Exploring Guilt and Survival in 'Maus'

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A Father and a Son
“Maus” weaves through the past and present to tell the story of Holocaust survivors Vladek and Anja Spiegelman as well as how Art, their son, dealt with the repercussions of his father’s experiences. The author, Art Spiegelman, wrote “Maus” in comic form and portrayed Jews as mice, Poles as pigs, and Germans as cats. “Maus Ⅰ” begins in mid-1930’s Poland with his soon to be wed parents and concludes with them at the gates of Auschwitz in the winter of 1944. In “Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History”, by Art Spiegelman, the characters of Vladek and Art both struggle, although differently, to cope with their own blameworthiness, which demonstrates the power that guilt can hold over an individual’s life. Throughout …show more content…

In “Prisoner on the Hell Planet”, Vladek’s agonizing remorse over Anja’s death is demonstrated at the funeral home when he grabs onto the casket, screaming his dead wife’s name, over and over again, as if it will make her come back (102). Vladek’s reasoning behind his crushing guilt is better understood when he comforts Anja when she says she does not want to live anymore because she has lost her entire family. Vladek tells her, “No, darling! To die, it’s easy...but you have to struggle for life! Until the last moment we must struggle together! I need you! And you’ll see that together we’ll survive” (122). Vladek says the final part of that quote in the present, his facial expression making it so clear that he believes he has failed Anja by not comforting her enough when she became despondent. It seems that Vladek’s second marriage to Mala will never be a happy one, as he thinks he has failed Anja. Vladek makes this explicitly clear when, after recalling another fight with Mala, he asks, “Why, Artie? Why I ever remarried? Oy, Anja! Anja! Anja!” (127). Vladek and Mala fight constantly not only because of their conflicting personalities, but also because Vladek thinks that he is betraying Anja by having another wife. Consequently, he treats Mala poorly. Vladek’s feels responsible for Anja taking her own life and haunts him for …show more content…

Art’s thoughts regarding his mother’s suicide are best explained in his short comic strip “Prisoner on the Hell Planet”, which tells the story of his mother’s suicide and the days following it from his perspective. Art cries in the hall when he leaves Anja’s funeral service and a family friend admonishes him, “Now you cry! Better you cried when your mother was still alive!” (102). As this is Art’s telling of his mother’s death, he would have only included this remark if it affected him. This is seen to be true in the next panel when Art states, “I felt nauseous… The guilt was overwhelming!” (102). Obviously, Art felt as though he were to blame in the moment, but it becomes clear that these emotions remain because Art sketches himself inside of a prison cell wearing a striped prisoner’s uniform, almost identical uniforms worn in Holocaust concentration camps (103). This implies that Art is the “Prisoner on the Hell Planet”, guilt being Hell Planet and Art being regret’s captive. Art also feels another type of culpability, one that is related to his father, throughout the

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