Adaptation In Maus: A Case Study

In adaptation there can be rebellion. Throughout Maus, the Jewish survivors organized black markets full of contraband goods, effectively harbored strangers in their homes, and ceaselessly looked out for one another. However, they were adapting all the while. The question of “should they” adapt is not easily answered. First, the situation of the war as a whole must be assessed, from the gradual displacement of Jews to the apathetic and frightened surroundings they faced in friends and neighbors. Then, that knowledge can be utilized to study the situation of Vladek and Anja. These two show distinct, differing impressions of what could befall someone oppressed by the Nazi regime. By aligning real world statistics and case studies from Maus, the goal is to better comprehend what it was like for a Jew during World War 2; which in turn can …show more content…
It would not operate at optimum efficiency if you abruptly begin a systematic genocide. Rather, change must occur with a precise subtlety so that people adapt rather than question what is transpiring. Maus describes this perfectly in simple terms; “the Germans couldn’t destroy everything at once.” (Spiegelman 74) Before the concentration camps, there were rations on commodities such as fuel, butter, and sugar. Then, Jews were banned from public places in Germany, then elsewhere. During these changes, people were doubtlessly upset, but learned to live with the restrictions. Then came the confiscation of possessions, eviction to the ghettos, and arbitrary arrests. When troubled Jews went to familiar places of refuge, they found closed doors and ostracism as a result of the dangerous stigma associated with their demographic. Desperate rebellion, for the most part, led to torture and death. (“Holocaust Encyclopedia”) As the cycle progressed to death camps and mass murder, you can see that adaptation was a means of survival, not a conscious indifference to