Idek Valegelman Sparknotes

Essay #1: Maus analysis Thousands of books have been written about the holocaust, reciting their version of the unspoken events and informing others of the injustice, hoping this will never repeat itself again. Even so, none of those books compare to Maus I and II, Meta comics written by Art Spiegelman in 1986. In these books, the cartoonist tells the story of Valdek Spiegelman, his father, going through Auschwitz. The particularity of his comic is that he illustrated the Jews as mice and the Germans as cats, as well as revealing the hard time he had depicturing these events. This comic reveals how a person’s personality and state of mind can be altered drastically after experiencing traumatic events. This is shown by Valdek’s daily life,
his relationship with his son and Art Spiegelman comic book itself.

Humans that undergo hardships and limited resources have a tendency to develop surviving skills and keeping those habits their entire life.
Valdek’s illustrates this consequence through his multiple obsessions. For example, in the comic, Valdek will constantly be pedaling on a static bicycle. It is extremely important for him to stay healthy since during his time at the concentration camps, visiting the doctor meant you were going to die. As well, his need to stay healthy is shown by the way he takes care of his medications. Valdek will make “into daily portions [his] pills… It’s 6 pills for the heart, 1 for diabetes and maybe 25 or 30 vitamins.” Then, he will explain to Art that it is “ For [his] condition, [he] must fight to save myself.” (Maus I 26) Another surviving habit that people might develop from the lack of resources is to start collecting things since they were once in need. Valdek keeps picking up objects from the trash he considers pertinent keeping. For example, one day he goes on a walk with art and he picks up a telephone wire because “it good for trying things”(Maus I 116). So, these extreme habits that the cartoonist shows through his dad demonstrate that living life-treating event transforms the essence of a person in order to adapt to those situations affecting that person’s actions from later
on.

Traumatic situations can distort a person’s perspective of life and by so altering their way of thinking of and.
This can cause trouble having stable relationships with their surrounding since they cannot view the world like he or she does. Art Spiegelman relationship with his father illustrates accurately this phenomenon. Art will feel pressured since any kind of suffering he experience will never compare to what his father lived in Auschwitz. For example, when Art was young and felt sad about being left behind by his friends his dad emphasis if you lock them together in a room with no food for a week then you could see what it is, friends!”(Maus I 6) Art’s feelings are not welcomed; instead his father minimizes his pain making it hard for them to have a deep bond. As well, Spiegelman tells the readers: “When I was little if I didn’t eat everything mom served, pop and I would argue ‘til I ran to my room crying… but pop just wanted to leave the leftover food around until I ate it.” (Maus I 43) Valdek’s mania of not wasting food leads them to argue a lot and contributing to their conflicting relationship. Also, Valdek and his wife lost their first child, Richelieu, during the war and this cause a lot of trouble for the family dynamic. Art would always compete with his dead brother since he could” never threw tantrums or got in any kind of trouble. [He] was an ideal kid.”(Maus II 15) Hence, it is extremely hard to be in a healthy relationship with someone that lived such
atrocious circumstance.

The sanity of an individual can be compromised after experiencing shocking events. By so, Spiegelman demonstrates with his comic that human mind is fragile and complex. For example, he gains fame with his comic novel on the holocaust and he feels as if he was benefiting from all the persons that died back then. He illustrates this by drawing him sitting at his desk over a pile of corpses. He also expresses that due to his dad’s dreadful pass mixed to his, he sometimes does not feel like “a functioning adult.”(Maus II 43) Now that Valdek passed away, Spiegelman feels his “father’s ghost still hangs over [him].” (Maus II 43) As well, not dealing with pressure, stress and stuck feelings from a traumatic event can be devastating for the sanity of the person. Art’ mom took her life away when he was really young, he had to deal with his dad’s and his mom’s suicide all together. He did a small comic called “ Prisoner On The Hell Planet” where he shows within the pages his inner thoughts and how it “was too much […] [He] felt nauseous… the guilt was overwhelming” (Maus I 102). Therefore, the cartoonist uses his drawings to express his feelings and release his stress. It is necessary to let out all those emotions to stay mentally sane. Thus, humans going through hardships need to deal their emotions to keep their sanity, for Spiegelman, his comic book is a source of relief itself.

In conclusion, tragic out coming can mark someone for life causing an alteration to their personality and ways of thinking. Art Spiegelman illustrates these changes by giving examples of his personal experience. He uses his relationship with his father, Valdek habits and himself as proof of the events and how it affected them differently. Hence, the outstanding method of the cartoonist to show physiological repercussion on a human being makes his comic truthful and reliable.