Survival In Art Spigman's Maus

865 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History essay effects of the holocaust on the world modern day

Art Spigmans graphic novel Maus exhibits the realities of the life during the holocaust, echoing on throughout the decades to the present day. The present themes allow one to draw on the deep analysis and the motifs explored throughout and the short and long term affects upon individuals and communities. The idea of compassion is a constant theme proven throughout the novel due to opinions amongst characters altering when new information is learnt. Endless prejudice against races is another important theme addresses in Maus, shown through the continual mistreatment of the Jewish community. Further- more from the theme of racial predjuse is the concept of survival. Survival is an imperative notion in Maus becoming obvious that individuals will do anything it takes to stay alive as it is vital even if it means turning others in to the authorities. Finally, the timeless ideal of family is conscious for the duration of the text, welcomed by the fact that absolutely anything will be completed to obtain to keep or regain …show more content…

It is evident that self-preservation is considered as individuals had to think of ways to survive day to day due to the circumstances. Spigelman use of the phrase ”surviors tale” allows the audience to have their own perspective in which is going to take place in forms of survival that become a re occurring theme. However anja and valdek survived the holocaust physically but evidentially mentally they didn’t survive emotionally resulting in the taking of her own life for Anja and vladek behavior which affects him negatively. It is evident that vladek had challenges and confronting issues that arise. An example of survial in maus comes into place when vladek quotes “ and we came ‘til the orison and there they put us” pg 157 the point of time vladek is reflecting on emotional and physically challenges that he went through in his

Show More
Related

  • A Picture is worth a Thousand Words: The use of Animal Allegory in Maus

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Maus and the Holocaust

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    things. The main fear Vladek has is taping into his memories only to relive the pain he suffered and

    Read More

  • Animals In Art Spiegelman's Maus

    1116 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Art Spiegelman’s comic series, MAUS, each race in the storyline is analogously depicted as a different animal. This essay will explore the various benefits, drawbacks and their counteractions, that are confounded with author’s choice of this illustration. It can be argued that choosing animals to represent humans, in an event as complex as the Shoah, dehumanizes victims even more. Humans conventionally see species of animals as collective entities rather than individual beings. Thus, by representing all the Jewish people as one type of animal, the reader might unconsciously generalize all the victims’ sufferings and discourses into one coherent image, in order to make sense of things. On the other hand, depicting each race as a certain animal

    Read More

  • Vladek’s Intelligence and How he Survived the Holocaust

    720 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vladek’s life during the Holocaust was gruesome, but regardless of what was happening in his own life Vladek was always thinking about the safety of Anja. Vladek loved Anja dearly, if anything happened to Anja Vladek would not care about his own life, and lose the will to live. When Anja and Vladek were separated in the concentration camp, Vladek found a woman and asked her if she knew if Anja is...

    Read More

  • Use of Animals in Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Maus series of books tell a very powerful story about one man’s experience in the Holocaust. They do not tell the story in the conventional novel fashion. Instead, the books take on an approach that uses comic windows as a method of conveying the story. One of the most controversial aspects of this method was the use of animals to portray different races of people. The use of animals as human races shows the reader the ideas of the Holocaust a lot more forcefully than simply using humans as the characters.

    Read More

  • Racism in Art Spiegelman's Maus

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a novel about the Vladek and his experience as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. It narrates the reality of the Holocaust wherein millions and millions of Jews were systematically killed by the Nazi regime. One of the themes in the story is racism which is evident in the employment of animal characters and its relationship with one another.

    Read More

  • Father's Experiences In Maus By Art Spiegelman

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, Maus, Art Spiegelman, a comic book writer and illustrator wants to write a book about his father's experiences during World War II. Art seeks to open the eyes of readers to a new perspective of the holocaust, that of his father. It also allowed readers to view into how such an experience can change an individual, as a single person, even though historical views of the holocaust most often show the effects that it left on society as a whole. Art uses symbolism in that each race of human is shown as an animal to pass his message. All through, the book Poles are portrayed as pigs, Germans as cats and Jews as mice.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Complete Maus, by Art Spiegelman

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    When reading a traditional book, it is up to the reader to imagine the faces and landscapes that are described within. A well written story will describe the images clearly so that you can easily picture the details. In Art Spiegelman’s The Complete Maus, the use of the animals in place of the humans offers a rather comical view in its simplistic relation to the subject and at the same time develops a cryptic mood within the story. His drawings of living conditions in Auschwitz; expressions on the faces of people enduring torture, starvation, and despair; his experience with the mental institution and his mother’s suicide; and occasional snapshots of certain individuals, create a new dynamic between book and reader. By using the form of the graphic novel, Art Spiegelman created a narrative accompanied by pictures instead of needing to use immense worded detail.

    Read More

  • The impact of survivor’s guilt in Art Spiegelman’s Maus

    699 Words  | 2 Pages

    The comic implies that surviving the holocaust affects Vladek’s life and wrecks his relationship with his son and his wife. In some parts of the story, Vladek rides a stationary bike while narrating his story (I, 81, panel 7-9). Given the fact that it is a stationary bike, it stays immobile: no matter how hard Vladek pedals, he cannot move forward. The immobility of the bike symbolizes how survivor’s guilt will never let him escape his past. Vladek can never really move past the holocaust: he cannot even fall asleep without shouting from the nightmares (II, 74, panel 4-5). Moreover, throughout the story, the two narrators depict Vladek before, during and after the war. Before the war, Vladek is characterized as a pragmatic and resourceful man. He is resourceful as he is able to continue his black business and make money even under the strengthened control of the Nazi right before the war (I, 77 panel 1-7). However, after surviving the holocaust, Vladek feels an obligation to prove to himself and to others that his survival was not simply by mere luck, but because h...

    Read More

  • The Complete Maus Theme

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    In spite of the fact that the Nazi administration is here and they are figuring about which individuals it will kill, as when Vladek's sister Fela, whose four kids are viewed as a pointless channel on the state's assets, is sent to her passing amid a mass enlistment of Jewish families in a place called Sosnowiec, warriors likewise bargain out capital punishments for minor infractions, or for reasons unknown by any stretch of the imagination. In like manner, disease and privation assault the groups of those in death camps totally aimless; delicate, thin Anja survives Birkenau despite seemingly unconquerable opposition, while solid, sound Vladek about bites the dust of typhus in Dachau. Despite the fact that Vladek is, as Art places it in his discussion with Pavel, "fantastically exhibit minded and ingenious" in his endeavors to guard himself and Anja, their survival involves photons a great deal more than knowledge or legitimacy. Pavel helps Art calmly to remember this reality, and cautions him against pondering the Holocaust as a challenge that the living has won and the dead have lost. While the chance is the most effective power deciding Anja and Vladek's survival, they likewise rely on upon the empathy and humankind of everyone around them, individuals who share their insight and assets, give up some of their own prosperity, and now and again even hazard their lives to help Vladek and Anja.

    Read More

  • The Comic Format of Spiegelman's Books Maus I and Maus II

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    The books Maus I and Maus II, written by Art Spiegelman over a thirteen-year period from 1978-1991, are books that on the surface are written about the Holocaust. The books specifically relate to the author’s father’s experiences pre and post-war as well as his experiences in Auschwitz. The book also explores the author’s very complex relationship between himself and his father, and how the Holocaust further complicates this relationship. On a deeper level the book also dances around the idea of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. The two books are presented in a very interesting way; they are shown in comic form, which provides the ability for Spiegelman to incorporate numerous ideas and complexities to his work.

    Read More

  • Vladek Spiegelman Analysis

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Vladek and Anja are taken to Auschwitz there are many obstacles, but there is a motivation within Vladek to keep moving on. Vladek would risk his life countless of times to attempt to save not only his life but Anja’s as well. “I starved a little to pay to bring Anja over” (Spiegelman 64). Although catching Typhus in a train car, being beaten in Auschwitz, and many other odds stacked against his survival, he pushed through with the strength of his love for Anja. “We were both very happy, and lived happily ever after” (136).

    Read More

  • Maus Theme

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    On page 25, Vladeck questions Art’s use of personal life in his book about the Holocaust. Art responds, “But Pop - it’s great material. It makes everything more real - more human.” By showing this scene, Art shows the reader that he is committed to showing the whole story of his father, before, after, and during the Holocaust. At the end of this page, Vladek tells Art other personal stories that were not included in Maus.

    Read More

  • The Art Of Survival

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    The means of survival in the book Night differ greatly from the means of survival in Maus. In Night, there is more of a ruthless demeanor in their struggle to survive. This is evident especially in the intense struggle for food. And example of this is when the book says, "Meir, Meir, my boy! Don't you recognize me? I'm your father … you're hurting me… you're killing your father! I've got some bread … for you too… for you too…"(Wiesel 96) In this passage it describes a boy beating his father to death over a piece of bread on the way to a concentration camp. Survival was not this intense in the book Maus. In that book, survival was merely a fight to stay out of the concentration camps. An example of this in Maus is when it says "So in the yard, we made a hiding place, a bunker." (Spieglmen 86) Here, it explains their worries are not about staying alive in the concentration camps, but rather staying out of the concentration camps themselves. In Maus their survival had a lot to do with having connections in high places. They would have to know someone that knew someone that could get something for them in order to stay out of the concentration camps. An example of this is when they are in the stadium where they get their passports stamped. This is evident when it says "Me and Anja came to the table where my cousin was sitting… so we got stamped our passports and come quick to the good side of the stadium. Those they sent left, they didn't get any stamp." (Spieglmen 90) This is different from Night in the sense that it didn't matter who you were or who you knew.

    Read More

  • Maus Reflective Essay

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since I was young, I’ve always took a special interest in learning about the Holocaust. While the Holocaust represents a horrible time in history, I’ve always been interested in learning about the horrifying details because I simply couldn’t imagine how so many people complied with and remained silent as the Nazi regime took over much of Europe. So naturally, I was very excited to begin reading Maus. Similar to Persepolis, Maus is a graphic novel. I do not like reading graphic novels at all, but because the Holocaust is a topic that interests me so much, I was still able to enjoy Maus.

    Read More

More about Survival In Art Spigman's Maus

Open Document