How Does The Holocaust Affect The Family In The Book Maus

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One of the main points of Art Spiegelman’s MAUS is that the Holocaust affects not just survivors, but their entire families. Throughout the book MAUS we saw frame tales of Vladek’s flashbacks during the Holocaust. Discovering on what’s happened in the past that is also affecting the present tense on when Art was writing his father story. The Holocaust changed Vladek’s behavior and affected Anja mental state; it really took a toll on them later in the life, which is affecting the family in the present day. The Holocaust really had a huge impact on them and the others in the book MAUS. Before the Holocaust Vladek was kind and was wealthy, his marriage with Anja was filled with love and compassion. Now in 1978, Vladek is stingy with his money, stubborn, and crotchety. His new relationship with his second wife Mala is terrible; he treats her like a maid not a wife and doesn’t love her at all. His experiences in the holocaust played a big …show more content…

All the stories his father told Art made him have secondary aftershocks or you can say survivor guilt from the Holocaust. Vladek puts a lot of guilt on Art because he may have felt that it was safe to but on a real survivor, because Art didn’t have to experience the way he did (panel 7 pg.44). Art just feels like he has not been a good son to his father and how Richieu will always be the good one haven’t done anything wrong. Another affect was how Art feels responsible for his mother suicide because when she asked in him does he love her he responds with a cold “sure” this makes Art feel guilty towards his father who’s still alive. Art also feels guilty regarding the publication of MAUS, he feels guilty because he’s becoming famous and rich off of the deaths in the Jews of the Holocaust. These are a lasting issue that will always stick around with

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