Maus Guilt

Guilt is a great consumer of lives, but exactly what do people know about guilt? People only know what they've learned from experience, both theirs and others. Art Spiegelman is no exception to this concept. Throughout his graphic novel, Maus, he consistently communicates his guilt. Spiegelman experiences extreme guilt over not suffering the Holocaust, being a disappointment of a son, and for writing Maus.
First of all, Spiegelman indicates his constant survivor's guilt over his being born after World War II. He did not suffer through the horrors of the World War II Holocaust, but his father, mother, and step-mother did. Spiegelman feels guilty because his life has been more painless than theirs’. This is his survivor's guilt, which having …show more content…
His guiltiness that he is not and never was a son Vladek approved of stems from his survivor's guilt. He survived by being born after World War II's end, while Richiev’s life expired in its newness. This led to him feeling and saying that, had Richiev survived, he would have been the kind of son Vladek could adore and be proud of. All his life, he has seen his brother's picture on the wall and dreamed he could be like him. He even at one point states that he wishes he had suffered through the Holocaust. His survivor's guilt also causes his guilt over writing Maus. He expresses in his second novel that he does not feel justified in writing about his father's pain because he did not go through anything even similar. He also feels his use of a graphic novel to tell the story is childish and treats the Holocaust too casually. This shows that Spiegelman’s guilt is all stemmed from being born after the Holocaust. In the end, he tries to be himself and he wants the world to know the history his father “bled”, but he can't help feeling guilty because he has never known his father’s pain or experienced it like his dead brother …show more content…
They have their differences just as strongly as they have their connections to each other. Spiegelman’s survivor’s guilt can definitely stand alone, as the author admits in his novel to fantasizing about going through the horrors of the Holocaust. It needs no further explanation or justification. Also, the differences in beliefs between his father and him caused his guilt. For example, Vladek is racist and extremely frugal with money while Spiegelman is accepting of other races and more moderate with his money. He also communicates through Maus that he grew up seeing a picture of his brother on the wall of his parents’ bedroom, feeling and believing Richiev would be the kind of son Vladek had always wanted. All these things in themselves show the reasons he feels inadequate as a son, without the background of the Holocaust. On a different note, his guilt over writing Maus is because he feels he expressed too casually the horrors that occurred during World War II, as well as because he has gained fame and fortune through it. As is clearly visible, their disconnectedness results from them having different reasons behind them besides the one holding them