Maus

Descriptive Writing
Lecture one: Introduction and language
Purpose
* Describes physical characteristics of a person, place or thing * Relies on the fire senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste * Create a vivid impression

When to use * Rarely an entire paper * Common to all essays * Can persuade through description

Type of Description * Objective
Focus on the object itself rather than on your personal reaction to it * Subjective
Conveys your personal response to your subject
These are not mutually exclusive, balance is key
Your purpose and audience determine whether you should use objective or subjective description

Objective Description * Goals are to be:
Precise
Literal
Accurate
* Used in news history, scientific texts, technical writing * Accompanied by visuals

Subjective Description * Goals are to convey
Opinion
Significance
Selection of details * Thesis is implied
Selecting and emphasizing details

Connotation vs. Denotation * Denotation: precise, dictionary definition (factual) * Connotation: relies an emotional reaction * Relies on figurative language
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Allusion

Be selective: all details are not created Equal * Be specific
Avoid vague word: nice, great, terrific, awful, good, bad…
Show don’t tell * Go for quality description over a large quantity of descriptions * Always keep your thesis in mind

MAUS NOTES
Rego Park-C 1958
1 Artie’s roller-skate snaps and his friends leave him
2 Artie goes to see his father Vladek, who is working in the front yard, Artie is crying
3 Vladek ask Artie for help and also why Artie is crying
4 Artie explains that his friends left him
5 Vladek questions Artie understands of friendship Foreshadows
(Hints at an event or events that will occur later in the narrative) * Vladek will be changed by his experiences in the concentration camps * Vladek will be shown both truth and false friendships * Artie will learn from his father’s experiences and know specifically about WWII * Friendship will be an important topic discussed shown throughout story * Change relationship between Vladek and Artie

Character Development
Vladek
* Strengthened through his life experiences of hardship and suffering * Feels strongly about what he believes in * Vladek has own experience and beliefs over the feelings of others * Lock sympathy for others, always comparing back to his own experiences

MAUS NOTES
Terms
Conjugate * To inflect (verb) * To join together, especially in marriage
Gestapo
* The German state secret police during the Nazi regime organized in 1933 and notorious for its brutal methods and operations
Dowry
* The money, goods, or estate that a wife brings to her husband at marriage * Archaic, a widow’s dower
Presumptuous
* Full of characterized by, or showing presumption or readiness to pressure in conduct or thought * Unwarrantedly or impertinently bold, forward
Tuchus
* The buttocks, the rump (Yiddish)
Yiddish
* A high German language with an admixture of vocabulary from Hebrew and the Slavic languages, written in Hebrew letters, and spoken mainly by Jews in eastern and central Europe and by Jewish emigrants from these regions and their descendants
Valise
* A small piece of luggage that can be carried by hand, used to hold clothing, toilet articles, etc. suitcase; traveling bag
Shrink
* To draw back, as in retreat or avoidance * To become reduced in extent or compass
Pogrom
* An organized massacre, especially of Jews
Munition
* Materials used in war, especially weapons and ammunition * Material or equipment for carrying on and undertaking
Governess
* A woman who is employed to take charge of a child’s upbringing, education * Archaic, a woman who is ruler or governor
Anti-Semitism
* Discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews
Barrack
* A building or group of buildings for lodging soldiers, especially in garrison
Cataract
* An abnormality of the eye, characterized by opacity of the lens
Ghetto
* A section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures or hardships * A section of a city in which all Jews were required to live (formerly in most European countries)
Miserly
* Stingy, cautious with money, penurious, niggardly
Character
Vladek * Has a glass eye * Fought against the Germans in the Polish army and was captured by Germans (chose to fight) * Does not value Mala the same way he loved Anja * Holocaust survivor * Miser * Harsh with people * Vladek does not smoke * Bilingual * Had a vision * Values Parsher Truma Artie * Son of Vladek * Writing a story about his father’s experiences surrounding the Holocaust

Mala * Vladek’s second wife * Stop mother of Artie * Holocaust survivor * Terrible cook

Anja * Vladek’s first wife * Had both of Vladek’s sons * Born into a rich family * Holocaust survivor * Committed suicide * Used to translate letters for communists * Had to medication for stress/nerves and weight

Vladek’s relationship
Anja vs. Lucia * Sensitive does not love her * Wealthy family physical relationship (sex) * Clean/organized one sided (Lucia-Vladek) * Emotion and financial relationship poor family (no money for downy)

What does Vladek’s relationship reveal about his character? * Need to have financial security as the priority

Chapter Summaries
Prologue
1. Artie goes roller-skating with his friends and falls on the ground. His friends Howie and Steve leave him alone. 2. Artie goes t find his father who is fixing the wood. 3. Vladek tells him to help hold the wood while Artie cries. 4. Artie explains to his father what happened and Vladek questions him true friendship means in general.
Chapter One (The Sheik) 1. Artie comes to visit his father and Mala who is also a survivor, and Vladek's second wife. 2. After dinner, Artie tells his father that he wants to write a comic book about the old man's experience during the holocaust. And Vladek begins to tell his story. 3. In the early 1930s in Czestochowa, Poland, Vladek is dating a girl called Lucia but he never feel particular committed to the relationship. 4. He travels to Sosnowiec to visit his family and knows a girl called Anja and soon they hit up emailing together. 5. Vladek receives a photo about Anja and places it in his dresser. Lucia accidently sees the photo and they end he relationship soon. His father gets engaged with Anja at the same time. 6. Vladek finds out the reason why Anja leaves him----a letter from L, telling Anja wrong message about Vladek. They get married in 1937 and move to Anja family's apartment. 7. After telling the story, Vladek tells Artie not to include this part in the comic book because it is too personal. Artie aggress.
Chapter Two (The Honeymoon) 1. Artie goes to his father again to hear more stories when Vladek is dividing his pills. He starts to continue his story. 2. Anja has a communist boyfriend before she met Vladek and she helps communists to translate letters. She is nearly arrested by this reason. And she takes the letter to her neighbor Ms. Stefanska who considers her as a nice customer and helps her. She spends 3 months in jail and Vladek almost ends their marriage. 3. Vladek gets a factory from his father-in-law to provide his daughter and what he hopes will soon be their family. 4. Their first son, Richieu, was born in 1837. Anja has a birth depression so they go to an upscale sanitarium in Czechoslovakia. They look out and see the sign of Nazi flag, foreshadowing the war. They stay there for 3 months and when he returns home, Anja is much better. 5. His father-in-law tells Vladek about the robbed factory. 6. Within few months, they start a new factory and everything start to go fine but the German police start to go against Jews. 7. Vladek drops the pill and starts to tell the story about his eyes, which Artie is not, interested in.
Chapter Three (Prisoner of War) 1. Artie goes to Vladek to have dinner and complains about his father always wanting him to finish his dish. After dinner, they continue the story. 2. Vladek's father used to keep him starves for a long time so that he could not able to join the army. He finally has been sent to the German front. 3. One night, Vladek dreams of his grandfather tells him that he will be released from the camp on the day of Parshas Truma, the week Art was born. His dream comes true. 4. Vladek is led to a camp of large tents and hears stories. A guard shoots Vladek when he is leaving his tent to the bathroom. Later, a Polish conductor helps to hind him to his homeland. 5. He goes to his parents and finds out his mom is ill and his dad has been forced by the Nazis to shave off his bread. He meets Anja and son later. 6. Vladek claims that Mala tries to take his money and show a huge miss towards Anja. He tells Artie that he threw his coat away because it is too old and he does not want his son to wear it.
Chapter Four (The Noose Tightens) 1. Artie comes to his father with a new coat and a pipe for $75, his father tells him he could have found it elsewhere for much less money. And then he continues the story. 2. In 1940, they are 12 people living in Anja's father's house. Food is strictly lacking at that time. So they but it from the black market or additional foods from Anja parents' charity business. 3. Since the Nazis are finding excuses to arrest Jews, one of his friends, Mr. Ilzecki sends his son to a Polish family and suggests Vladek to do so. Anja Refuses. 4. They move to a two and half small room when Nazis circle all Jews. Vladek continues doing black market business. 5. Anja's grandparents are forced to send to a new community camp so they hide her Grandparents. Her father is arrested. So they sent her grandparents away. 6. Artie goes to find Mala and tries to find his mother's dairy but he can’t find it.
Chapter Five (Mouse Holes) 1. Artie gets Mala's phone early in the morning complaining his father wanting to fix the roof and wants Artie's help, but Artie does not want to. 2. After one week, Artie comes to his house to continue his story. 3. Artie finds out his father has read his comic about mom. 4. In 1943, Richieu is taken away from their parents to a place nearby Zamiercie living with an uncle of Anja's brother-in-law. Tosha poisons herself, her children and Richieu to avoid sending to the gas chambers. 5. In Srodula, the Germans begin to round up Jews at random. To protect himself and his family, Vladek builds a shelter under a coal bin, in which they hide during Nazi searches. 6. Anja wants her cousin, Haskel, to help them but he refuses. 7. The Nazis continue to transport the Jews of Srodula to Auschwitz. Haskel arranges to smuggle himself out of the ghetto, but his brothers Miloch and Pesach have created a bunker behind a pile of shoes in the factory. 8. Anja and Vladek hear about Richieu's death finally. Anja feels really sad. 9. As they walk to the bank, Vladek shows Artie his safety deposit box and a diamond ring makes his father wonders about why he remarried again and cries for his dead wife Anja.
Chapter Six (Mouse Trap)
1. Art comes over to continue his comic story. Mala complains about how his father treats her and is upset about it.
2. Vladek and Artie go into the backyard and started the story. In 1944, they go back to Sosnowiec to find Richieu's governess but she refuses them.
3. They then go to Anja’s old home, the janitor agrees to hide them. Vladek goes out to look for some food. On the advice of other Jews, Vladek and Anja go to hide on a farm belonging to a Polish woman, Mrs. Kawka.
4. A Polish woman, Mrs. Motonowa, helps them a lot and invites them into her house. She throws Vladek and Anja away when the Gestapo searches them.
5. They go back to Mrs. Kawka's barn. She tells them that she knows of some smugglers who take Jews to Hungary, where the situation is better.
6. They go back to Mrs. Motonowa's house but they are in the cellar when her husband is back.
7. Vladek deeply wants to go to Hungary but Anja thinks it is too dangerous. They are caught by the German on the train and are taken to prison, Auschwitz. They are separated into men and women sections.
8. Artie asks his father about the dairy to know more detail about things in the women section but his father has destroyed Anja's dairy. Artie considers his father a "murderer".
Book II
Chapter One () 1. Artie and Francoise are vacationing with their friends, suddenly; their friends tell them his father just had a heart attack. 2. They soon discovered out that Vladek had lied but the truth is Mala leaves the house and takes some money with her. 3. Artie shares his feelings about his father and Richieu, the brother he had never met. 4. Vladek is glad to see them and wants them to stay with him for the rest of the summer. 5. Vladek related the detail about the whole thing. 6. Vladek and Artie go out for a walk. Vladek continues his story. 7. He meets Abraham, the people who writes to them and finds out that he is forced to do so by the Germans. 8. A priest comes to Vladek. 9. Vladek's prison life is not bad, terrible like others. Indeed, he helps the officer for English lessons and earns extra food and clothing. 10. Vladek shows Artie a way to sneak into a resort. Vladek is really proud of himself playing free bingo.
Chapter Two () 1. Artie is thinking about some important events about his first published section. 2. Agents and journalist, clamoring for his attention, surround Artie. 3. Artie is walking over his therapist discussing his complicated feelings for his father. After, his father continues the story. 4. Vladek knows news from Anja, knowing her being treated badly by her Kapo. And he tries to find a job to chat with Anja; a guard catches them once. 5. Vladek is sent to do "black work." 6. Vladek explains to Artie how he had to take apart the gas chamber. 7. Vladek mourns in his sleep.
Chapter Three 1. The next morning, Artie and Francoise wake up to find Vladek at the kitchen. 2. They are on the way to grocery store. Artie asks Vladek if he knew of the Jews who revolted against the SS. Vladek continues the story. 3. Vladek and his friends plan to hide in the attic. 4. Vladek is able to get some relief by hanging a spare cloth from the ceiling as a kind of hammock. 5. Vladek's story breaks off as they stop by the Shop-Rite. Vladek argues with the store manager. 6. At Dachau, the prisoners are treated badly. 7. Françoise stops the car for a hitchhiker, who is black. Vladek can’t believe Françoise stopped for a black man, and Françoise reproaches Vladek for being a racist, especially after all that he’s been through.
Chapter Four 1. Vladek wants Artie to help him put up storm windows but he convinces Vladek to continue his story. 2. Anja made it back to their hometown. 3. A German Wehrmacht patrol plans to shoot Vladek and other prisoners but someone convinces him not to do so. 4. Vladek and his friends hide in a pit behind a garage and the owner tries to kill them. 5. German Nazis blow up the bridges. 6. Vladek and his friend find clothes and food. 7. The American soldiers appear and save them. They are really happy. 8. Vladek shows Artie a box of old photos explaining each member. 9. Vladek nearly has a heart attack.
Chapter Five 1. Artie receives a phone call from Florida. 2. Artie goes to Florida, Vladek thinks about when he and Anja finally leave Poland for Sweden. 3. The night, Artie in is La Guardia hospital. 4. A month later, Art visits Vladek and Mala in Rego Park, where they are getting ready to sell the house. 5. Vladek tells Art about the days after the Americans arrived. 6. Back in Sosnowiec, Anja visits a fortuneteller, who tells her that she will go to a faraway place on a ship and have a new life, with a little boy. Finally, she receives a letter from Vladek saying that he is on his way home. 7. Vladek called Artie to turn off the tape and accidently called him ' Richieu'. 8. The last image is Vladek and Anja's Gravestone.
Symbols
Animals are used to represent specific people groups

Cats (Germans)
Ø Predators (eat mice)
Ø Cold –blooded
Ø Independent
Ø Selfish
Ø Betrayers
Ø Weakness/soft spot
Ø Users/Leeches
Ø Resilient
Ø Adapt
Ø Pampered
Ø Nocturnal
Ø Playful
Ø Lots of pride

Mice (Jews)
Ø Helpless (Prey)
Ø Small
Ø Hide
Ø Dirty
Ø Squeaky/noisy
Ø Nocturnal
Ø Pests/Vermin
Ø Clever

Pigs (Poles)
Ø Feed off of trash
Ø Dull
Ø Slow
Ø Fat/Pampered
Ø Changeable/ both Passive and Aggressive
Ø Nosy
Ø Disliked people
Ø Insult

Frogs (French)
Ø Annoying
Ø Slimy/slippery

Dogs (Americans)
Ø Awesome
Ø Smart
Ø Friendly
Ø Loyal
Swastika
Ø Anti-Semitism
Ø Racism/ Discrimination
Ø Represent Nazi party
Ø fear, hatred, extermination
Theme
a) Race: The author creates different characters into different animals in order to let the readers have their own opinions to the people through reading. He created Jews as mice, Germans as cats, Polishes and Americans as pigs. The metaphor of Jews as mice is taken directly from Nazi propaganda, which portray the Jews as a kind of vermin to be exterminated. Mice seems to be a unlike animal in real life. Therefore he uses mice to show discrimination towards Jews. In fact, just as the Jews “passed” as Poles or Germans as a way to survive, Maus plays with its own animal allegory, presenting human beings wearing mouse masks or mice wearing pig masks. b) Family Guilty: The major purpose of the novel is not only telling about Vladek's early experience in the Holocaust but to restore the relationship Vladek and his son. There are three different types of family guilt in this book 1. Artie feels guilty about his father and not being a good son. 2. Artie feels guilty about her mother's death. 3. Artie feels guilty about his published book. c) Luck: Through the novel, it shows that Vladek is really God's lover, for not being treated so harsh in the prison and marrying a rich lady and having such a helpful father-in-law. Vladek is blessed with many skills and qualities, including the ability to speak multiple languages, which provide him with opportunities to survive within the confines of Auschwitz.
Engaging Questions * Why did author include the Swastika as the background? * Show the power of the Nazi * Bold contrast * Designates the change in setting * Comparison of two symbols * Demonstrate the progression * Signs to propose of the Nazi party things the things the symbol of Swastika * The contract of light vs. dark imply the domination of the Nazi regime over the occupied people * How could people know they were Jews or not? * In Germany and Austria anyone 'suspected' of being Jewish was asked to produce evidence that they were not Jewish, for example, by producing certificates of baptism for all four grandparents. * In many other countries the Nazis relied on informers and in Poland and most East European countries the majority of Jews lived in obviously Jewish communities. * Why did the author use animals as a symbol instead of human? * Highlights the reader's own prejudge ideas regarding animal to the forefront in order to adequately the idea. * Reinforces the accurate and inaccurate stereotypes of animals in order to the affect into personal relationships and the reader's own view. * Break the reader's expectations of the animal in order to contrast the idea of eugenics, racial stereotypes and mass discrimination. * What were the effects of violence on the Jewish characters in the novel? * Jewish were frightened and they had to put on the pig's mask to protect themselves. * How does Richieu’s death affect Art’s relationship with his parents? * His parents change from having two sons to only one single son. Their relationship is haunted by the memory of those lost in the Holocaust. * What is survivor’s guilt? How does survivor’s guilt help to explain Vladek’s behavior toward his son? * Guilt is viewed as an emotion that compels us to consider our responsibility toward others. * In Maus, Vladek seems to be lucky being a survivor and according to his conversation to his son, Vladek projects his survivor’s guilt onto Art: he puts demands on Art that Art will never be able to fulfill, and thus will always feel guilt over his failure.
Important Concrete Detail * " The Germans paid no attention of me...In the Polish car they could smell if a Polish Jew came in." (Book I Chapter 6 Page 142) * " Yes. Life always takes the side of life, and somehow the victims are blamed. But it wasn't the BEST people who survived, nor did the best ones die. It was RANDOM!" (Book II Chapter 2 Page 205) * " The mothers always told so: be careful! A Jew will catch you to a bag and eat you! So they taught to their children." (Book I Chapter 6 Page 151) * " Congratulations! ...You've committed the perfect crime ... you put me here ... shorted all my circuits ... cut my nerve endings ... and crossed my wires!" (Book I chapter 5 Page 105) * " One reason I became an artist was that he thought it was impractical- just a waste of time... it was an area where I wouldn't have to compete with him." (Book I Chapter 5 page 99)
Motif: a repetition of an object, idea, action etc. In order to emphasize the importance of the element and / or it’s meaning. value of physical wealth * Physical wealth creates jealousy as a result of its the persecution of one who is wealthy can either helper or handle one's survival * Vladek never have enough * Anja comes from a rich family * Bribe of the gold watch to Haskel to free Anja's parents * Bribe to hide Vladek and Anja in the barn * Anja's father provides the found to open up the factory * Physical wealth can help him survive during hard time * Physical wealth becomes the currency for securing trust in inter personal interactions.