Prisoners. This has a positive effect on the reader. By Contrasting the jews and Nazi’s it helps the reader understand the main Character and the plot of the story more. L: This links to the theme because it shows us the innocence of the victimized prisoners during the holocaust. Body paragraph 2 P: Perspective is essential...
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...author and narrator of Maus, and also one of the story's main characters. Born in Stockholm after the Holocaust, he is the only surviving child of Vladek and Anja Spiegelman. His brother, Richieu, died as a child during the war, and his mother committed suicide in 1968 when he was twenty years old. He has a history of mental illness and is married to Francoise, a French woman who converted to Judaism upon their engagement. Maus centers around two primary narratives: Vladek's experiences as a Jew in World War II Poland, and Art's relationship with his aging father. This second narrative follows a period of time in Art's life beginning around 1978 and ending sometime shortly before Vladek's death in 1982.When the story opens, Art lives in New York and does not see his father very often, though he lives only a short distance away in Queens. But as Art begins to draw this story about Vladek's Holocaust experiences, he begins to visit his father more and more frequently. Their relationship is strained, as Vladek's gruff demeanour and unwillingness to spend money routinely infuriate his son. Art is filled with complex feelings towards his father ranging from admiration for his survival in Auschwitz, to frustration towards his aggravating tendencies, and guilt for his own neglect of a father who has lived through so many difficult times.Art also has complex emotions towards the Holocaust. Though he did not live through it personally, he feels that he is constantly affected by it. His father's...
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...characters of his book as mice, cats, pig etc.? 3. Maus 4. What was Vladek like? 5. Vladek is an older person with a very précised in what he want and he son see this as being annoying. He feels you need to be aware of everything. He does not trust people specially his second wife Mala. He has hearth problems and he is diabetic. Sometime he used his sickness to his advantage. 6. During the Holocaust, he exhibited a spectacular resourcefulness, work ethic, and presence of mind that often enabled him to secure food, shelter, and safety for himself and his family. He was a shrewd businessman, and in the most troubling times he saved everything of use. In 1978, he still saves everything and tries to exchange those things that he no longer needs. Once so resourceful and competent, he is still constantly working on small projects, some of which he is incapable of completing. Vladek's personality is largely dominated by his Holocaust experiences. 7. What do we know of his life before the holocaust? 8. He was a happy bachelor living his life in the small city of Czestochowa. He used to sell textiles. Vladek was organized person his apartment was small but organized. He met Anja and soon he felt in love with her. When Anja take him to her house to meet her parent, he checks her clothes to see what kind of wife she will be. To his surprise she was organized like him. 9. Vladek marries Art's mother, Anja, in Poland in 1937, only two years before the Nazi...
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...literature * The Holocaust Name: Pooja Nath Entry No: 2009CH10087 Group No: 1 Contents | Chapter | Page Number | | | | 1. | Literature from the Holocaust: An Introduction | 3 | 2. | Piecing Together History: Stories of Survival | 4 | | Map: Nazi Concentration Camps | 4 | 2.a | Before the war | 4 | 2.b | During the war | 5 | 2.c | After the war | 6 | 3 | Maus: Graphics and Symbolism | 6 | 4 | Comparative Analysis: Understanding the Characters | | 4.a | Sophie and Vladek | 8 | 4.b | Sophie and Anja | 9 | 4.c | Nathan Landau and Holocaust survivors | 10 | 4.d | Stingo and Art as narrators | 10 | 5 | Bibliography | 11 | Literature from the Holocaust: An Introduction “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.” Adolf Hitler Official figures tell that six million Jews, two million Poles, one million Serbs, five million Russians were exterminated during World War II – the actual toll of executions by the Nazi Government, can never be estimated. Holocaust was a period of unspeakable horror and infernal ramifications which were not only felt across Europe but also in places like Laos. When I began this term paper, it was meant to be a study of the literature pertaining to this period of Nazi regime in Poland during World War II. What it turned out to be was a account of implacable and starkly real evil. A subject that has inspired countless movies, novels, real-life accounts, memoirs and poems, the holocaust continues to haunt...
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...One’s sense of identity is vital to who they are. It helps them connect with their family and have a place in life. Traumatic events such as war can alter one’s sense of identity. In books such as “Night”, “The Book Thief”, and “Maus”, we can see the effects of war on individuals and how it has altered their lives. War can cause one to question themselves, present day stresses, and could build one’s sense of identity. To begin with, the effect of war can make question one’s sense of identity. This is shown throughout Elie Wiesel’s “Night”. When Elie and his father are first taken into the camps, they are determined to stick together and make it out. As the conditions worsen, Elie starts questioning his religious beliefs. Once Elie saw the...
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...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. Anja is thought to be Artie’s only parent as she is the one that raised him and made him who he is. The dedication to Anja acts as a medium through which Artie tries to apologise to his mother for the grief that he caused her and also a way to thank her. In the Prisoner on The Hell Planet, Art reveals the last moments that he shared with his mother and how all he said to her was “Sure Ma!” in a dismissive tone. This seemingly rude gesture towards his mother wasn’t Spiegelman but rather the LSD induced depression and anxiety. Despite this, Spiegelman was berated for the way he had treated her and this added to what he described as an overwhelming guilt where it was him against the world. While driving to Vladek’s, Art reveals that he used...
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...There have been many re-tells of Holocaust survivor stories. For example, Maus II and “Life is Beautiful” are two excellent versions of Holocaust victims experiences. In these traumatic scenarios both stories shared a unified message of appreciation and never giving up hope. In “Life is Beautiful” Guido convinces his son Joshua that their time in the Concentration Camp was a game, assuring him they would be reunited with Dora (Joshua’s mother) and return back home, presenting hope. In Maus II Vladek was infected with Typhus and struggled to even stand on his two feet, but Vladek had hope throughout his sickness which eventually led to his freedom from the Concentration Camp and the reunion of him and his wife Anja. Another important unified message demonstrated was appreciation, in “Life is Beautiful” Guido lives every moment with his son as if it is his last, appreciating the time he spends with Joshua. In Maus II after Vladek survives the Holocaust he appreciates every piece of food and money. For instance, Vladek refuses to throw away even a crumb of food and did not allow his son to use his wooden matches in order to save them. There are many messages “Life is beautiful” and Maus II demonstrate but in my opinion I believe appreciating what one has and never giving up hope are the most valuable. The unified messages presented in both “Life is beautiful” and Maus II can be applied to not only my life, but everyones. In todays society most people forget how much food is cherished...
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...book that shows Art during his childhood and from that scene we can begin to realize why it is that the Holocaust plays such a dominant role in his psyche. Both page 5 and 6 show how it is like being a kid who parents went through the Holocaust. Art breaks his roller-skate and has his feelings hurt because his friends leave him behind. This experience is fairly ordinary, most common parents when confronted with this kind of situation would offer support and comfort their injured child. However, when Artie tells his dad what happened, Vladek immediately compares the situation to the Holocaust. Moreover, it seems that very likely that he compared every situation to the Holocaust, consequently, cementing those events in the mind of his son. So the first two pages illustrate not only the reasons for Arts’ continuing obsession with the Holocaust, but also the fact that the events of such tragedy are never far from Vladek own thoughts. In chapter one we can clearly understand Art-Vladek relationship, they are not particularly close and they don’t have any spontaneous manner around each other. Guiltiness is also one major theme in their relationship; Artie feels that he doesn’t treat his father as well as he should. Evidence of this guiltiness appears on the very first panel of the first page, he says. “I hadn’t seem him in a long time – we weren’t that close.” Another two scenes that pretty much help to understand their relationship is first when Vladek throws his son coat away...
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...10, 2015 If Humans are Animals, are Animals Humans? The very dramatic and dark, graphic novel, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, by Art Spiegelman invites us readers to a hands on account of a Polish Jew’s horrific journey through the unforgettable Holocaust. Maus is not the ordinary comic that you would typically read, but instead, exemplifies another level of genre that fights the “norms” of a comic. Art Spiegelman takes his audience outside of their comfort zone and creatively imbeds a plot twist. For example, as stated in, Understanding Comics, McCloud simply states, “Comics were those bright, colorful magazines filled with bad art, stupid stories and guys in tights” (McCloud 2). Yet, we observe nothing of this sort of depiction either through imagery or language. Within this graphic novel, there are harsh depictions of Jews, Poles and Germans. The careful detail to language and cruel words are loaded with intense tone. As the readers, we encounter several historical points-of-view that Vladek Spiegelman presents: the pre-Holocaust, the Holocaust, and the post-Holocaust that he unearths, layer by layer. He engages his readers through his vivid traumatic encounters along with the sad misfortunes that took place during the Holocaust. Art Spiegelman’s audience can be directed towards those who are engaged by historical autobiographies and, equally so, an audience who seeks to revel in the pain and suffering of others; also he provides a way to understand catharsis. Art Spiegelman...
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...I am going to write about the life of Vladek. I will show what his life was like before the war, how he changed as he experienced war. In the first chapter he finds himself in a strange relationship with Lucia Greenberg. He doesn’t really seem to have any interest for her, but yet stays with her for three or four years (15-17). This shows that he doesn’t really like to be alone but is still confident that things were always going to work out. He moved on to meet Anja, they had a really strong relationship and Vladek really took good care of her. They had a son, which caused a lot of stress on Anja and she became depressed (33). He then receives a letter from the government about the draft for the Polish Reserves. The fact of being drafted...
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