Art Spiegelman's Guilt

Voltaire once said, “Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do” .Similarly, Spiegelman feels guilty for not being the ideal son to his father. There are many instances where one can see guilt in this book. Vladek feels guilty for killing the German soldier on the war front. Vladek and Art Spiegelman both have a sense of guilt for Anja’s death. They both are responsible to some extent. Vladek feels guilty about not being able to save Anja from taking her life, whereas Art Spiegelman feels guilty for not giving enough attention and expressing love towards his mother. One can also see survivor’s guilt in Vladek. He feels guilty for surviving while having lost all his family and friends during the holocaust. In the graphic novel, Maus, by Art Spiegelman, the author portrays guilt through Spiegelman’s relationship with Vladek. …show more content…
Although guilt can be a positive emotion by bettering an individual's behavior, Art Spiegelman has a difficult time in doing so. “I went to see my father in Rego Park. I hadn’t seen him in a long time- we weren’t that close” (Spiegelman 11). Art Spiegelman and Vladek do not get along very …show more content…
A few years later, when the first book of Maus is published, it does not mitigate the feeling of guilt in Art Spiegelman but in some ways, it makes it worse. While walking to his appointment with his psychiatrist, Spiegelman says, “My father’s ghost still hangs over me” (Spiegelman 33). Art Spiegelman still senses guilt as this book is not approved by Vladek before publishing as Vladek has disclosed some confidential information to Art Spiegelman. Despite of this, Art Spiegelman publishes the