Vladek In Maus

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In Maus by Art Spiegelman, Artie is trying to capture and understand his father, Vladek, and what happened to him in the Holocaust. Although Vladek tells a lot of the stories to art, he does not want it to be shared with anyone. The holocaust has changed Vladek, as a person, and how he has raised Artie. Because of the Holocaust, Vladek and Artie struggled with the relationship because of Vladek’s medical needs, his stinginess with money, and his emotional isolation of those he has lost his life.
As Vladek gets older, his health gets worse. As his health gets worse, he needs lots of medication and assistance at all times. Vladek has many health issues that need to be taken care of with medication. “Six pills for the heart, one for diabetes, maybe 25 or 30 vitamins” (Spiegelman pg. 26 Maus I ). The quote shows how many health issues Vladek has, and how important it is for someone to take care of him. However Art does not see much of this, and refuses to stay and watch his father. We see that our visit to his father “regularly “ but is clear he is only doing it to hear more of his father story. …show more content…

Vladek’s wife, mala, notices that he does not give her enough money to spend, only $50 a month. “Look! He grabs paper towels from the restrooms so he won’t have to buy napkins and tissues” (Spiegelman pg. 132 Maus I ). This quote shows how stingy Vladek can be with his money. Even though he has thousands in the bank, he saves every penny. It shows that during the Holocaust, you had to save everything to survive. It shows that even after the event, he still carries on the trait. For not being able to use his money to hire a full-time nurse, it clearly affects the relationship between Art and

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