Vladek's Relationship In Maus

Although “Maus” may incipiently recount Vladek Speigelman’s journey though the Holocaust, it also reveals Vladek’s brittle relationship with his son, Art. Due to his time spent in Auschwitz and other concentration camps, Vladek has gained certain attributes to his personality keep him from connecting and bonding with Art. Even as an adult, Art can not stand to be with his father for more than a day. The largest contributing factors of Vladek and Art’s failing relationship include: Vladek’s belittlement of Art and his problems, Vladek’s frugality, and the suicide of Art’s mother, Anja.

Within the first scenes of “Maus”, Art depicts a prominent memory from his childhood that strongly represents the tension between his father and himself. After being left behind by his friends, a young Art returns to his father crying. Instead of simply comforting Art, Vladek replies, “Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week…Then you could see what it is, friends!” (I.6). While Art’s situation may pale in comparison to the adversity that
Anja, who’s depression and anxiety worsened following her emergence from the Holocaust, kept journals in which she explains her state of mind in the years before she passed away. When Art learned about the existence of these journals, he searched tirelessly for them. However, it is revealed that Vladek burned these documents following Anja’s death. Art becomes outraged at Vladek, calling him a murderer and storming out of his home. The illustration of Art in the right side of page 159 in “Maus I” captures the rage and anger that he was feeling when he first learned this. Art feels that Vladek has destroyed his last connection with Anja, and so he tries to disassociate himself with Vladek. However, months later, Vladek fakes a heart attack in order to bring the two