Preview

Maus

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
549 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Maus
How Does “Maus” Explore the Theme of Survival?

In the comic style book Maus, the theme of survival is expressed in many different ways. The Holocaust was a big part of the Jews heritage and not many survived. The amount of people that did survive by hiding and other things was very small.

Luck plays a very big role throughout the book of Maus and as it did during the real life holocaust. And because of this luck, that’s why the few that survived, actually survived. Vladek was lucky as he had a good education, which allowed him to speak different languages to help him survive and was generally smarter than a lot of the others. In many occasions his survival was based on luck. It was luck when the bullet missed him at the prisoner’s camp. Also when he got kicked out of the house and found a construction site to hide in. He hid there for a while and didn’t get captured by the Nazi’s. Another example of luck is when he gets beaten up for throwing food to Anja, usually you would get killed but he was lucky enough to just get beaten up. In my opinion luck was the key role in Vladek’s survival.

Another factor which contributed to survival was that he was very smart mentally. At first he was very stubborn and did not use his skills wisely or well, but as you read further into the book, he began using his intelligence to his advantage and it was this intelligence that helped him survive. There were also his resources that he had, such as people he knew. This enabled him to get the necessary food, supplies, protection and shelter to survive. He was smart enough to get the right supplies by trading with the Polish workers. He had the skill of repairing shoes which helped him to earn money in order to buy different things. Being resourceful came in handy when it came to the concentration camps. When he first escaped the Prisoner of War camps, Vladek disguised himself as a non-Jewish Pole so he could get on a train to go home. First, after Vladek and Anja were

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Vladek made both risky and wise choices to survive the Holocaust, such as working in the tin shop, sitting above the people in the cattle cars on a blanket, and having a clean shirt while he was in Dachau.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Do you think you can overcome an environment filled with dangerous people trying to survive? In the book “Night”, Elie is constantly trying to survive. He’s always trying to fulfill his hunger and thirst as he tries to survive. Elie is not the only one that has to deal with this. Others have to find ways to survive during times of the Holocaust. This may affect the person's physical health or mental health.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thesis: Despite writing about such a heavy topic in such a deceptively playful medium, Maus was very effective in telling Vladek’s holocaust story because it shows rather than tells the holocaust from Vladek’s and Artie’s perspective while capturing both of their emotions, the drawings aide Artie in showing the metaphor of the power system, and makes reading Maus much more understandable.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This includes people who are present during the war. They watch the gruesome events unfold, but do not inflict or receive any of the pain. For instance, in Maus, the Polish were depicted as people who simply stood on the sidelines during the Holocaust. However, some bystanders do offer their help to the victims. In The Book Thief, the Huberman's and Liesel offered Max a place to hide and stay safe. Additionally, in Maus, Mrs. Motonowa sheltered Vladek and his wife.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dracula Film Analysis

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Vlad III (Luke Evans) is famous for impaling his enemies on the battlefield. As a boy he was handed over to the Ottoman Turkish Empire, but this tradition stops and therefore Vlad’s kingdom is lured into a false sense of security. In 1462 his wife (Sarah Gadon), son (Art Parkinson) and people who are enjoying living in peace are threatened once again by the Ottoman and told to release one thousand of their sons to the empire. Desperation leads Vlad onto a dark path and he plans to make a deal with an old, strong vampire lurking in a forsaken cave. Seeing no other choice, he becomes a vampire and with this he has strength and speed unmatched by no other man. But it also means that he is weakened by silver and cannot venture out into the sun.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Another focus would be a different place. A very valuable focus, and a very broad one. Say that Vladek would not have been a pole, but a German, or an American, to take two very opposite examples. If he would have been in the American army, instead of the Polish army, he would never have been kept as a prisoner of war to begin with, he would be the great hero of the Jews, instead of be persecuted for being one. But if he had lived in Germany, his story might have been way shorter… He could have been set on the train right away, his tricks to survive could not have saved him for so long there, he had a lot of money, but in Germany, the center of operations, the place where the command to expel all Jews was given, that money would never have…

    • 149 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Salva use his positive attitude to survive. Salva never gave up at rough times like when he was sick and started to vomit. This allowed him to get through the refugee camp and other rough times. Even though he was separated from his family he still remained hopeful. This helped him get to america and reunite with his family.…

    • 179 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The graphic novel Maus is a novel because it deals with human experiences, it is narrated in great detail, and it is a connected sequence of events. According to Webster’s New Explorer Dictionary, a novel is “a long invented prose narrative dealing with human experience through a connected sequence of events.” A narrative is also defined as “something that is narrated”, by the same source. The plot of Maus highlights the story of Vladek Spiegelman’s experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. It recounts the horrors of the holocaust through the usage of graphic images to see through the eyes of the protagonist as if you were there yourself. The visual aides along with the text support prove to be a dynamic pair enhancing the book altogether. Another reason why Maus is a novel is because it is narrated in great detail.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After that death of his father and his brother, Vlad became the voivode and served three different terms which totalled seven years. Not much is known about his first term but it was definitely short lived. Vlad spent the next eight years planning how to get his power back. He was successful and as the new voivode Vlad had a lot of enemies, and what he chose to do with those enemies is particularly gruesome. Vlad preferred method of punishment was driving a wooden stake through his victim’s body and leaving them to die of exposure. An article written by History.com states that while fighting the Ottoman invaders in 1462 he supposedly had over 20,000 enemies killed this way on the banks of Danube. Some accounts also claimed that Vlad liked to dine amongst his victims, sometimes even dipping his bread in their blood. Also, according to an article by Lee Krystek, while Vlad was carrying out raids on the banks of Danube the Sultan sent forces of 90,000 which out numbered Vlad’s troops more than 2 to 1. As he was unable to defeat the Sultan’s troop traditionally he employed what was called “guerilla warfare”. That included poisoning water supplies, diverting streams to create swamps, and sending people with lethal diseases such as leprosy to mix with the Sultan’s forces. During the night of July 17, 1462, Vlad and his troops attacked a Turkish camp and taking advantage of the Sultan’s orders that soldiers be confined to their tents after dark (Krystek). Dracula’s forces attacked using torches and sound bugles to create a confusion. During this attack, which is referred to as The Night Attack, the Sultan lost 15,000 men in the battle that lasted three hours. The Sultan continued in their determination to overtake the capital of Wallachia and found no resistance, instead they found that the road was lined with the impaled bodies of 20,000 Turks and Muslims. Terrified by the slaughter, the Sultan turned and headed…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Salva had the skills to adapt, and I believe that adaptability was a prominent reason for his survival. The ability to adapt was a great trait for Salve to have. This is because he had surroundings that were constantly changing. For example, his uncle was shot in front of him, yet he was still able to adapt to that change, and move on from it. But more importantly, he was…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maus Ii

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maus II, by Art Spiegelman, continues the treacherous story of a Jewish Holocaust survivor from first hand memories. Artie Spiegelman is the son of Vladek Spiegelman and he is a graphic cartoon artist. He visits his father every so often and while he is there he makes sure to ask him about his experiences in Nazi Germany during the 1940’s. Vladek Spiegelman does not enjoy recalling his horrific memories but he agrees to do so anyway. Vladek begins telling his story to his son in Maus I and continues in Maus II, further into World War II. This passage is from chapter 2, towards the end of Vladek’s time in Auschwitz. He begins doing tin work again, when the German’s decide to have some of the gas chambers taken apart. Vladek works with a man that tells him about his work in the chambers. Vladek cannot stand to hear the horrific details about pulling the lifeless bodies apart and the crushed skulls of trampled infants. His co-worker continues to tell Vladek about what he has seen.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If everyone around you were being taken and murdered, would you have hope and courage to survive? This was the reality for Jews who lived during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a genocide in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi’s killed six million Jews during the nineteen thirties and forties. Most Jews would hide and some of their non-Jewish friends would help provide them with the supplies they needed. This was true for Anne Frank, Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan, Peter, Mr. and Mrs. Frank, Dussel, and Margot who are all hiding together and being provided for by Miep and Mr. Kraler. During the Holocaust, you needed to have hope and courage to stay alive, in which Mr. Frank, Miep and Mr. Kraler, and Anne Frank actions all displayed.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Conflicts in Maus

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the graphic novel, MAUS I: My Father Bleeds History, Art Spiegelman creates conflict that can affect the characters involved in a positive or negative manner. The man versus self conflict between Artie and his feeling of guilt concerning his mother’s death results in the comic about his last moment with his mother. Spiegelman writes that his father says “It’s so good you got it outside your system. But for me it brought in my mind so much memories of Anja” (104). This conversation between Art and his father may have affected the way Art asks about his mother when he is listening to Vladek reminisce about the war. Because of this, there may be some details about Anja and the war that Vladek left out, whether it was intentionally or unintentionally. The conflict between Vladek and Mala creates a very uncomfortable atmosphere in their house. The constant bickering makes Vladek want to get away and describe to Art his experiences. He writes that Vladek says “Mala makes me crazy. Only she talks about money. Always about my will” (Spiegelman 67). It can be inferred that Mala was just a rebound after Anja’s death. Their constant spats affect Vladek because he wants to talk to Artie more about everything rather than fight with Mala. Art is only at their house to find out about the war, and it’s clear why he doesn’t go just to spend time with his father: the constant fighting and his desire not to get in between them. The conflicts in MAUS I: My Father Bleeds History can either affect the chronological order in a positive or negative way.…

    • 281 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holocaust Rescuers

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Holocaust was a rough time for many Jews because of the horrors that the Germans put them through. They weren’t able to fight back with force, but that didn’t stop other people from rescuing them. Many people from different backgrounds went out of their way to rescue these innocent people. The Germans had so much force during the Holocaust, so the rescuers were really courageous to do something like that under the Germans’ noses.…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If any one character can represent an avoidance of death more, its this one. In the harsh conditions in the gulag, food and luxuries are scarce. In these conditions, Fetyukov has abandoned civilized behavior in order to survive, though it often backfires. For example, when Tsezar is smoking a cigarette, he says “Tsezar Markovich, give us a puff.” Because he doesn’t want to be disturbed while taking a quick moment to relax, he gives the rest to Ivan instead. We also find out that later that he was thrown into the hole for licking the remnants of food in the bowls that the end of a meal. We see that despite Fetyukov’s attempt to avoid death by sacrificing dignity, it still slowly draws him in each day he is in the…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays