As the success of Artie's book begins to grow he experiences the stress of success. He has mixed feelings concerning guilt, remorse, and overall depression. This reminds me of the scene in "Little Shop of Horrors" where Seymour's success manifests into guilt and anxiety.
During the book, Art's girlfriend, Francoise, picks up a black hitch-hiker. Vladek becomes furious and he shows a side of himself that is heavily racist. Vladek is a Jewish man who has been persecuted for being Jewish therefor, you would think he would look to others as equals. However, this is an ironic example of intolerance today. Any man in America will tell you that the Holocaust, Slavery, and Segregation are all horrible things however, we still have major problems with racism in America. This has shown through in many cases throughout the 21st century. The most recent example was the death of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who was arrested for the possession of a legal knife and then died a week later after police brutality and negligence sent him into cardiac arrest. The message of this post is that acknowledging that past prejudices are wrong is not enough. Racism and prejudice shouldn't be allowed to survive because 6 million Jews weren't and neither was Freddie Gray.
At this point in the graphic novel, Artie has discussed the Holocaust vividly with Vladek. After a day of Auschwitz stories Art begins talking to his wife as they become annoyed with the flies. Artie kills the pests with a "bug killing gas" and they resume their conversation inside. This small moment is a strong example of irony and a parallel to the Holocaust. Artie and his girlfriend decide that they do not want to share space with flies because they are bothersome. Just as the Germans did to Jews in concentration camps, Artie gasses the harmless pests and goes inside.
The Jews are scared like mice
but hunted like rats. Crammed together with Typhus lice, Doomed to die and become a stat. 6 million died, Hunted by the cats. Long tails made it hard to hide, It was inevitable; the gas. Polish pork picked sides. They brown nosed Germans, or with the Rats they died. No one won in the Holocaust. There was only death. Those who survived, Couldn't get it out of their head. Vladek Spiegelman is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who's stories, recollections, and memories help Art, his son, create MAUS. He experiences horrible pains in the Holocaust and Auschwitz. Louis Zamperini is a WW2 veteran who survived a plane crash, 47 days on a raft in the ocean, and years in brutal Japanese POW camps.
Both people survived the unthinkable pains of human brutality and physical, as well as, emotional corrosion. While many in their situation were killed, or killed themselves, Vladek and Louis are renowned for their resilience and strategy within their situations. Vladek, being a multi-skilled, tri-lingual, money-saving, Jew, managed to save food, bribe officials, escape death, and eventually live through the Holocaust. Louis used his skills as an Olympic level track star and strong willed fighter pilot to steal food, perform POW jobs, and ultimately withstand extreme levels of pain on a daily basis. Both men cheated an untimely death in two examples of human brutality during WW2. The combination of not knowing when the war would end and sheer resilience managed to save them. Even after surviving the two men struggled with "post-war pains". Vladek suffered from Diabetes, Typhus relapse, and heart conditions. He also lost his beloved wife, Anja, who committed suicide due to the lingering emotional pain that the Holocaust left her. Louis struggled with alcoholism and PTSD and his goal of becoming an Olympic athlete slipped away. Louis is quoted as saying that if he had to do it all again, he would kill himself. I believe that Vladek would do the same. Written by Art Spiegelman, MAUS is a 2 part graphic novel that displays the horrid events of the Holocaust in a 300 page metaphor. Nationalities and ethnic groups are heavily divided in the time period therefor, Spiegelman uses different species of animals to symbolize different groups of people. In one of the greatest pieces of literature in history, Art Spiegelman shows the destruction of the Holocaust through the eyes of a survivor's emotionally scarred son.
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May 2015
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