The Use Of Humor In Art Spiegelman's Maus
analytical Essay
1269 words
In 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 novels with delicate topics, such as the Holocaust, small glimpse of humor help detach the reader …show more content…
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.
When the story of Vladek is not being told, the reader often sees the relationship between the author, Art, and his father. For the most part, these instances are often disagreements between the father and son. Because Vladek thought Art’s jacket was raggy and unacceptable, he threw it in the garbage and gave him a new, up to date, jacket: “Such an old shabby coat. It’s a shame my son would wear such a coat! ... “I have for you a warmer one. I got at Alexander’s a new jacket, and I can give you my old one; It’s still like new” (69). Despite the fact that Art is not very pleased with his father throwing away his jacket, the reader can find humor due to the fact that Vladek thinks that the jacket is so torn up and old, not actually realizing that the style of jacket is a part of Arts culture, therefore it is how Art wants to look. Another instance in which the father and son divide happens is when Vladek compares his son to the famous cartoonist, Walt Disney: “Yah. Someday you’ll be famous. Like what’s-his-name...You know... the big-shot cartoonist... Walt Disney!” (133). Even though Art takes offense to this because he and Walt Disney are not the same type of cartoonist, the reader can find humor in this because Vladek is oblivious to the difference between what Art does versus what Walt Disney
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- 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 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 - 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 - 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how vladek's behavior leads him to become emotionally disconnected from his son. in flora hogman’s “trauma and identity,” the first generation of holocaust survivors transfer their struggle to express pain on to the following generations.
- Describes spiegelman's maus ii: a survivor’s tale: and here my troubles began.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about his parents, vladek and anja, before and during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how art's emotional growth is shattered because of his father’s behavior.
1130 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 - Comparison between Maus & Anne Frankargumentative essayWhat if you were a holocaust survivor and asked to describe your catastrophic experience? What part of the event would you begin with, the struggle, the death of innocent Jews, or the cruel witnessed? When survivors are questioned about their experience they shiver from head to toe, recalling what they have been through. Therefore, they use substitutes such as books and diaries to expose these catastrophic events internationally. Books such as Maus, A survivor’s tale by Art Spiegelman, and Anne Frank by Ann Kramer. Spiegelman presents Maus in a comical format; he integrated the significance of Holocaust while maintaining the comic frame structure format, whereas comic books are theoretically supposed to be entertaining. Also, Maus uses a brilliant technique of integrating real life people as animal figures in the book. Individually, both stories involve conflicts among relationships with parents. Furthermore, Maus jumps back and forth in time. Although, Anne Frank by Ann Kramer, uses a completely different technique. Comparatively, both the books have a lot in common, but each book has their own distinctive alterations.
In this essay, the author
- Compares how the two books, maus, a survivor’s tale by art spiegelman, and anne frank by ann kramer, have a lot in common, but each has their own distinctive alterations.
- Analyzes how the books maus and anne frank suppressed the horror of the holocaust. both focus on their personal experiences with the holocaust.
- Analyzes how maus uses animal figures in the form of cats and mice. in anne frank, kramer uses the names of real people.
- Compares the characters of maus and anne frank. both have conflicts in their relationships with one of their parents.
- Compares how maus and anne frank are similar in certain ways, but they still have their own unique differences.
1040 wordsRead More - A Comparison Of The Life Of Maus By Vladek Spiegelmananalytical essayThe 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 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.
717 wordsRead More - Maus I & IIanalytical essayAs mentioned before, graphic novels can be great tools for some, if not all, readers. As well the holocausts can be a difficult subject, not always easy to read about. Using graphic novels, which often is associated with children, to represent a traumatic event can be problematic: “The enormity of atrocity is such that the very act of representing it risked trivializing or over-dramatizing it,”(2). In other words, the author has to be very cautions when writing serious graphic novels not to get too creative and dramatize the situation even more than what already was. Spiegelman presents his vision of the legacy of the Holocaust in a new and innovative way—through images and words simultaneously.
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 - Use of Animals in Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Taleanalytical essayThe Use of Animals in Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor’s Tale 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the maus series of books tell a powerful story about one man's experience in the holocaust. they use comic windows to convey the story.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman decided on a very interesting, and possibly offensive, scheme of different animals to use. mice were used to represent the jewish people during the holocaust and present day.
- Analyzes how the relationship between these animals portrays the ideas of the holocaust very well. mice are small and scrawny creatures which are usually hunted by cats.
- Analyzes how the maus series depicted vladek's life during the holocaust. the animals were used to illustrate a point of view.
- Opines that depicting humans as humans would deter controversial feelings about the way the jews and other races were shown.
- Analyzes how art's girlfriend, francoise, was drawn as a frog in maus ii. she converted to judaism, which is accepted in most temples.
- Analyzes how masks portray different races in the books. art wears a mouse mask and other characters wear mouse, cat, and dog masks.
- Analyzes how spiegleman portrayed jewish people as mice in the present day. he used masks to display the difference in mentalities of the characters and show when they were hiding.
1044 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