The Aftermath of the Holocaust in Art Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II

By means of comic illustration and parody, Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about the lives of his parents, Vladek and Anja, before and during the Holocaust. Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II delves into the emotional struggle he faced as a result of his father’s failure to recover from the trauma he suffered during the Holocaust. In the novel, Vladek’s inability to cope with the horrors he faced while imprisoned, along with his wife’s tragic death, causes him to become emotionally detached from his son, Art. Consequently, Vladek hinders Art’s emotional growth. However, Art overcomes the emotional trauma his father instilled in him through his writing.
Vladek’s failure to move forward from his past experiences causes him to suppress his pain. He is unable to express his emotions; as a result, he uses control as a coping mechanism. Vladek’s control is illustrated when he destroys Anja’s memoirs. Vladek explains, “After Anja died, I had to make an order with everything… These papers had too many memories. So I burned them” (1:159). By destroying any evidence that reminds him of Anja, he harms his own emotional stability. Moreover, burning the papers illustrates his attempt to cover up the reality that he cannot always have control over life. Vladek’s suppression leads him to use control in an unhealthy manner.
Vladek’s controlling ways leads him to invent a life that he never had. Vladek wields his reality by reinventing his past life. When Vladek tells Art about his marriage to Anja, he portrays his marriage like a fairy tale. Vladek says, “We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after” (Spiegelman 2:136). He reinvents his past life after the end of the Holocaust as free of woe. Correspondingly, he loses himself...

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...es Art an inner power struggle. Subsequently, Art becomes resentful. Art’s resentment towards Vladek does not allow him to emotionally mature. Yet through writing Art forgives his father and becomes a man.

Works Cited

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Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History. New York City: Knopf
Doubleday Publishing Group, 1986. Print.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. New York City:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1992. Print.