Maus I Essay

During World War II and the Holocaust, there was not only mistrust for the government but there was also plenty of mistrust between friends and neighbors. In the novel Maus: A Survivors Tale Vladek Spiegelman makes it very clear to his son Artie, one cannot count on their friends. He makes the point that in time of hardship, friends will abandon you quite quickly. Vladek says, “Friends? Your friends…If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week…then you could see what it is, friends! (5-6). Throughout the novel, we see examples of this gloomy point proven repeatedly. Maus shows us how fragile our morals and ethics can be when pushed to the limits. The bonds that hold us together as humans: friendship, family, community disintegrate. We see many situations where choices come to either risk one’s own life to help a fellow human being or to do nothing in the name survival. We see how moral high ground doesn’t ensure survival, some who seem most deserving die, while some of the worst seem to flourish.
Our first real breakdown of morality is shown shortly after the Nazis start collecting the elderly Jews. Mr. Zylberberg was relentless to give up his parents. The Nazis gave him an ultimatum, if the Karmios don’t show up on three days you two will be sent in their place. Vladek points out that some Jews thought in this way: if they gave to the Germans a few Jews, they could save the rest. And at least they could save themselves (87). We see how their moral ethics disappear when their lives depend on it. The most noticeable part on this page is the two police officers that come to collect Mr. Zylberberg. They are two Jewish officers, who have the mentality of siding with the enemy for some leverage. Throughout these pages it isn’t mentioned that they were Jewish police officers, we are given this idea graphically by the representation of the officers being mice.
A very good illustration of fragile moral and ethics is when the Spiegelmans decided to give