Summary of Maus
Maus is a story that characterizes the horrors of the Holocaust while simultaneously showing how the malicious plan impairs the lives of those who lived it many years later. While reading the graphic novel, Art Spieglman portrays his father, Vladek, both from his recollections of his years during the war and with his present day reactions to everyday life. From Art’s perspective we see an unfolding account of the Holocaust while also seeing the damage that years of war, hiding, and severe survival tactics has on an elderly man. Art’s comic formatting allows the novel to be both a quick read while providing a complex commentary on how each of the characters interacted; for example, characters are portrayed as animals symbolizing their status with Germans being cats, Jews being mice, and Poles being pigs. While reading the graphic novel Art is completely present in the writing to the point where he directly draws about what went on to get the information for the story, making the novel seem evermore real.
Maus: My Father Bleeds History begins by first setting up Vladek’s life through Art’s questioning of how Vladek came to be with wife and acquaintances that prove to be very helpful during the war. This first part of the novel illustrates Vladek and his wife, Anja’s, struggle to remain outside of the vicious concentration camps but ends with them ending up in Auschwitz. As we watch Art uncover the story from his father, we learn that money, luck, and strong connections immensely helped any person in the war as they struggled to remain hidden from the Nazis and also receive enough food.
In the next book, Maus: And Here My Troubles Began, Art uncovers what life was like living in Auschwitz and what his father did to survive. In this book, Vladek reveals the typical but heart-wrenching brutality of the guards and how essentially the ability to survive relies on one’s own ability to market their assets while also making lucky choices. Vladek repeatedly recounts his desire to see Anja who is also trapped in another part of the camp.
While Maus is Art's retell of his father's life during the Holocaust, the many pauses between the historical aspects of the novel mixed with Art's retelling of the process show how the Holocaust shaped both Vladek and Art's life into one of that aims to struggle. It seems as though having survived the camps, Vladek still lives as though any day he will need the same strategies he used then by saving everything and being extremely frugal, which affects all of his relationships. The 2 graphic novels compose a story in which one can enter the horror of the Holocaust while simultaneously seeing the long-lasting effects it had on its victims.
Maus: My Father Bleeds History begins by first setting up Vladek’s life through Art’s questioning of how Vladek came to be with wife and acquaintances that prove to be very helpful during the war. This first part of the novel illustrates Vladek and his wife, Anja’s, struggle to remain outside of the vicious concentration camps but ends with them ending up in Auschwitz. As we watch Art uncover the story from his father, we learn that money, luck, and strong connections immensely helped any person in the war as they struggled to remain hidden from the Nazis and also receive enough food.
In the next book, Maus: And Here My Troubles Began, Art uncovers what life was like living in Auschwitz and what his father did to survive. In this book, Vladek reveals the typical but heart-wrenching brutality of the guards and how essentially the ability to survive relies on one’s own ability to market their assets while also making lucky choices. Vladek repeatedly recounts his desire to see Anja who is also trapped in another part of the camp.
While Maus is Art's retell of his father's life during the Holocaust, the many pauses between the historical aspects of the novel mixed with Art's retelling of the process show how the Holocaust shaped both Vladek and Art's life into one of that aims to struggle. It seems as though having survived the camps, Vladek still lives as though any day he will need the same strategies he used then by saving everything and being extremely frugal, which affects all of his relationships. The 2 graphic novels compose a story in which one can enter the horror of the Holocaust while simultaneously seeing the long-lasting effects it had on its victims.