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M 08-Feb Spiegelman: Maus I (“My Father Bleeds History” )
» reading tip: goal is not to “race through” this “quick read” — rather, examine more attentively, like when viewing the New Media sites in prior weeks.
(for Inventory & Project praxis) — Due (Fri PM): Inventory updated through week 5
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 — (artist?) |
» Note: Group Presentations Page (for weekend preparation)
Friday 12-Feb Maus Discussion
- Required (for attendance/participation)
- 1st comment — Due: 2pm (feel free to post earlier!)
- 2nd comment (reply) — Due: 4pm (additional replies due 9pm)
In a comment below:
- first, post one specific lesson or instruction from Maus as a “relay”; include your rationale (required), considering Project 1 (both components).
This item can appear in “Inventory” — lesson whether conceptual or stylistic (design and writing/composition). - when posting a reply to a classmate’s comment: try to describe application of “lesson” for the project — concretely, with an example or technical idea for web design.
Alternatively, feel free to discuss/debate the rationale — referring to textbook and notes when necessary, and always considering our “operating principle” — electracy is a new mode of thought and expression, to be invented through experiments and “relays” from artistic media. Remember, our concern is expression and experience, not judgment (right/wrong, true/false); review apparatus.
Finally, comments must be productive and respectful in order to receive credit, just like last time.
I believe the whole aspect of imagery changing (with the Orchestra and such) is of monumental importance. the main argument was the accuracy of the story. The memory of Vladek not nirroring historical truth, is an “apparent lack of accuracy”. I believe that going back to experiential and the point of retelling Vladek’s story, the importance of framing Vladek’s memory is to tell vladek’s personanl experience. The fact that his memories have been recorded in HIS memory and HIS experience makes Vladek’s history- and thus the point of the story, EXTREMELY accurate.
for my personal project, one of the things I can take from this is that point of personal framing. finding MY reality is vital to the project. like with the assignment with mapping, the best map is one that is drawn from personal memory- our own experiences shaping the “accuracy” of our past and present. I want my project to reflect a different kind of accuracy, one that is personal and maybe even contradictory to literate truths and presupposition.
I do not totally agree with you. I have been trying to emphasize the importance of this “lack of accuracy.” As I have said, this makes the story more real because it is an obvious thing that human memory is not 100% reliable and so this makes the reader aware of the fact that maybe lots of things in this book can be “a made up story” either by Vladek or Artie. Even though this inaccuracy does not happen throughout the entire book, there are some parts where I wonder how “real” Vladek’s story is. Sometimes he portrays himself as a hero and it seems that he exagerates a lot.
In regards to what Maria was sayimg about the reliabilty of Vladek’s story I agree that it as a wise decsision for Artie to include inconsistsencies it shows the alue of the human mind asnd makes it more realtable to what happens to memories over time which is why it is important to documenat things as they happen, well the imporatant things so they do not become distorted. Thena again when something is distorted you tend to only remember the important things as Vladek did, and the importance lies in his survival.
accuracy: the extent to which a given measurement agrees with the standard value for that measurement. Compare
it really depends on your perception of “accuracy”. What is the goal of the story? for Artie it was recording Vladek’s story. The story is personal to Vladek, not to a historical analysis of internment camps of the Holocaust. the fact that he records Vladek’s story- historically agreed upon or not- makes it very accurate to Vladek’s personal past.
I thought that the frame of reference through time in this graphic novel was of the most importance for me as I read. There is the past (Vladek’s concrete experience in the war and in the camp as a prisoner), the present (Vladek and Artie’s storytelling dialogue and personal issues throughout), and there’s a hint of the future (ie Artie’s children, Vladek’s and Anja’s death). I think that providing a sort of palpable, yet at the same time vague timeline of the experiences of each of the principal characters was extremely important. The time frame gave a sense of urgency when Vladek and his family were trying to hide in book 1, it gave a sense of longing and perseverance in the camp (book 2, the terrible things that surrounded them, the danger), and gave a sense of hope when the war looked to be over and they were looking to their immediate futures.
The time frame and each character’s place in it was really prominent to me as I read and is something that I would like to employ in my project (ie the concrete memory of my experience in the past, the way they effect me and the people around me in the present, and how they will effect myself and the people important to me in the future), which is all a part of my Family/Personal discourse.
I really like this concept. Including the past, present, and future to show what the memory or experience did for you. This takes some lessons from Ulmer like what the experience did for you. Your project will definitely benefit from this idea. Experiences and memorys don’t effect us in just one way or one dimension, there are many parts to it and I think one of the only ways to show this is to explain your perspective from past, present, future. You can definitely use this technique on a very strong, long memory you have of something that affects you through your parents or something that affected you as a child that will continue on through life. Those types of powerful memories are best suited for this idea.
I agree with you. I just wanted to point out the fact that the Arties “popcycle” happens around these past, present, and future events that you talk about. I mean Artie’s has been growing up hearing what happened with his family during the Holocaust. The fact that he was not there makes it harder for him to identify with his culture/community. So I think this book was a way to help him get a sense of “who he is” and the past present and future of those who belong to his “ethnic group.” And so as Paridhie said, this brings up Ulmer’s concept of the many ways how memory can affect us… Artie feels that even if he does many things, nothing will be better than surviving the Holocaust and so the shadow of his father’s experience lives with him forever.
This definitely agreed the fact that Artie was not apart of the Halocaust and his father and brother was left him witha competing photo of the perfect child and no way to really identify with who he truly is. By craeting the instance of time travel through the comics which in themselves are a distortion of the harsh realities of the Halocaust Artie is able to get a since of who he is through the cracks in Vladek’s stories, the missing links of his mom and his culture. By actually writing out the experience which were not his own and then it allowed for him to realize why he is the way he is in the present part of his life.
The lesson which I would take from Maus, present especially within the first book, would be the sort of butterfly effect which Vladek’s encounters created. It is evidenced through even minute details or characteristics within himself and Artie. The insertions of the present, often through depictions of Artie and Vladek’s interactions amidst a recall of Vladek’s past, allow us to clearly see this impact of Vladek’s experiences and the extent to which it has drastically effected all those involved. Aspects such as Vladek’s frugalness or stubbornness as well as Artie’s lack of patience for his father are highlighted through these blatant insertions of present in order to fully depict this
“butterfly effect.”
I think this is important to my project because it reminds me that our experience permeate in so much of what we do and who we are. Their examination is crucial. So much of what we perceive to be trivial is the most telling. A closer look at these aspects can make for a more cohesive overall picture.
Jenna, I definitely agree with your “butterfly affect” theory and this is apparent throughout the whole book. Vladek does not save food or hoard things for no reason he does this because he has gone through a traumatic experience that Artie and his wife could never understand. Even though this irritates Artie we see that it has an affect on him whether this is positive or negative it still impacts him in some way. I think that when we are creating our project that we all should take a step back and look at our parents past and see how the events in their lives have affected the ones in ours.
This is an interesting point that you present Jenna. The fact that Spiegelman takes such pains to highlight the personal qualitites in all of the main characters in the story (Vladek, Artie, and even Mala) really adds to the mood and overall balance of the story. The fact that we all able to see and physically read about Arte’s frustration/impatience with his father as well as Vladek’s own qualities is crucial to the story, I believe because it adds an indispensable personal quality to the narrative. This would be a great technique to include in a project because it allows the reader to become immersed in your personal memories and allows and accurate depiction of your own personal reality of whatever experience you are trying to explain.
The main lesson I have taken from Maus is the feeling of guilt. Guilt is a primary theme of the book and is evident in both the past story of Vladek and the present story of Art. Vladek has almost a survivor’s guilt associated with being one of the only survivors of his family and in general, being very fortunate enough of surviving the Holocaust at all. It is interesting to note that although he may have survivor’s guilt, Vladek is one of the rare cases that he himself is a racist. One would think that survivor’s guilt would truly humble the individual and draw all moral lessons associated with his experiences in the Holocaust. In addition, Art has an associated guilt with neglecting his father and not being a better son. He also feels guilt from his mother’s suicide. I feel as though writing Maus has relieved a certain amount of guilt on Art’s part because exposing the world to his father’s story almost negates all the guilt he has regarding neglecting his father.
Guilt is an experience we all have shared as human race. Whether big or small, we all make choices and/or mistakes that result in a guilty feeling. Adding this component of guilt to the story allows the reader to connect in a more human emotion way. Vladek and Art’s guilt makes me assess the extent to which I have/had/am experiencing guilt.
You bring up a good point on guilt. I understand where you are coming from and how this could help you in your project. For example, a certain memory you have that evokes many emotions (including guilt), you could focus more on 1 emotion (whether it be guilt or something else). The impact of focusing on one strong emotion is really powerful and it is clearly shown in Maus. Maybe you could use (besides guilt) anger, sorrow, regret, or jealously as an emotion. Those seem to be very powerful and any memory focusing on that would surely help your project.
This book surprised me in that first of all it was a comic book and second that it mixed historical events with personal events that in reality we have no distinguished way of knowing what really happened and what was over dramatized through Vladek’s recollection. I think there are many personal lessons that I myself can take from this but among the things discussed in class I was given different viewpoints that helped me understand the purpose of the book in more depth. One lesson that I think the class as a whole can take from this for our projects would be how to evoke feelings and make others understand how certain things influence us individually through descriptive words of imagery and actual depictions of experiences in our lives. In some parts of the book I had a ball in my stomach and throat from trying to put myself in Vladek and Anja’s situation in the camps; the starving, the beating, the pure fear… I don’t think anyone who didn’t actually experience the Holocaust could really understand what they went through as a group of people or individually but this book really puts into perspective the struggle of these individuals and makes me more thankful for everything I have and how much the world has changed since then.
I agree with this. I feel that we all know what the holocaust was and some stories we have read in our school years like Diaries of Anne Frank and such. Some are very vivid descriptions that we can imagine how they feel but never really know because none of us experienced it. I think that your lesson is a very imortant one for the project because it will make your work that much more real.
I completely agree with you Heather when you wrote, “One lesson that I think the class as a whole can take from this for our projects would be how to evoke feelings and make others understand how certain things influence us individually through descriptive words of imagery and actual depictions of experiences in our lives”
I understand that this class is not about pathos, ethos, and logos, however, these elements prove to be significant in what you are saying. His descriptive words of imagery, evoke feelings in us allowing us to make a connection even though we did not experience it. The “disruptions and interruptions” prove critical in evoking feeling and bringing the story together as they add elements which differentiate present/past, and add missing details to the story. I believe all of these elements will allow us to make a stronger more significant project.
One specific lesson or instruction from Maus that I can take is the fact that one part of the story is told in the past (as Artie drawing in comic form Vladecks “own” experiences as he shares them with Artie) while the other is told in the present with Artie and Vladeck (who has aged) since the experiences of the Holocaust. These two past and present come together and even though the events of the Holocaust have finished, the impact of Vladecks choices and his experience and memories of those times, have influenced and impacted his lifestyle whether it be his interaction with his son Artie or his interaction with Mara his new wife, or his day to day lifestyle in general whether it being not spending money often or eating every bit of food on the plate etc. These experiences have not only effected Vladeck but have also been brought down upon Artie and have influenced him and his lifestyle whether he believes it or not.
By Vladeck sharing all of his memories and his “memes” to the Artie (next generation) this has impacted Artie in a way that he really does not know how to handle whether it be trying to find something that he has accomplished in his life that he could compare to what his father Vladeck “accomplished” in the Holocaust to living in the shadow of his father and the events that occured and never really running away from that past because those memories and experience that not only Vladeck went through but his whole family has trickled down to Artie.
The lesson i got from Maus was that although many people go through the same historical events their experiences are always going to be different. Vladek told his son the struggles him and his mother had gone through in order to keep their family safe and together. Not every Jew came out of the war alive or had trauma like Vladek had. I think another important lesson to take from this is that parents tend to install their views and ideologies of the world upon their children. Vladek always made Artie feel bad because everything came easy to him and he never had to struggle as much as he did during the war. But we have to keep in mind that individuals experiences is what makes them who they are. This is where the conflicts between Vladek and Artie come into play. Artie does not understand why his father worries so much about saving for the future or why he is the way he is because Artie did not experience hunger or the struggles that he went through. But Vladek makes it seem at times that Artie has been given everything to and does not value the same things as he does. I am glad i was able to understand this lesson. Now i can relate to my own life. Before i didnt quite understand why my mother is the way she is about things i see minimal. She had to struggle to come to this country with my father and me in order to escape persecution from the government and give me a better life. But because i was so young at the time i never really experienced the struggles she talks about now. But at least now i can understand her a little better.
Very good points and I much do agree. I think to add and further your discussion would be to include how Vladek insist that Art eat everything on his plate. Also, when Vladek tells Art that medicine is “junk food” and to stay healthy to avoid the 30 plus pills that he must take every day. Vladek is definitely using his experiences for the betterment of his son. And although Art may perceive the requests and instructions as nagging, he recognizes his father’s past and is able to understand where he comes from. i.e. eating everything on his plate because the Holocaust required Vladek is save and cherish every morsel of food. Vladek and Art’s relationship in that sense alone makes us all reflect on our own experiences with our parents and their history to better understand their assistance (or perhaps neglect).
Adding to my post, when making my project i will try to incorporate my personal experiences that make me unique because this is what makes me who i am and act how i do. Maybe people can also understand where i am coming from.
We argued in class last night about whether or not that particuliar frame where he goes back and changes a detail from his memory took away from his legatimacy and accuracy or not. However, the fact that he did experience the holocaust is not arguable, and this ads legatimicay and significance to his story. Therefore, I believing adding elements from your personal experiences will definately strenghten your project, on both a legatimacy level, and the notion of people better understanding you. I will do the same thing in incorporating parts of my past and history, as they have shaped me to strengthen my project.
The lesson I learned from Maus that I can put into practice.
Family or a family member can positively and negatively impact your life, outlook and Career.
During the discussion of Maus this all became clear to me and I realized how my current family and career is in many ways reflective in the figurative sense.
I felt that Vladek was a burden, a suffocating shadow for Artie. He told him what to wear, what & how to do things, and even refused to acknowledge his fiance unless she converted to Judaism.
I felt for Artie, I felt trapped for Artie maybe because at some point in my college career I too was suffocating under the stronghold of my parents.
In the beginning of his second book he informs the reader that his father died and years later was expecting his first child and could not shake the influence of his father and doubted his own abilities.
They say that life and death is in the power of the tongue. Vladek having seen death and feeling the enslavement of starvation through his experience at the Holocaust transferred that to Artie in a figuratively. Vladek saved money, preserved food, remarried and kept crap, Because he knew how it was to be poor, starved, felt alone and had less than nothing.
But Vladek gave life to Anja’s story through his fonds memories of the love of his life. By telling his story, he told hers as well. Vladeks recount of how they fell in love and her consistent writing has led Artie to write his own story. Anja impacted her son after death to become a successful author.
Mary makes a great point when she brings up the importance of family. I feel that this story is an excellent application of Ulmer’s teachings on the family discourse. The more we observe stories and retellings of different families (and the more I think back and explore my own family life), I see more specifically how family permeates so many areas of who one becomes because of the ways in which family is present (or absent) from the very beginning. Just as Artie grew up leaning his parents values and customs, I have grown up under my parent’s influence. Now that I’m over the common stage of teenage rebellion (trying to separate myself from my family under the thinking that becoming an individual meant disowning your family and similarities you share), I realize more and more that I am the person I am today largely in part to the way my parents have raised me, and the environment in which I have grown up.
The point Emily restates about the family discourse is definitely true. Not only does our story include our personal experience, but the experiences of our family as well, because their story is, in a sense at least, our story as well. Whatever Vladek experienced in his past that made him who he is, is also important in telling Art’s tale because Vladek is obviously largely responsible for the person that Art would become.
Wow, Maus…. I would definiely say that set of novels collectively emcompasses the ability to take one’s experiences personal family experiences (Vladek’s) and historical events(Halocaust) and shape one’s life outlook( Artie). One lesson that I feel the clas cold take from this novel to shape our widesite is the ability to take historical events that occur throughout our life and during the time that we do this project and relate our experiences around the events. The way that Maus was written as a comic book was creative because the comics distort the seriousness of the Halocaust as it is a complex event. Just as Artie included the inconstencies in Vladek’s story, for example the shoesx asnd the orchetra we cs take this methid for ourselves, because it leaves room for the audience to make inquiries and put themselves in the story being told. It is because Vladek projected his views and thoughts off on Artie as so many parents will often do as a result of their experiences in an effort to protect their children from similar experiences that a since odf resent,ent is created. One can learn to distinguish their life from their parents’, yet take their experienceds asnd the lesson they have learned through survival or whatever it may be and apply it to an experience in your “own” life.
I just keep thinking about the theory of natural standpoint. Vladek has a very distinct and unique personal standpoint because of his suffering in Auschwitz. The mere struggle to survive altered his personality, morals, habits and beliefs so much that it profoundly affected every one around him. Natural standpoint applies to every character in the book, with the holocoust being the one of the main contributors to it. Each of our unique paths in life produce a unique natural standpoint. It is our own, like a fingerprint, two people can never have the same natural standpoint.
I agree with Julia. It all depends on the perspective of the narrator. If this story was told from a different standpoint, it would have been a totally different story. What if this story was told from the perspective of one of the guards that isolated the Jews? Would the story have a different feeling of guilt? Is someone in the work telling their German story of how they tourtured people on comand?
One of the lessons I took specifically from Maus was the improvement a visual format can have in telling a story. Perhaps this stood out to me because I have never read a graphic novel before, however I really appreciated how organized the dialogue became when it was visually separated or categorized. Instead of writing in the mode of literacy (eg “Then Vladek said, ‘blah blah blah.’ Artie replied, ‘blah, blah?’”) Each character’s statements were organized into “speech bubbles” that clearly distinguished who said what. Similarly, when the frames focused on Vladek’s retelling of his story, his narrative, third person voice was featured in boxes outside the frame, while the characters he gave dialogue to had their respective speech bubbles. I felt that this made the story very easy to take in from a visual perspective and I didn’t find myself confused or rereading to find out who said something in an extended conversation. I feel that I will apply this method to my own project by utilizing the visual advancements electracy provides to tell my story.
I definitely couldn’t agree more Emily. I thought about this too. It was really simple and easy to follow which was a nice surprise because at first glance, I thought it was going to be extremely confusing. I loved the style and the fact that it wasn’t a “typical” medium of literature. His method could be really helpful in your project (or my own) because it could help you organize your information. If you wanted a “third voice” like the narrative, you could include that. Maybe the organization of boxes and speech bubbles could be something you incorporate into a certain part of your project that involves such a memory.
I totally agree with you. I found this book, particularly book I, very easy to read and not only that, but also the way how it is structured allows me to remember specific details about the story line. It happened to me that whenever I wanted to refer to a particular point on the book, I either remembered the dialogue box or the image. I personally like the way how the author backs up all the narration with images and specifc details of what is going on and I am definetely going to take this into account while making my project.
One of the major parts of Maus we discussed in class was the point that Art Spiegelmen has included good and bad qualities of himself and Vladek. This was an interesting observation because it pointed out that not everything has to be “happy-go-lucky.” This is definitely a lesson I wanted to incorporate into my project because now I see the impact a story has when including such information. It doesn’t have to be a perfect ending or a perfect storytelling – it can involve flaws and show wrong. I actually admire the fact that Spiegelmen was gutsy enough to disclose such personal information. I think I would censor the information a little more than Spiegelmen, but I still want to get on a really personal level with my experiences.
I noticed that as well Paridhie. I remember Hink saying “more real, more real”. By depicting his family and himself in a ‘good & bad’ light, personally made me relate to the characters. Stepping away from the masks, I know see these characters as real people, with real problems, with real personalities. And when I can relate it makes it all the more entertaining. I will incorporate this level of detail in my project because I find it useful in reading and understanding someone’s work and essentially thats what I want for my audience to do as well. This is a great point that I will use.
I totally agree with Paridhie that not all the experiences/memories have to be good or happy. I feel that you don’t even have to like a character in order for it to be effective. I feel like Spiegelman takes steps toward this when he formed his characters. I may not necessarily like Vladek or Mala, for instance, but their comments, memories, and prejudices are important for the reality of the story and the purity of the experience. To project that all the characters have to be good or nice or likeable, is inauthentic and disingenuous, and doesn’t make for good writing or reading. I think, as Paridhie hinted at, that telling the truth and the whole story is the most effective thing.
I liked that the positive and negative qualities of each of the characters were described and very well expressed also. This made the depictionss of the characters (Jews being rats) more humanlike and more real to the reader.
A main lesson from Maus, that we have spent much time discussing in class is the idea of disruptions from the reading. A significant example of this happens on page 60, in the middle/right frame, as a need for a shoe repairmen arises, Vladek volunteers and gets the gestapos boot fixed perfectly. Vladek was not a shoe maker, and the audience may wonder how he knows how to repair shoes, and with this “Interruption” frame, he explains how learned about shoe fixing from watching his cousin in Miloch in a ghetto shoe shop, and the steps he knows for repairing a shoe. ( Even though the repairs needed were beyond his experience, he trades a days ration of bread to a real shoe maker in Auschwitz and gets the boot reparied). This interruption/disruption in the reading successfully brings the story together (by filling in the gap of how he knows how to repair shoes) and gives background information on Vladek, his thought process, and his skills.
So in conclusion- I will have small “disruptions” in my page, which will enhance the electracy of the page by filling in details and allowing my thoughts and ideas to be portrayed more thoroughly.
The lesson that I took from the graphic novel Maus is that things or stories from the past can effect the future. Through Vledek’s stories to his son,I could tell that he had regregts or guilt built up in his heart, but because of the tradegies that he went throught he was a stronger person. Being a survivor holds many responsibilities of the people who were not as fortunate. I learned the lesson the peoples stoeies can have a direct impact on my life.
The most important thing I can take from Maus when planning for my mystory is the level of honesty that is required to accurately portray yourself. Art Spiegelmen included every little detail of his coming to terms with his own mystory. He needed to tell his parents story in order to find his story, and the most honest way to do that was to leave nothing out. It is important that we don’t pick and choose flattering things, but rather lay out a “tell all” landscape. In the second book, there is a frame where a reporter asks him what the message is he would like people to take away from Maus, and Art says he wasn’t thinking about conveying a message. His lack of an agenda allowed him to portray himself and his family experience in the most accurate light possible.
I do think honesty is important but I do think that in Maus and in writing our own mystory, it all is distorted by our own feelings and mood. Artie says to therapist he can’t visualize how it must have been to be in their situation. He didn’t understand how Vladek miss orchestra playing when fearing for his life and starving. When he was in car with wife when he says you don’t normally let me talk this long, I think this is joke letting us know that he did intentionally edit stuff out. I do agree that he portrayed the characters well, but he was able to do so because he was fully involved in story to show how he honestly felt.
This can be also useful in working on our projects and we can use the lessons and readings from the book to be able to lay ouy a bigger picture with details and descriptions whether via storytelling, or pictures, or thoughts when working on our project. Also I believe that the deviation from regular text form to comic form allowed for the book to be more easily described and told in a more “raw” and “real” way.
IMO, and I didn’t get to mention this during class, I think that MAUS is an attempt to decode the indomitable figure in Artie’s life that is Vladek.
I wen’t through several iterations of what I thought this book is about, and I think I’m fairly secure in this idea. Vladek was a very hard man, his niceties were few and far between and often let his gruff nature run unchecked. It reminds me of other movies or books that seem to be about daddy issues.
Vladek was a super jew, a living legend for Artie. The man had survived the Holocaust, fought in WWII, and still had enough fire to be repairing his own drainpipe at his old age, in such a damaged body. Vladek was a jew among jews, and this untouchable pedestal he rests upon made it very hard for Artie to come to terms with his own heritage. It elevated the fascination he has with his father to unreachable heights.
I can tell that for Artie, growing up in a household with such a prominent figure and dominating personality probably instilled a constant need to prove himself both to himself, and to his father. This book is an attempt to find the man behind the mask so to speak, to find out what makes this jew of jews tick. In the end, like other classmates said, this book didn’t NEED to be written, as we have enough stories about WWII and the Holocaust. The point of this story for Artie was his super father figure, Vladek.
As much as we have discussed in here all the finer details and points, I feel that this point needed to be said. I also think we might be making mountains out of molehills with examining this book, as it seems like a pretty straightforward story. I wasn’t left confused or contemplating the metaphysics of what happened. It’s a story of a post-war generation jew coming to terms with his own heritage and his dominant father figure.
I simply appreciate the story being told in comic book form because it was easier on my mind after reading all my other books for my other classes, and it helped keep me interested to see illustrations along with the story itself.
The Maus, a comic novel that is more like an autobiography of Vladek Spiegelman during Hitler’s Europe. The story is written in the present tense with the past events retold through conversations between Artie and his father. As Evelyn mentioned, they both feel guilty one for surviving the Holocaust and the other for not being there and not having the best relationship with his father. While the first book is the story of Vladek, the second one tends to be more about Artie’s struggle while writting the book; for me, each book tell different stories; hence, they can stand alone. I noticed a very selfish Artie; he visited his father just to get infomartion for his book.
Arties anxiety for creating a “perfect” novel allows the reader to get a lot of details and information. However, these details might be disrupting while reading; what I noticed is that Vladek’s story line is always backed up either by images, maps, or other people’s opinions. The fact that most of the pages are packed with info. and images make the reader lose track of the storyline, but it may also me the story more real.
For my project, I would try to avoid throwing so much information all at once. I like what Spiegelman did at the beginning of the book, he gave the context and the time frame. I also liked the way how introduced his characters and the “mask” detailed is something that makes the book very especial and unique (though it might have some influence from Animal Farm)
lol. see my blog.
The lesson I take is that Maus succeeds as a relay of emotion for Artie because of the inclusion of Vladek’s story. As discussed last night I feel the novel is centralized around Artie trying to identify himself as a Jew and not another story of the Holocaust. This graphic novel is successful relaying Artie’s feelings/mood by showing how and what he chooses to see. Artie in the novel points out that he cannot visualize what it must have been like. Artie also notes that reality is too complex for a comic. I take this as Maus was never meant to be telling events of Holocaust, but to tell how it still directly influenced him through his father’s story and memories of his mother.
I agree with you Eric and I thought that this waas more so expressed during Maus II as more of the book was centered in Artie’s present rather than the past of Vladeck.
The lesson I learned from Maus that I can put into practice.
Family or a family member can positively and negatively impact your life, outlook and Career.
During the discussion of Maus this all became clear to me and I realized how my current family and career is in many ways reflective in the figurative sense.
I felt that Vladek was a burden, a suffocating shadow for Artie. He told him what to wear, what & how to do things, and even refused to acknowledge his fiance unless she converted to Judaism.
I felt for Artie, I felt trapped for Artie maybe because at some point in my college career I too was suffocating under the stronghold of my parents.
In the beginning of his second book he informs the reader that his father died and years later was expecting his first child and could not shake the influence of his father and doubted his own abilities.
They say that life and death is in the power of the tongue. Vladek having seen death and feeling the enslavement of starvation through his experience at the Holocaust transferred that to Artie in a figuratively. Vladek saved money, preserved food, remarried and kept crap, Because he knew how it was to be poor, starved, felt alone and had less than nothing.
But Vladek gave life to Anja’s story through his fonds memories of the love of his life. By telling his story, he told hers as well. Vladeks recount of how they fell in love and her consistent writing has led Artie to write his own story. Anja impacted her son after death to become a successful author.
I agree with this. I actually also thought about this when we had class Thursday night. I know from my own personal experience in my home that some of the ways I think and act are based off of how my parents lived their own lives, treated me, and taught me how to live mine.
I agree with you mary this family impact is very strong whether it be positive or negative, so in order to create our project examining these impacts would be highly important. The use of recounting our memories as well as interactions with our family members friends, and what we pull from our multiple popcycles, then applying them to our current character is highly important for examining and depicting a complete synthesis of ourselves and thus crucial for the project.
Going with what Phillip said about each character’s negative and positive qualities, I think this was an important aspect of the book as well. It is important to shed light on Vladek’s imperfections, stubborness, and weird quirks. It makes me think about last night in class when the word reverence was brought up. In essence, we are supposed to only shed holocoust survivors in a positive and respectful light. However, Vladek’s faults, as well as Artie’s faults, are essential to the story. The reader needs real insight into these characters’ lives and day-to-day interactions. Vladek and Artie did not have the perfect father-son relationship, but it is important to portray it accurately. It gives more meaning to the story, makes it more real, more relatable, and also shows how the effects of the holocoust extend far beyond the end of World War II. This goes back to my earlier post on natural standpoint. Someone once told me never to judge someone because you never know what they might have gone through to make them the way they are. Yes Vladek is a pain in the ass and senile, but I never let that affect the way I see and understand his true character. His true character is clearly evident in his amazing story of survival.