Narrative Experiences In Maus By Art Spiegelman

Traumatic Experiences Change Lifestyles In the graphic novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, his father Vladek is jew and is one of the few who survived from the Holocaust. Vladek’s experiences of being a jew and facing oppression throughout the Holocaust greatly affected him, he lost his first son and almost his entire family was killed or had gone missing. Now most of his friends, or people he associates with are also Holocaust survivors, including his second wife, Mala. Vladek also was married before Mala and Anja, the first wife had committed suicide from post traumatic stress and because adjusting back into a regular life was too difficult. Throughout the Holocaust, Vladek created survival skills and techniques to stay alive and hidden from …show more content…
After the war and the Holocaust, Vladek began to live much more conservative, only spending his money on items he truly needed to survive and not personal items, things that he could live without. Also Vladek felt secure in not wasting his possessions or items of value, even if their value was very little, “Just look what Mala did… The salt here, it’s half full and she opened anyway a new one!... I don’t even need one container, and here it’s two open salts.” (Spiegelman II, 19). Even though salt practically does not expire, unless it is iodized salt, it is still quite ridiculous that Vladek is upset at how two salts are open at one time. This quotation exhibits the conservation Vladek needs in his life because he is a survivor. Vladek also finds innovative ways to reuse things without spending his wealth, “You always pick up trash! Can’t you just buy wire?... Pssh, why do you always want to buy when you can find?” (Spiegelman 116). This demonstrates that because Vladek is still a survivor, he still will scavenge for items that would be of aid or that could be repurposed. During the Holocaust, food was much more limited and purchasing food was dangerous, often it would cost jews their lives if they were to be caught by Natzis, “Go to the black market on Dekerta street, number 8…” said a disguised jew to Vladek. “Wanna buy some food without coupons mister?” said the saleswoman (Spiegelman 138). Seeing that Vladek is still cemented in being a survivor from the Holocaust he still associates these dangers of purchasing foods in his present life. Within the panels on page 138, Vladek had to disguise himself from being a mouse and becoming associated with a jew to go into public and purchase these foods, which is obviously dangerous if