A Comparison Of The Life Of Maus By Vladek Spiegelman
analytical Essay
717 words
The Holocaust is one of the most horrific and gruesome events in world history. It took a great toll on millions of lives in one way or another. One person in particular is Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. Maus, by Art Spiegelman, consists of two main narratives. One narrative occurs during World War II in Poland, and the other begins in the late 1970s in New York. In relation to each other these two narratives portray the past and present.Throughout the novel, we often see Art Spiegelman questioning why his father acts the way he does. Although the war is over, the events of the Holocaust continue to influence the life of Vladek. Why do we allow the past to effect the present? Vladek's personality is largely influenced by his Holocaust experience. In Maus I and II, Vladek was stubborn, selfish, and cheap because of his experiences in the Holocaust.
In the beginning of the book, Vladek is very stubborn. As a reader, you can tell he is the stubborn one in the relationship with his second wife, Mala. The relationship is strained and seemingly entirely lacking love from both ends. For example upon Artie arriving to his father’s home, Vladek makes a fuss about Mala choosing to hang Artie’s coat on a wire hanger. “A wire hanger you give him! I haven’t seen Artie in almost two years..We have plenty wooden hangers.” (Spiegelman, Vol.I, p.11) Vladek stated. Artie made a side note that “they didn’t along.” It makes me question how they ever got married or fell in love in the first place. Leading up to World War II, he exhibits none of these characteristics in his relationship with Anja, his first wife. He is kind, caring, wealthy, and charming. One day, Vladek and Anja ran into Anja’s director from school. The director stated t...
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...e most troubling times he kept everything and put it to good use. In the present, he still saves everything and tries to exchange the things that he no longer needs.
Vladek has clearly never fully recovered from the horrors of the Holocaust. Because he was once wealthy and carefree now he’s cheap and pragmatic. Once a generous businessman now he’s a selfish miser. The Holocaust affect each survivor differently. Art notes on a few separate occasions, the Holocaust cannot be the reason for all of Vladek’s behavior. “I used to think the war made him this way.” Art says to Mala. In which, she responds that "all our friends went through the camps; nobody is like him!” It may be that no survivor is like him, but it’s the way he copes with what he went through. Basically, he’s still living his life as if he were still in those concentration camps in the present time.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the holocaust took a great toll on millions of lives, and vladek spiegelman's personality is influenced by his holocaust experience.
- Analyzes how vladek's relationship with his second wife, mala, is strained and lacking love from both ends. he is kind, caring, wealthy, and charming.
- Analyzes how vladek shows that he is not a compassionate and understanding person. he manages to make it through the holocaust experience with luck and his wits.
- Analyzes how vladek became cheap and stingy with food, money, and other valuables during the holocaust. he was a wise businessman who kept everything and put it to good use.
- Analyzes how vladek has never fully recovered from the horrors of the holocaust. the holocaust affects each survivor differently.
Related
- analytical
- The impact of survivor’s guilt in Art Spiegelman’s Mausanalytical essayArt Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus unfolds the story about his father Vladek Spiegleman, and his life during the WWII. Since Vladek and Art are both the narrators of the story, the story not only focuses on Vladek's survival, but also the writing process and the organization of the book itself. Through these two narrators, the book explores various themes such as identity, perspective, survival and guilt. More specifically, Maus suggests that surviving an atrocity results in survivor’s guilt, which wrecks one’s everyday life and their relationships with those around them. It accomplishes this through symbolism and through characterization of Vladek and Anja.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how art spiegelman's graphic novel maus unfolds the story about his father vladek spiegleman, and his life during the wwii.
- Analyzes how the comic implies that surviving the holocaust affects vladek's life and wrecks his relationship with his son and wife.
- Analyzes how anja, another holocaust survivor and art's mother, demonstrates how surviving the war affects her life and her relationships.
- Analyzes how maus demonstrates that surviving a tragedy, such as the holocaust, can cause survivor's guilt, which affects both the survivors' life and their relationships with others.
- States spiegelman, art. maus ii: a survivor’s tale : and here my troubles began.
699 wordsRead More - The Use Of Humor In Art Spiegelman's Mausanalytical essayIn Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the audience is led through a very emotional story of a Holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with the author, who is his son, and his wife. Throughout this novel, the audience constantly is reminded of how horrific the Holocaust was to the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the novel finds very effective ways to insert forms of humor in the inner story and outer story of Maus. Although the Holocaust has a heart wrenching effect on the novel as a whole, the effective use of humor allows for the story to become slightly less severe and a more tolerable read.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how spiegelman's maus is an emotional story of a holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with , who is his son, and his wife.
- Analyzes how spiegelman's humor helps detach the reader from the tragic events of the holocaust.
- Analyzes how vladek tries to keep as much humor as he can for his family, even though their situation could be so much better.
- Analyzes how vladek's inner story and his outer story are humored by the relationship between his father and , art.
- Analyzes how humor displays outer story relationships between vladek and his second wife, mala.
- Analyzes how spiegelman manipulates the inner and outer story to allow glimpses of humor to break up the horrendous events that happened during the holocaust.
1269 wordsRead More - Vladek’s Intelligence and How he Survived the Holocaustanalytical essayVladek’s skill of being persuasive helped him throughout his hard times. Vladek persuaded Anja’s father to buy him a textile company, which helped Vladek later on. Vladek also persuaded a family to put him into hiding using the money he got from the textile company. When Vladek wanted to escape his current home to move to Turkey, Anja refused. Vladek successfully persuaded Anja, and changed Anja’s answer from defiantly not to let’s do it. Vladek even persuaded a Nazi soldier whom Vladek was teaching English to, to give Vladek and his relative new clothing.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that vladek's intelligence was vital for him, since every move he took would mean life or death. he knew english and taught it to a nazi who worked at his concentration camp.
- Explains that vladek learned many skills that guided him throughout his life during the holocaust. he taught english, acquired clothing, and worked as a shoe repairman in the concentration camps.
- Explains that vladek's life during the holocaust was gruesome, but regardless of what was happening in his own life, he was always thinking about the safety of anja.
- Analyzes how vladek was a strong man who endured many hardships, including being repeatedly whipped. he had typhus and diabetes, but survived because of his strong will.
- Explains that vladek was lucky to stay in hiding unnoticed by the nazis for such a long duration.
- Explains that vladek was a supportive person, even though he didn't need to, but still supported his friends and family.
- Analyzes how vladek's skill of being persuasive helped him through his hard times. he persuaded anja’s father to buy him a textile company.
720 wordsRead More - Maus and the Holocaustanalytical essaycold-hearted to his second-wife also shows how unloving Vladek is too anybody who did not make the
In this essay, the author
- Explains that his personality is so dynamic and it was the experiences that he made during the holocaust that changed his life.
- Opines that the holocaust is known to all of us in some way, whether we know someone who survived or learned about it in school. the holocaust took a great toll on many lives in one way or another.
- Analyzes how vladek is untrusting and afraid of being betrayed. he is cold-hearted to his second-wife and has trouble opening up about personal memories.
- Analyzes how vladek was a fun-loving young man with his whole future ahead of him. he remained hopefull and trusted that things would go well for him and his family in the long run.
- Analyzes how vladek spiegleman is a disturbed, bitter old man who is unwilling to talk about the things that made him the way he is.
839 wordsRead More - Maus Two by Art Spiegelmananalytical essayArt Spiegelman's Maus II is a book that tells more than the story of one family's struggle to live thought the Holocaust. It gives us a look into the psyche of a survivor's child and how the Holocaust affected him and many other generations of people who were never there at all. Maus II gives the reader a peek into the psyche of Art Spiegelman and the affects of having two parents that survived the Holocaust had on him. Spiegelman demonstrates the affects of being a survivor's child in many ways throughout the book. Examining some of these will give us a better understanding of what it was like to be a part of the Holocaust.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how spiegelman's maus ii is a book that tells more than the story of one family’s struggle to live through the holocaust.
- Analyzes how spiegelman believed that his parents thought that richieu was the perfect child; unlike art, he would have made all the right choices. pavel is a survivor like his father and mother.
- Analyzes how art has a hard time dealing with the feeling that no matter what he accomplishes it will never equal the fact his parents survived auschwitz.
- Analyzes how vladek calls art richieu because he is proud of what his son has done and sees no difference between the two.
444 wordsRead More - The Effect of the Holocaust on the Children of the Survivorsanalytical essayIn the years after the Holocaust the survivors from the concentration camps tried to cope with the horrors of the camps and what they went through and their children tried to understand not only what happened to their parents. In the story of Maus, these horrors are written down by the son of a Holocaust survivor, Vladek. Maus is not only a story of the horrors of the concentration camps, but of a son, Artie, working through his issues with his father, Vladek. These issues are shown from beginning to end and in many instances show the complexity of the father-son relationship that was affected from the Holocaust. Maus not only shows these matters of contentions, but that the Holocaust survivors constantly put their children’s experiences to unreasonable standards of the parent’s Holocaust experiences.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the son of a holocaust survivor, vladek, wrote maus' horrors down to show the complexity of the father-son relationship affected by the holocaust.
- Analyzes how spiegelman's story if maus shows the complexity of the father-son relationship that was affected from the holocaust.
- Analyzes how vladek's animadversion touched artie, and how his mother was more supportive of him. the depth of the trauma people endure from their parents' torture shows the embedded and deep rooted mental instability.
- Concludes that maus represents the strife of the survivors while in the concentration camps, as well as the children surviving their parents' comparisons and expectations.
- Explains spiegelman, art. maus i: a survivor's tale: my father bleeds history. new york: pantheon, 1992.
593 wordsRead More - Maus I & IIanalytical essayWhen most people refer to literature that concentrates specifically on the Holocaust as the subjects, the first thought usually isn’t in the form of a graphic novel. Most people would believe a graphic novel is something only a child would read or someone to the same educational equivalent. Due to their engaging stories and appealing visuals though, graphic novels are idea for visual learners, inexperienced or unenthused readers, and just about anyone else who may not find traditional print books enticing. Graphic novels tend to show a relationship between the images and the text that makes for an experience in itself (1.). Sometimes even taking on a difficult subject, an example being the Holocaust can make for a different kind of experience. In Maus I & II, the author chose graphic novels as his medium. For that, “Maus shines due to its impressive ability to ‘speak the unspeakable’ by using the popular maxim, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ to perfection” (3).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that graphic novels are ideal for visual learners, inexperienced or unenthused readers, and anyone else who may not find traditional print books enticing.
- Opines that graphic novels can be great tools for some, if not all, readers, but the holocausts are a difficult subject, not always easy to read about.
- Analyzes how spiegelman uses different strategies to keep his graphic novel unlike the others while still remaining true to the subject.
- Analyzes how maus ii depicts mice being undressed, beaten, and threatened. the text gives a description to the frame in telling what was going on as well as what people were saying.
- Analyzes how maus ii uses graphic novels to take on a serious subject.
- Analyzes how maus ii depicts the underweight and skinny mice in a line with two areas on the sides of them.
- Analyzes how spiegelman creates a bonding relationship between the image and the text unlike any other graphic novel of his time.
- Describes the sources of information on graphic novels in schools and libraries.
1119 wordsRead More - Arti Artie Vladek Family Guilt Analysisanalytical essayFamily guilt, and Survival guilt is something many people have it was something vladek had, and honestly I think Artie vladek’s son had some guilt too. Art know he he acts rude with his father, and all vladek trying to do is show love, and care to vladek it's crazy how even after all fis father went through he acts the ways he does towards him. Vladek try’s to have a good relationship with his son, but for some reason artie does not see that. As a father I know that deep inside vladek’s old aging heart he had the hope that one day his son would change the way he was with him. Tired maybe even overwhelmed, but vladek give up on his faith all he wanted to do was love his son. When we are children we want all the attention from our parents, but for some reason when we grow older we think we can overrule them. I can’t say I know what a father’s love feel like because mine is not around to show me the love vladek was trying to show artie.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how vladek tried to have a good relationship with his son, but for some reason he didn't see that.
- Analyzes how art feels responsible for his mother's suicide believing that the cause of her suicide was him neglecting her.
- Analyzes how art was born after the war, and both of his parents were holocaust survivors. artie and vladek had guilt about living easier than their parents.
493 wordsRead More - The victims of the Holocaust lose sight of who they are during this time and begin to live their life by playing a part they believe they were because of their race. Loman discussed the irony behind the cat-and-mouse metaphor that Spiegelman uses in his graphic novel in his article titled “’Well Intended Liberal Slop’: Allegories of Race in Spiegelman’s Maus”. In his article he states,
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how spiegelman's inspiration is from hitler believing that jewish people are not human and he wants to represent that belief in his novel.
- Analyzes how spiegelman demonstrates how identities function during the holocaust through vladek.
- Analyzes how hathaway believes that spiegelman does not use graphics of animals without a background reason. the representation of the characters through specific animals is nothing short of genius.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman portrays his characters in his graphic novel maus to help the reader understand what people go through during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman uses animals instead of humans in his graphic novels to represent the different races of people during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how rosemary v. hathaway discusses spiegelman's use of graphics animals instead of humans in her article "reading art spiegelmann’s maus as postmodern ethnography".
1227 wordsRead More - Relationships and Stereotypes in Mausanalytical essay“I'm not talking about YOUR book now, but look at how many books have already been written about the Holocaust. What's the point? People haven't changed... Maybe they need a newer, bigger Holocaust.” These words were spoken by author Art Spielgelman. Many books have been written about the Holocaust; however, only one book comically describes the non-superficial characteristics of it. Art Spiegelman authors a graphic novel titled Maus, a book surrounding the life a Jewish man living in Poland, named Vladek. His son, Art Spielgelman, was primarily focused on writing a book based on his father’s experiences during the Holocaust. While this was his main focus, his book includes unique personal experiences, those of which are not commonly described in other Holocaust books. Art’s book includes the troubles his mother, Anja, and his father, Vladek, conquered during their marriage and with their family; also, how his parents tried to avoid their children being victimized through the troubles. The book includes other main characters, such as: Richieu Spiegelman, Vladek first son; Mala Spiegelman, Vladek second wife; and Françoise, Art’s French wife. Being that this is a graphic novel, it expresses the most significant background of the story. The most significant aspect about the book is how the characters are dehumanized as animals. The Jewish people were portrayed as mice, the Polish as pigs, the Germans (Nazis in particular) as cats, and Americans as dogs. There are many possible reasons why Spiegelman uses animals instead of humans. Spiegelman uses cats, dogs, and mice to express visual interests in relative relationships and common stereotypes among Jews, Germans, and Americans.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how art spiegelman's graphic novel, maus, describes the non-superficial characteristics of the holocaust.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman's use of animals in the story maus represents the relationships associated with certain ethnic groups during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how the use of cats, dogs, and mice relates to how germans and americans related to one another during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how spiegelman uses animals as representations of humans to address stereotypes. the most allegorical animals are cats, mice, and dogs.
- Analyzes how the use of animals in art spiegelman's maus expresses relationships and stereotypes of jews, americans, and germans during the holocaust.
1210 wordsRead More