Female Characters In Maus

In Maus women are not depicted as being capable as men, this occurs in Vladek’s relationships where the women are dependent on Vladek. The main female characters also have less depth compared to the main male characters, and can be more easily reduced down to “wife” or “mother”. In this book we get to see through the perspective of Art and his father, but never a female character. The female characters’ main purpose is to offer insight into the perception of a male character or a situation.

This occurs with Françoise, we do not see much of her in the story, but when we do she is used to tell the reader how Art feels about his relationship with his father.

This also occurs with Vladek’s last wife, Mala, her main purpose in the story is to show that Vladek …show more content…
She is depicted as a women who cannot emotionally handle being without a romantic partner. During one scene Vladek’s tries to leave, but she clings to his legs and begs him to stay. Despite this Vladek leaves. Lucia throws herself at Vladek time and time again, but Vladek acts as if she is not worthy of his love. Later, she writes a letter libeling Vladek to Anja, because she could not manage Vladek being with Anja instead of her.

During the war Anja relies heavily on Vladek. When they are hiding in the cellar with the rats Vladek is shown as brave and not bothered by the rats, however Anja is shown as disgusted and scared of the rats.

Maus is primarily a story about men by men. The perspectives it offers are that of males.
It portrays women as beings who are not capable of taking care of themselves, this is especially prominent in Vladek’s relationships. We learn very little about these female characters. When a female character is in a scene it is for the reader to ascertain information about a situation or what is going through the mind of a male character, rather than the female character themselves. The result of this is females being less complex