How Does Spiegelman Create Tension In Maus

Maus is a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman portraying that ghastly events of the Holocaust. Maus illustrates Spiegelman interviewing his father Vladek about the traumatic experiences him and his first wife's Anja occurred during their captivation during the Holocaust. Most of the Spiegelman family except for Vladek and Anja passed away due to the war, including their 4-year-old son, Richieu. Art visits his father Vladek regularly, each time recording the events of his damaged father's life. The novel depicts Vladek's transforming from wealth, to poverty through the war. Having their material possessions and dignity stripped away from them The Spigelman are Jews from Poland who although survived the holocaust and various concentration camps

I could clearly see there is strain and tension between the father and son. The root of this tension I believe comes from Vladek’s compulsive ways, and odd behavior that has manifested in his old age due to the torture that he endured WWII. Art attempted numerous times to help his Father with his mental strains, but he still remained frustrated at Vladek resulting in Arts short temper, that has been nurtured through his childhood growing up with Vladek. This is portrayed through the situation when Valker refused to throw out coffee, despite how it had become stale. Many may describe Valker as a hoarder or cheap, and Art is an unsympathetic and ungrateful son due to their routines depicted in the novel, but I believe that is a fairly simplistic view. After reading the book and examining its contents it is clear that Vladek is unable to release physical belongs especially food because, being without these resources for years, the satisfaction that occurs when we regain access to these things we feel like we can't give them up again. Art cannot possibly understand this, let alone as a child, so the only explanation for him was that his father was just distant. This confusion manifested into guilt when his mother died. In chapter 5 Art refuses to help his father repair his roof and instead prefers to