Maus Essay

“To die, it’s easy. But you have to struggle for life” (Spiegalman ). This quote says that survival is actually a lot harder than dying is. Maus is a two part memoir in the form of a graphic novel about Vladek Spiegalman’s experiences during the Holocaust. Although Vladek survived the Holocaust he was affected by the traumatic things he experienced for the rest of his life. This book centers around two important themes of survival and guilt. The majority of the memoir Maus takes place in two settings. It is set in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s and Poland during the Holocaust. The story begins in New York with Artie visiting his father Vladek in New York City. When Vladek talks to Artie about his experiences during the Holocaust,

Artie is the author of the graphic novel and a very important character in it. The plot of the book centers around Vladek’s real life experiences during the Holocaust and as a survivor after the war. The book also focuses on Artie and Vladek’s relationship and the grief caused by Anja’s suicide. As a main character Vladek has several strengths including: resourcefulness, strength, and hope. These traits allowed him to survive the war and later the terrible conditions of Auschwitz. For example Vladek offered the use of his skills to the Nazis in the concentration camp. Because he was useful and healthy he was not killed. Some of the characteristics that helped Vladek to survive the Holocaust also caused a lot of tension between him and other family members later in his life. During the Holocaust, Vladek would make use of every scrap that he was given but later in his life he would get angry at his wife and son if they did not do the same. The book concludes with Vladek passing away when he is finished telling Artie his

The story of Vladek’s past focuses on survival and how much it took to live through the Holocaust specifically Auschwitz. The story goes into detail about the lengths Vladek and Anja took to avoid capture before they were sent to Auschwitz. After they are captured and sent to Auschwitz and Birkenau Vladek tells Artie all of the different ways he made himself useful in order to survive and also take care of Anja. Through words and images readers are exposed to the awful conditions at the camp and how many ways people died or were killed. Guilt is slightly less obvious but just as important as a theme throughout both books. Guilt is experienced by nearly all of the main characters in the story. Anja commits suicide and it is implied that it was due to depression, post traumatic stress, and survivors guilt. She and Vladek both had a hard time making sense of why they survived when countless others did not. “Yes, life always takes the side of life, and somehow the victims are blamed. But it wasn’t the best people who survived, nor the best ones die. It was random!” (Artie felt like he was not as good of a son as his parents first son Richeu and he felt responsible for his mother’s