Preview

Character Analysis for Maus by Art Speigleman

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2020 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Character Analysis for Maus by Art Speigleman
Character List- round or flat
Art Spiegelman- r * Art Spiegelman is the author and narrator of Maus, and also one of the story's main characters. * Born in Stockholm after the Holocaust, he is the only surviving child of Vladek and Anja Spiegelman. * He is married to Francoise, a French woman who converted to Judaism upon their engagement. * Maus centers around two primary narratives: Vladek's experiences as a Jew in World War II Poland, and Art's relationship with his aging father. * When the story opens, Art lives in New York and does not see his father very often, though he lives only a short distance away in Queens. * But as Art begins to draw this story about Vladek's Holocaust experiences, he begins to visit his father more and more frequently. * Their relationship is strained, as Vladek's gruff demeanor and unwillingness to spend money routinely infuriate his son. * Art is filled with complex feelings towards his father ranging from admiration for his survival in Auschwitz, to frustration towards his aggravating tendencies, and guilt for his own neglect of a father who has lived through so many difficult times. * Art also has complex emotions towards the Holocaust. Though he did not live through it personally, he feels that he is constantly affected by it. * His father's personality was largely formed from his experiences in Auschwitz, and this personality in turn directly affected the way in which Art was raised.

Vladek Spiegelman- r * Vladek is Art Spiegelman's father. * He grew up in pre-war Poland, and much of Maus traces his experiences in the Holocaust, as told in his own words to his son. * As the story opens in 1978, he is married to his second wife, Mala. The couple does not get along * Vladek's personality is largely dominated by his Holocaust experiences. * During the Holocaust, he exhibited a spectacular resourcefulness, work ethic, and presence of mind that often enabled

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    MAUS by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel are two stories of Holocaust survivors and their experiences in Europe as Jews throughout World War Two. MAUS is told through a graphic novel format and recounts experiences of the author’s father in the Holocaust, who experienced the Holocaust as an adult. It also has some context in more modern times, showcasing the author’s discussions with his father. Night is a memoir written by a survivor of the Holocaust who experienced the concentration camps as a child and teenager. Both share experiences, but they have varying views because of their different ages and upbringings. In MAUS by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel, important aspects of the stories include the father-son relationship, faith in God, and dehumanization; these themes are addressed by both characters and their ideals share similarities but have differences as well.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Vladek's Quirks and Habits

    • 1578 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Holocaust was a traumatizing and depressing time period in history due to the Nazis in the leadership of their dictator Adolf Hitler. The Nazis were a Political Party during World War ΙΙ from 1941 through 1945. Many Jews during this time were discriminated, murdered, and humiliated in front of many other Jews and Germans. “Six million Jews died in a merciless way at the hands of the Nazis” (Sherbok 1). The Holocaust is an unforgettable period in history that left a scar on many Jews including Vladek. Vladek was a Jew and a survivor of the Holocaust that experienced and witnessed several tragedies during this time. The war was over when his son Art Spiegelman is willing to write a book about the Holocaust. He asked his father Vladek if he could help him write his book by telling him his story and experiences during this time, Vladek agrees. Due to the Holocaust and unforgettable experiences Vladek went through, his life was never the same, he changed a lot in the manner of being more careful with money and resourceful with the things he had. Vladek also became very strict with his son Art Spiegelman and had a very strong character this is reasonable because as a young man he went through a crisis by going to the war at a young age, lost his wife and first son. The Holocaust definitely changed his style of living and his personality that led to a lot of consequences.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maus

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The story has two main threads. The first is the true story of Holocaust survivor Vladek Spiegelman's experiences as a young Jewish man during the horrors leading up to and including his confinement in Auschwitz. The second intertwining story is about Vladek as an old man, recounting his history to his son Art, the author of the book, and the complicated relationship between the two of them. It's a difficult process for both father and son, as Vladek tries to make sense of his twighlight years, indelibly marked by his experiences and a slave to the processes he had to resort to in order to make it through. On this level, it's also about Art, as he comes to terms with what his father went through, while still finding the more irritating aspects of his father's personality difficult to live with.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Maus, written by Art Spiegelman, is a graphic novel that tells a story within a story. The book portrays Art’s father’s experiences as a Jew caught in the middle of World War II. What makes this portrayal especially interesting is the way the Art tells the story in his father’s own words. Vladek’s accounts of what happened to him are displayed within the bigger picture of the novel, which is how these experiences affect his current relationship with his son Art. Maus is significantly different from any other holocaust book I have ever read and I believe it stands out particularly because it is a graphic novel. Personally, I feel that this genre of writing is fascinating and that Maus would not be as effective a piece of literature if the author had not chosen to write it as a graphic novel. Some critics would argue that Art’s comic book style is juvenile and the lack of written text demeans the severity of the subject, however I completely disagree. His choice to visually tell his father’s story through illustrations, portray the characters as animals, and use of language throughout the text is what makes this story jump off the page. Because of these decisions, Maus does a great job of speaking the unspeakable.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of all the Holocaust movies that exist, one in particular stands out. directed by Roberto Benigni in 1997, and often described as the slightly "happy" Holocaust movie, Life is Beautiful tells the story of an Italian man named Guido, leading up to and during the World War II and Nazi rise to power. Despite telling a Holocaust story, this film has a very light mood because of Guido's happy-go-lucky nature and his enthusiasm, but is also very emotional and sad at times because of Guido's dedication to protecting his son from the horrors of the labor camps. Maus on the other hand; a visual novel written and drawn by Art Spiegelman concerning the Holocaust, is a lot darker and heavier in terms of its themes, similar to most other Holocaust media. This visual novel follows a character named Vladek Spiegelman in World War II Poland, and his experiences leading up to and following the Nazi occupation of Poland. When compared as Holocaust stories, Maus and Life is Beautiful show many differences in their treatment of Jewish people along with presenting very distinct amounts of Nazi influence and presence.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    11 million people lost their lives in the Holocaust, and of those 11 million, 6 million were Jews. Among the survivors was Vladek Spiegelman. He managed to stay alive while his wife suffered from depression, his youngest son died, and his wife’s entire family was murdered by Nazis. There were many things he did to survive, and two of these include luck and skill. Both a combination of his luck and skill helped to keep Vladek alive during the Holocaust.…

    • 1409 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maus 1

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Art: a true Holocaust survivor. Though he was born in Sweden after the war and did not experience the Holocaust personally, his life is deeply affected by the event, both directly and indirectly. To begin with, Art is troubled by nightmares and fears of the Holocaust, as he fantasizes when he was a child about certain degrading happenings. Secondly, he is impacted by the intense, traumatizing toll the Holocaust had on his father, which, subsequently, was transferred onto him. As a result of the trauma of his parents, Art was raised in a strict, decent manner that demanded he treat life with the highest regard and gratitude, being he did not have to suffer the horrendous trials which the previous generations went through. And lastly he feels guilt over not being a good son to his father, being that their relationship is rocky, arguments constantly break out, and he has a reluctance to help.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's blues

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1 – What statement dos the story make about the relationship of art to life or about the relationship of art to suffering?…

    • 1173 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine living through the Holocaust as a European Jew. Some of the hardships of those who survived the Holocaust seem unbearable. The book Maus by Art Spiegelman depicts his father's story as he lives in Poland during WWII as a Jew. It covers his life while he was hiding from the German army and after when he was brought to Auschwitz. Vladek Spiegelman was lucky to have survived the Holocaust because, of the dangerous situations he encountered, the time he spent in concentration camps and the deadly illnesses he contracted.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the graphic novel Maus, by Art Spiegelman, it can be argued that Vladek’s personality could be a result of his childhood and of his grueling experience of living through the Holocaust. Throughout the novel we often see Art Spiegelman pondering the question of why his father acts the way he does. When we go through situations in life in which we must see things that are disturbing, we tend to change our perspective on the world. This relates back to Vladeks character and the way he changed throughout the novel. Vladek's experiences with the Holocaust psychologically scarred him forever, these experiences have made him non-trusting, cheap, and selfish.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Vladek And Maus

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To conclude Maus II and the Maus series itself, readers are exposed to the rather emotional and long-awaited reunion of Vladek and Anja after the end of the Holocaust. After describing this, Vladek states, “More I don’t need to tell you” (Spiegelman 136), and the narrative abruptly ends on this positive note. Specifically, this occurs because Vladek’s struggles and experiences during the Holocaust ended in the moment he was reunited with the woman he loved. For Vladek, this moment marked the end of the pain and suffering he endured, for he could finally live life normally again now that he had his wife back. As a result, there was no more information for him to share surrounding the Holocaust because everything that took place after this point…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In their descriptions, they explain their story in great detail, serving as paramount evidence that Maus is a novel. The pictures with the text give readers, especially visual learners, a better understanding of the concepts the author is trying to get across. Finally, Maus is a novel because it is connected through a sequence of events. Maus depicts the events of Vladek’s life, starting with the meeting of his wife and the holocaust to his rough relationship with his son. Throughout the book, many other events occur that intertwine with this sequence. The precense of a sequence of events is another reason to why Maus is a novel. Therefore, Maus is a novel because it deals with human experiences, it is narrated in great detail, and it is a connected sequence of…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Art declares the metaphor by saying, “they’re gone. Sometimes I just don’t feel like a functioning adult” (Spiegelman II, 43:1). Art, in child form, walks through the streets filled with surreal concentration camp victims to see his shrink. The corpses work as icons to represent the nameless guilt that is affecting Art. During the session with his psychologist, Art remains in child-sized form as he explores the struggles of trying to visualize and occupy the experience of a person in Auschwitz. When Pavel mentions the book, Art says, “My book? Hah! What book?? Some part of me doesn’t want to draw or think about Auschwitz. I can’t visualize it clearly, and I can’t BEGIN to imagine what it felt like” (Spiegelman II, 46:1). Perhaps Spiegelman uses iconography as a solution to this problem. By making the visual elements of the story and the characters less detailed, Spiegelman takes an objective approach to the haunting experience. As Art walks home from his appointment with Pavel, he begins to brainstorm his project again, no longer distracted by his guilt and the memories of his father. Art says, “Gee. I don’t understand why…but these sessions with Pavel somehow make me feel better…Maybe I could show the tin shop and now draw the drill press. I hate to draw machinery” (Spiegelman II, 46: 8-10). Here, the moment-to-moment closure displays Art’s…

    • 1460 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    When condemned in a state of division, segregation, and chaos, look for lingers of promise and cling to faith. For Art Spiegelman's father, Vladek Spiegelman (a Holocaust survivor), he turns to family as both a beacon of inclination and a social advantage. When asked about family during this time, Vladek makes a statement saying “it was everybody to take care for himself”, despite the underlying privilege and help to which his family provides him. He fails to recognize the reputation, connections, and determination tied into his story, with family being more than mainly responsible for his survival.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Nazi Degenerate Art Exhibition is a showcase of artworks that have been stolen and destroyed by Nazi’s at the time. These works of art were known to be “degenerate” according to Adolf Hitler; because it was far different than the classical artworks that had more meaning and made more sense rather than abstract modern art. Originally the art show was put on in order to shame the artists and expose the German’s to the unacceptable artwork. The Exhibition was presented to “demonstrate that modernist tendencies, such as abstraction, are the result of genetic inferiority and society’s moral decline” (moma.org). Hitler related abstract paintings to be the product of mental illness. “Entartere Kunst” had over a million people visit the exhibition.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays