Character Development In Vladek In Art Speigelman's Maus

Thesis: Art Speigelman’s Maus illustrates character development in Vladek, whose personality is a direct product of trauma. This is depicted through collateral effects that his Holocaust experiences have on the attitudes and behaviors he portrays in his later life.

Vladek does not have mental breakdowns or emit highly obvious signs of trauma. He is able to peacefully integrate into society. However, these scars are expressed in other ways. Pill counting is one such way. Vladek always does this when he wakes up and in the scenes where Art begins to ask questions. While seemingly an ordinary habit for people of his age, as the flashbacks transgress, the pill counting is shown to be important to Vladek on an inordinately emotional level. The

There is a scene where Vladek goes to return food boxes he has already opened because he doesn’t want them to go to waste. Art doesn’t want to go with him, so he stays in the car. When Vladek returns, he has even more groceries with him that he received for free. He did this by sympathizing with the store manager. Vladek told him about his ailments, how his wife left him, and that he was a Holocaust survivor. Vladek inundated his personal story in order to receive remorse and persuade the manager into agreeing with his

In one scene, an exchange in dialogue exposes his racist side. Vladek scolds his wife Francoise in response to her picking up an African American hitchhiker. In Polish, he makes a derogatory exclamation, saying “I just can’t believe there’s a shvartser sitting in here!” (Maus 259). Art is in dismay after witnessing this. He directly calls out Vladek’s racist attitude to him. Art points out how he was talking about black people the way Nazis talked about Jewish people. In return, Vladek stated that black people and Jewish people cannot be compared. His response clearly indicates ignorance and a careless attitude for an entire different race from his own. Looking back to Vladek’s pre-Holocaust life, there is a discernible difference in his outlook on race; for the Jewish people are shown to be civilized. Vladek is depicted with Lucia, who spend their night casually walking around town and dancing together. They, and the greater Jewish population, are illustrated as people who peacefully live with the members of society. This period is absent of racist manifestations. However, through the course of events of the Holocaust, there is a radical change in the social and power hierarchies of mass