Life Is Beautiful Holocaust
There are many novels and films that have be created to portray the stories of Holocaust victims, two examples being the film Life is Beautiful and the graphic novels Maus I and Maus II. Life is Beautiful tells the story of Guido, a Jewish man in Italy before the war. He fell in love with Dora, a beautiful teacher, and eventually married her and had a son, Giosue. As the Nazis took over, Guido, Dora and Giosue were taken to a concentration camp, where Guido does everything he can to keep his family alive. Maus I and II are graphic novels portraying the true story of a survivor written by his son. They tell the story of Vladek and Anja, in Poland before the war when they fell in love and had a son, Richieu. It tells their journey through the ghettos and Auschwitz to their freedom. As they deal with the hardships from the Nazis, Vladek does whatever it takes to protect his
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family. Both Maus and Life is Beautiful deal with taking care of a family during the Holocaust, but they do so in different ways. In Maus, Vladek and Anja are well aware of the terrible things to come. They spent much time arguing about what to do with Richieu to keep him safe. In the frames drawn by Spiegelman on page 81, Vladek is talking to a friend who has arranged to send his son into hiding, and offers to send Richieu with him. Vladek tries to suggest it to his wife, but she and the rest of her family are appalled by his suggestions and want Richieu to stay with them. A year later, when the family is in the ghetto, things start taking a turn for the worse, and on pages 107 and 108, they finally agree to send Richieu to a safer ghetto. Sadly, Richieu does not make it through the war. As the gestapo come to take everyone in the ghetto to Auschwitz, Anja's sister, Tosha, kills herself and the children, as seen on page 109. Vladek took drastic measures to save his son from going into the camps, but in the end, he did not survive. On the other hand, in Life is Beautiful, Guido and Dora did not seem to know what was coming. They suffered from persecution and antisemitism, but did not seem to know they would be put in the concentration camps. They did not get the chance to send their son, Giosue, into hiding like Vladek and Anja did. Guido and Giosue were on the list to be taken, and Dora volunteered to go with, she could not leave her family. So, unlike Richieu, Giosue was taken to the concentration camps. To keep him calm, Guido told him that the camp was a game and that they needed to get one thousand points to win the grand prize, a tank. He used this to keep his son calm and convince him to stay hidden and not be scared. Giosue had to suffer much more than Richieu, being in the camps, yet he did not even know it. Giosue made it through the war, but sadly, his father was killed. Guido did everything to keep Giosue safe in the concentration camps, even if it meant giving his life. Although the two fathers dealt with taking care of their families during the Holocaust differently, there were also some similarities in their actions.
Both fathers were willing to do anything to keep their sons safe. They did everything, from sending them off to hide with another family to telling them the whole thing was a game and even sneaking them into Nazi officials' dinner parties. They also did anything to comfort their wives, even while separated in the camps. In Life is Beautiful, Guido puts himself in danger to send messages over the loudspeaker and even plays Dora's favorite song out the window for everyone to hear. On pages 56 and 57 of Maus, Spiegelman shows how Vladek gets a job repairing the roofs of the women's camp, just to see his wife. He gets caught for this and even takes a beating for it. On page 63, Spiegleman shows that Vladek fixed The shoes of Anja's Kapo, just so Anja could get a job she could handle. During these horrible times both Vladek and Guido only thought of their wives and children. They put their families first and cared only about keeping them
alive. In conclusion, Maus and Life is Beautiful dealt with taking care of families very differently. Maus tells the story of a father protecting his son by hiding him, while Life is Beautiful shows a father trying to keep his son safe inside the concentration camps. How they protected their sons and what happened to them may have been different, but there was still much the same. Both show how a man did everything he could to protect his family during the Holocaust by putting himself in danger. Ultimately, both stories help us realize that a family is worth putting yourself in danger for.
family. Both Maus and Life is Beautiful deal with taking care of a family during the Holocaust, but they do so in different ways. In Maus, Vladek and Anja are well aware of the terrible things to come. They spent much time arguing about what to do with Richieu to keep him safe. In the frames drawn by Spiegelman on page 81, Vladek is talking to a friend who has arranged to send his son into hiding, and offers to send Richieu with him. Vladek tries to suggest it to his wife, but she and the rest of her family are appalled by his suggestions and want Richieu to stay with them. A year later, when the family is in the ghetto, things start taking a turn for the worse, and on pages 107 and 108, they finally agree to send Richieu to a safer ghetto. Sadly, Richieu does not make it through the war. As the gestapo come to take everyone in the ghetto to Auschwitz, Anja's sister, Tosha, kills herself and the children, as seen on page 109. Vladek took drastic measures to save his son from going into the camps, but in the end, he did not survive. On the other hand, in Life is Beautiful, Guido and Dora did not seem to know what was coming. They suffered from persecution and antisemitism, but did not seem to know they would be put in the concentration camps. They did not get the chance to send their son, Giosue, into hiding like Vladek and Anja did. Guido and Giosue were on the list to be taken, and Dora volunteered to go with, she could not leave her family. So, unlike Richieu, Giosue was taken to the concentration camps. To keep him calm, Guido told him that the camp was a game and that they needed to get one thousand points to win the grand prize, a tank. He used this to keep his son calm and convince him to stay hidden and not be scared. Giosue had to suffer much more than Richieu, being in the camps, yet he did not even know it. Giosue made it through the war, but sadly, his father was killed. Guido did everything to keep Giosue safe in the concentration camps, even if it meant giving his life. Although the two fathers dealt with taking care of their families during the Holocaust differently, there were also some similarities in their actions.
Both fathers were willing to do anything to keep their sons safe. They did everything, from sending them off to hide with another family to telling them the whole thing was a game and even sneaking them into Nazi officials' dinner parties. They also did anything to comfort their wives, even while separated in the camps. In Life is Beautiful, Guido puts himself in danger to send messages over the loudspeaker and even plays Dora's favorite song out the window for everyone to hear. On pages 56 and 57 of Maus, Spiegelman shows how Vladek gets a job repairing the roofs of the women's camp, just to see his wife. He gets caught for this and even takes a beating for it. On page 63, Spiegleman shows that Vladek fixed The shoes of Anja's Kapo, just so Anja could get a job she could handle. During these horrible times both Vladek and Guido only thought of their wives and children. They put their families first and cared only about keeping them
alive. In conclusion, Maus and Life is Beautiful dealt with taking care of families very differently. Maus tells the story of a father protecting his son by hiding him, while Life is Beautiful shows a father trying to keep his son safe inside the concentration camps. How they protected their sons and what happened to them may have been different, but there was still much the same. Both show how a man did everything he could to protect his family during the Holocaust by putting himself in danger. Ultimately, both stories help us realize that a family is worth putting yourself in danger for.