Maus I A Survivor's Tale Sparknotes

The Holocaust was a ghastly period which terrorized many innocent victims and needlessly slaughtered others. The after-effects of that dark time still leave their mark today. Even those who survived were left with survivor’s guilt, which leaves them wondering why those they loved had to die. They think things like “why couldn’t it have been me.” The people who endured are still left with petrifying levels of trauma. Multiple first-hand accounts of the horrors have been published in various media outlets. In the book Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, written by Art Spiegelman, a personal story from the narrator’s dad is shared, detailing his experience as a Jewish person during the Holocaust. It illustrates the theme of agency and the importance of

However, it still conveys its message successfully. Vladek shares his personal stories, which allow readers to truly grasp the dire circumstances during those dark times. He does so chronologically-- in fact, the narrator, his son, specifically asks him to remain in time order (page 82, panel 1)-- and paired with the pictures, the reader can really process and feel for the victims of the Holocaust. Though these two works are structured very differently, they both let the reader understand the harrowing conditions during the mid-early twentieth century. Although disparate, the two texts are similar in theme. They both have a recurring focus on perseverance. In Maus, the stories Vladek shares also have a common theme of agency and doing what one must to survive. In the poem, Klein uses perseverance as a tool to remain unshaken until bad times pass and good dawns. Vladek first tells his son about his time as a war prisoner in a P.O.W. camp. The sand is a sand. On pages 53 and 54, he explains how he took baths, did gymnastics, and played chess to keep himself healthy mentally and physically. He never gave up on