Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus is a biography of his father Vladek Spiegelman and an autobiography of his relationship with his father. Throughout the novel, it is evident that Art struggled to understand his father due to their different experiences. Art was frustrated by Vladek's strange tendencies and trauma from the Holocaust. However, in writing and illustrating Maus, Art began to understand and regret how he treated his father. Some ambiguity remains as Art does not acknowledge Vladek in the dedication, though the novel otherwise conveys Art's new understanding of Vladek and remorse for their relationship.
The document discusses how the Holocaust profoundly impacted the author Art Spiegelman's life even though he was born in Sweden after it ended. It talks about how Art interviewed his father Vladek about his experiences during the Holocaust to understand its effects. During the interview, Art saw how the trauma affected Vladek's behaviors and personality, which influenced Art's own development. The document argues that comparing Art and Vladek shows how the Holocaust had intergenerational effects.
Vladek Spiegelman's survival during the Holocaust was based more on luck than his considerable resourcefulness, according to the student's essay. The essay provides examples where Vladek was lucky to have family members who helped him by providing hiding places or making valuable connections. It also notes situations where Vladek needed luck in order to utilize his skills, such as knowing multiple languages or how to hide effectively. While Vladek was resourceful, his survival often hinged on fortunate circumstances outside of his control and connections through family. The essay argues that luck played a larger role than Vladek's talents alone in allowing him to endure the Holocaust.
This document provides a summary of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, including its style and examination of subjectivity. It discusses how Woolf moves beyond realism by considering multiple subjectivities that are not clearly bounded within individuals. The document also discusses Woolf's interest in capturing the atoms or impressions that make up ordinary consciousness and experiences. Finally, it compares Woolf's approach to perspectivism and how she represents experiences and events from different perspectives without one stable or objective reality.
Sylvia Plath wrote the poem "Daddy" shortly before her death by suicide in 1963. The poem uses the metaphor of a train journey to represent Plath working through her complex feelings about her father, who died when she was young, as well as her estranged husband, Ted Hughes. Through vivid, surreal imagery and references to death and World War 2, Plath conveys her deep-seated anger and desire to break free of the men who dominated her life. The intensely personal work is considered a prime example of confessional poetry and gives insight into Plath's inner psychological state near the end of her life.
This document provides an overview of a class on Jean Rhys' novel Wide Sargasso Sea. It includes the class schedule, participation requirements, biographical information about Rhys, background on the Caribbean and Jamaica where parts of the story take place, and discussion questions about the novel. The class will focus on Wide Sargasso Sea and how it connects to and challenges Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre by providing narrative and subjectivity to Bertha Mason. Students are asked to discuss what picture of the Caribbean the novel provides compared to Bronte's England, as well as the style of the novel and how it relates to Jane Eyre.
1) The document provides an overview of the day's class activities and readings for an English literature course. It discusses poems by late Yeats and Eliot from the 1920s dealing with darkness after WWI.
2) The class will discuss three poems by W.H. Auden dealing with political themes, though Auden later disowned or revised them. The document considers whether and how these poems should still be read and interpreted.
3) The class engages in an activity to discuss the purposes and values of poetry before analyzing Auden's poem "September 1, 1939," which comments on the eve of WWII. The document examines Auden's evolving views on poetry's ability to enact change.
Amy and Dan travel to Austria and France to find clues in their quest to solve the 39 Clues mystery. In Austria, they search for a missing piece of Nannerl Mozart's diary, which they believe contains the second clue. They discover underground chambers and chase after their relative Jona Wizard. The diary pages lead them to Tokyo for their next clue.
Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. She lost her father at a young age and her mother supported the family as a teacher. Plath was always a dedicated writer from a young age. She attended Smith College on a scholarship and had early success getting work published. In 1955, she graduated from Smith and went to study at Cambridge University in England where she met her future husband, the poet Ted Hughes. They married in 1956 and had two children together, but Hughes left Plath for another woman in 1962, plunging her into a deep depression. Plath took her own life in 1963 at the age of 30.
The document discusses how the Holocaust profoundly impacted the author Art Spiegelman's life even though he was born in Sweden after it ended. It talks about how Art interviewed his father Vladek about his experiences during the Holocaust to understand its effects. During the interview, Art saw how the trauma affected Vladek's behaviors and personality, which influenced Art's own development. The document argues that comparing Art and Vladek shows how the Holocaust had intergenerational effects.
Vladek Spiegelman's survival during the Holocaust was based more on luck than his considerable resourcefulness, according to the student's essay. The essay provides examples where Vladek was lucky to have family members who helped him by providing hiding places or making valuable connections. It also notes situations where Vladek needed luck in order to utilize his skills, such as knowing multiple languages or how to hide effectively. While Vladek was resourceful, his survival often hinged on fortunate circumstances outside of his control and connections through family. The essay argues that luck played a larger role than Vladek's talents alone in allowing him to endure the Holocaust.
This document provides a summary of Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway, including its style and examination of subjectivity. It discusses how Woolf moves beyond realism by considering multiple subjectivities that are not clearly bounded within individuals. The document also discusses Woolf's interest in capturing the atoms or impressions that make up ordinary consciousness and experiences. Finally, it compares Woolf's approach to perspectivism and how she represents experiences and events from different perspectives without one stable or objective reality.
Sylvia Plath wrote the poem "Daddy" shortly before her death by suicide in 1963. The poem uses the metaphor of a train journey to represent Plath working through her complex feelings about her father, who died when she was young, as well as her estranged husband, Ted Hughes. Through vivid, surreal imagery and references to death and World War 2, Plath conveys her deep-seated anger and desire to break free of the men who dominated her life. The intensely personal work is considered a prime example of confessional poetry and gives insight into Plath's inner psychological state near the end of her life.
This document provides an overview of a class on Jean Rhys' novel Wide Sargasso Sea. It includes the class schedule, participation requirements, biographical information about Rhys, background on the Caribbean and Jamaica where parts of the story take place, and discussion questions about the novel. The class will focus on Wide Sargasso Sea and how it connects to and challenges Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre by providing narrative and subjectivity to Bertha Mason. Students are asked to discuss what picture of the Caribbean the novel provides compared to Bronte's England, as well as the style of the novel and how it relates to Jane Eyre.
1) The document provides an overview of the day's class activities and readings for an English literature course. It discusses poems by late Yeats and Eliot from the 1920s dealing with darkness after WWI.
2) The class will discuss three poems by W.H. Auden dealing with political themes, though Auden later disowned or revised them. The document considers whether and how these poems should still be read and interpreted.
3) The class engages in an activity to discuss the purposes and values of poetry before analyzing Auden's poem "September 1, 1939," which comments on the eve of WWII. The document examines Auden's evolving views on poetry's ability to enact change.
Amy and Dan travel to Austria and France to find clues in their quest to solve the 39 Clues mystery. In Austria, they search for a missing piece of Nannerl Mozart's diary, which they believe contains the second clue. They discover underground chambers and chase after their relative Jona Wizard. The diary pages lead them to Tokyo for their next clue.
Sylvia Plath was born in 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts. She lost her father at a young age and her mother supported the family as a teacher. Plath was always a dedicated writer from a young age. She attended Smith College on a scholarship and had early success getting work published. In 1955, she graduated from Smith and went to study at Cambridge University in England where she met her future husband, the poet Ted Hughes. They married in 1956 and had two children together, but Hughes left Plath for another woman in 1962, plunging her into a deep depression. Plath took her own life in 1963 at the age of 30.
The document provides activities and instructions related to analyzing literary works. Activity 1 asks students to assess their own reading habits over time. Activity 2 involves analyzing a sonnet by William Shakespeare by answering questions about imagery, structure, themes and speaker. Activity 3 requires identifying figures of speech in lines from the sonnet. Further activities involve forming groups to complete stories using figures of speech, grouping literary approaches, matching critical approaches to story synopses, and analyzing short stories using feminist, Marxist, psychological and reader-response frameworks.
Module-3 American Poetry "Daddy" by Sylvia Plathjitugohil
Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" expresses the speaker's intense love and hatred for her father through surreal and violent imagery. The speaker addresses her father directly, calling him names like "ghastly statue" and comparing him to Hitler. She describes being oppressed and living in fear under his influence for many years. While partly autobiographical, the poem more broadly examines themes of female oppression and the victimization of war through its symbolic representation of the father figure. It allows the speaker to relieve neurotic emotions through creative expression.
This document discusses T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". It analyzes Eliot's style, which involves juxtaposing images without explanation to build meaning. It summarizes the plot of the poem, in which Prufrock hesitates to ask a question at a social gathering. The document discusses how the poem subverts expectations of heroism in poetry by portraying modern anxieties and the failure of both action and self-expression through language.
The document provides information about the last day of an English literature course. It includes details about submitting a final paper, the final exam date and time, participation points, and questions for students. The passage also includes excerpts from Jean Rhys' novel Wide Sargasso Sea and discussion questions about the novel's intertextuality with Jane Eyre and how it expands the fictional universe.
This document provides context and background information for Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, which was being performed by the American Conservatory Theater from February to March 2007. It includes the characters, cast, and synopsis of the play, as well as essays and commentary from the director and dramaturg to help audiences understand the themes and context of the play. It also provides a brief biography of Ibsen and history of productions of Hedda Gabler.
1. The document provides notes from an English literature class discussing modernist works by T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and World War I poets.
2. It summarizes Joyce's life and works, including Ulysses, and analyzes Gabriel's character in "The Dead" who struggles with his Irish identity and fails to understand others.
3. The last paragraphs of "The Dead" are examined where Gabriel has an epiphany realizing he never truly knew his wife, as the language and narration become more poetic and universal.
This document provides a detailed summary and analysis of Maurice Sendak's 1967 children's book Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must be More to Life. The book examines themes of home, journey, life, death, and finding one's place in the world. It can be read as a personal tribute by Sendak to his beloved dog Jennie, who had recently passed away. Jennie decides to leave her comfortable home to seek more from life. Through its illustrations and story, the book conveys Sendak's own feelings of loss, nostalgia, and the desire to move forward after tragedy. Though ambiguous, clues suggest Jennie may have died and found a new home and purpose in heaven or Castle Y
This document provides a summary of the poem "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath. It discusses the structure of the poem as a dramatic monologue in 28 tercets. It analyzes the title character Lady Lazarus as a female version of the biblical figure Lazarus, representing resurrection from the dead. The poem depicts the speaker performing public resurrections from simulated deaths for spectators, comparing the experience to that of a Jew in a Nazi concentration camp.
Sylvia Plath's confessional poetry is characterized by 4 main traits: intimate subject matter about taboo topics like death, trauma, and relationships; first person narration that invites readers to experience the poet's emotions; an autobiographical style where the poet and narrator are interchangeable; and careful crafting of lyrical elements like rhythm, metaphor, and allusion. Examples from Plath's poems "Daddy" and "Morning Song" illustrate her confessional style of openly addressing private feelings and experiences through structured verse.
A presentation on the famous short story by O.Henry. Specifically for the struggling Amity students for whom this story is a part of their curriculum and have a hard time to understand the story, because of how difficult the grammar and the words are.
Musical Memory in Toni Morrison's BelovedSerhat Akbak
"… one crucial aspect of Morrison’s poetic scope has not been sufficiently considered: namely, the “aural” musicality of Beloved. While Jazz (1992), her next novel, as well as her third novel Song of Solomon (1977) … have been associated with musical forms of expression, this has generally not been the case with Beloved" (Eckstein 177). Eckstein argues that mnemonic design of Beloved is rooted in a dialogue with a decidedly African-American musical tradition. The novel is a perfect example of a jazz-text, as both its story and narrative discourse are largely musical in scope.
This summary provides the key details from the document in 3 sentences:
Walter and his wife Marit, who is terminally ill with cancer, have decided to end her life with a doctor-prescribed injection. They invite their friend Susanna to join them for a final dinner before returning home, where Walter must work up the courage to administer the lethal dose. The story describes their quiet farewell dinner and drive home, where Marit reflects on her life as Walter nervously prepares to end it according to their plan in the kitchen.
Group 1's topic is a summary of chapters 1-7 of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. The summary describes how the story is set in Cincinnati after the Civil War and centers around a home haunted by the ghost of Sethe's daughter. It provides details on the characters including Sethe, her daughter Denver, and Paul D who visits. The summary outlines key events like Paul D learning about Sethe's past at the plantation called Sweet Home and her killing her daughter to prevent her being re-enslaved. It also describes Denver feeling left out by Sethe and Paul's bond, and Paul scaring off the ghost but their pasts resurfacing during an attempted intimate encounter.
This psychoanalytic criticism summarizes the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, which is based on the true story of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who killed one of her children to prevent their return to slavery. It describes the main characters Sethe and her daughter Denver, who are haunted by the ghost of Sethe's baby daughter who she killed. Years later, the ghost appears to take human form as a young woman named Beloved. Though initially vulnerable, Beloved proves to be powerful and malicious, destroying Sethe and Denver until the community intervenes to exorcise the ghost.
Grave of the Fireflies is an animated film set in Kobe, Japan during World War II. It follows the story of Seita, a 14-year old boy, and his 4-year old sister Setsuko as they try to survive after being orphaned from the firebombing of Kobe. Seita and Setsuko go to live with their aunt after their mother dies from injuries sustained in the bombing. However, their aunt treats them harshly. Struggling to find food, their health deteriorates and Setsuko eventually dies of malnutrition despite Seita's efforts. Overcome with grief, Seita also passes away shortly after. The film depicts the tragic consequences of war through the lens of two children struggling to
This document is a letter from the editor of Symmetry Pebbles magazine discussing recent events. It mentions that a poet featured in a previous issue, Victor Church, has passed away. It also discusses a poetry and photography exhibition the editor participated in where responses to photographs were used to inspire a new poem. The poem, titled "Good Reason to Die", is included.
The document discusses Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway and the "queer moment" between the main character Clarissa and her friend Sally. It analyzes a scene where Sally kisses Clarissa, which many critics have dismissed as adolescent enthusiasm. However, the document argues this was a meaningful queer relationship that coexists with Clarissa's married life. It says Mrs. Dalloway does not present a linear development from adolescence to adulthood, but that Clarissa's feelings for Sally remain present afterwards. The "queer moment" recurs and refuses to be relegated to the past.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
Seamus Heaney
Heaney: a Follower of Romanticism
The Personal and the General
The Trilogy
Several Connotative Meanings to Digging
Heaney’s Poetic Theory
Post-colonial Theory
Psychoanalytical Approach
Eco-critical Theory
The Pen/Spade Analogy
Techniques
Frost
Bogland
Words
Language
The Sense of Place
“Digging”
“Follower”
“Gravities”
“Personal Helicon”
“Midnight”
This summary provides the key details from the document in 3 sentences:
The document is an excerpt from the novel Jane Eyre, which describes Jane as an unhappy child living with her cruel aunt Mrs. Reed and cousins at Gateshead Hall. Jane is emotionally and physically abused by her cousin John Reed, faces neglect and criticism from her aunt, and has a terrifying experience being locked alone in the haunted red room as punishment. The doctor who treats Jane suspects the abuse is the cause of her depression, and recommends she be sent away to school to escape her unhappy situation at Gateshead.
From "Chinese Cinderella" by Adeline Yen MahGeeth Menon
The document provides background information on the autobiography Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, in which she describes growing up in a wealthy family in Hong Kong in the 1950s, facing rejection from her stepmother. In this extract, Adeline relates the only moment when she was praised by her father, after winning a playwriting competition. Though usually a distant figure, her father recognizes her talent and agrees to let her study in England. The extract depicts Adeline's fear and excitement in meeting with her father in his private room, where he praises her accomplishment but remains a commanding presence, leaving Adeline still wary of their relationship despite gaining his approval.
The document provides activities and instructions related to analyzing literary works. Activity 1 asks students to assess their own reading habits over time. Activity 2 involves analyzing a sonnet by William Shakespeare by answering questions about imagery, structure, themes and speaker. Activity 3 requires identifying figures of speech in lines from the sonnet. Further activities involve forming groups to complete stories using figures of speech, grouping literary approaches, matching critical approaches to story synopses, and analyzing short stories using feminist, Marxist, psychological and reader-response frameworks.
Module-3 American Poetry "Daddy" by Sylvia Plathjitugohil
Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy" expresses the speaker's intense love and hatred for her father through surreal and violent imagery. The speaker addresses her father directly, calling him names like "ghastly statue" and comparing him to Hitler. She describes being oppressed and living in fear under his influence for many years. While partly autobiographical, the poem more broadly examines themes of female oppression and the victimization of war through its symbolic representation of the father figure. It allows the speaker to relieve neurotic emotions through creative expression.
This document discusses T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". It analyzes Eliot's style, which involves juxtaposing images without explanation to build meaning. It summarizes the plot of the poem, in which Prufrock hesitates to ask a question at a social gathering. The document discusses how the poem subverts expectations of heroism in poetry by portraying modern anxieties and the failure of both action and self-expression through language.
The document provides information about the last day of an English literature course. It includes details about submitting a final paper, the final exam date and time, participation points, and questions for students. The passage also includes excerpts from Jean Rhys' novel Wide Sargasso Sea and discussion questions about the novel's intertextuality with Jane Eyre and how it expands the fictional universe.
This document provides context and background information for Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler, which was being performed by the American Conservatory Theater from February to March 2007. It includes the characters, cast, and synopsis of the play, as well as essays and commentary from the director and dramaturg to help audiences understand the themes and context of the play. It also provides a brief biography of Ibsen and history of productions of Hedda Gabler.
1. The document provides notes from an English literature class discussing modernist works by T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, and World War I poets.
2. It summarizes Joyce's life and works, including Ulysses, and analyzes Gabriel's character in "The Dead" who struggles with his Irish identity and fails to understand others.
3. The last paragraphs of "The Dead" are examined where Gabriel has an epiphany realizing he never truly knew his wife, as the language and narration become more poetic and universal.
This document provides a detailed summary and analysis of Maurice Sendak's 1967 children's book Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must be More to Life. The book examines themes of home, journey, life, death, and finding one's place in the world. It can be read as a personal tribute by Sendak to his beloved dog Jennie, who had recently passed away. Jennie decides to leave her comfortable home to seek more from life. Through its illustrations and story, the book conveys Sendak's own feelings of loss, nostalgia, and the desire to move forward after tragedy. Though ambiguous, clues suggest Jennie may have died and found a new home and purpose in heaven or Castle Y
This document provides a summary of the poem "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath. It discusses the structure of the poem as a dramatic monologue in 28 tercets. It analyzes the title character Lady Lazarus as a female version of the biblical figure Lazarus, representing resurrection from the dead. The poem depicts the speaker performing public resurrections from simulated deaths for spectators, comparing the experience to that of a Jew in a Nazi concentration camp.
Sylvia Plath's confessional poetry is characterized by 4 main traits: intimate subject matter about taboo topics like death, trauma, and relationships; first person narration that invites readers to experience the poet's emotions; an autobiographical style where the poet and narrator are interchangeable; and careful crafting of lyrical elements like rhythm, metaphor, and allusion. Examples from Plath's poems "Daddy" and "Morning Song" illustrate her confessional style of openly addressing private feelings and experiences through structured verse.
A presentation on the famous short story by O.Henry. Specifically for the struggling Amity students for whom this story is a part of their curriculum and have a hard time to understand the story, because of how difficult the grammar and the words are.
Musical Memory in Toni Morrison's BelovedSerhat Akbak
"… one crucial aspect of Morrison’s poetic scope has not been sufficiently considered: namely, the “aural” musicality of Beloved. While Jazz (1992), her next novel, as well as her third novel Song of Solomon (1977) … have been associated with musical forms of expression, this has generally not been the case with Beloved" (Eckstein 177). Eckstein argues that mnemonic design of Beloved is rooted in a dialogue with a decidedly African-American musical tradition. The novel is a perfect example of a jazz-text, as both its story and narrative discourse are largely musical in scope.
This summary provides the key details from the document in 3 sentences:
Walter and his wife Marit, who is terminally ill with cancer, have decided to end her life with a doctor-prescribed injection. They invite their friend Susanna to join them for a final dinner before returning home, where Walter must work up the courage to administer the lethal dose. The story describes their quiet farewell dinner and drive home, where Marit reflects on her life as Walter nervously prepares to end it according to their plan in the kitchen.
Group 1's topic is a summary of chapters 1-7 of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. The summary describes how the story is set in Cincinnati after the Civil War and centers around a home haunted by the ghost of Sethe's daughter. It provides details on the characters including Sethe, her daughter Denver, and Paul D who visits. The summary outlines key events like Paul D learning about Sethe's past at the plantation called Sweet Home and her killing her daughter to prevent her being re-enslaved. It also describes Denver feeling left out by Sethe and Paul's bond, and Paul scaring off the ghost but their pasts resurfacing during an attempted intimate encounter.
This psychoanalytic criticism summarizes the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, which is based on the true story of Margaret Garner, a runaway slave who killed one of her children to prevent their return to slavery. It describes the main characters Sethe and her daughter Denver, who are haunted by the ghost of Sethe's baby daughter who she killed. Years later, the ghost appears to take human form as a young woman named Beloved. Though initially vulnerable, Beloved proves to be powerful and malicious, destroying Sethe and Denver until the community intervenes to exorcise the ghost.
Grave of the Fireflies is an animated film set in Kobe, Japan during World War II. It follows the story of Seita, a 14-year old boy, and his 4-year old sister Setsuko as they try to survive after being orphaned from the firebombing of Kobe. Seita and Setsuko go to live with their aunt after their mother dies from injuries sustained in the bombing. However, their aunt treats them harshly. Struggling to find food, their health deteriorates and Setsuko eventually dies of malnutrition despite Seita's efforts. Overcome with grief, Seita also passes away shortly after. The film depicts the tragic consequences of war through the lens of two children struggling to
This document is a letter from the editor of Symmetry Pebbles magazine discussing recent events. It mentions that a poet featured in a previous issue, Victor Church, has passed away. It also discusses a poetry and photography exhibition the editor participated in where responses to photographs were used to inspire a new poem. The poem, titled "Good Reason to Die", is included.
The document discusses Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway and the "queer moment" between the main character Clarissa and her friend Sally. It analyzes a scene where Sally kisses Clarissa, which many critics have dismissed as adolescent enthusiasm. However, the document argues this was a meaningful queer relationship that coexists with Clarissa's married life. It says Mrs. Dalloway does not present a linear development from adolescence to adulthood, but that Clarissa's feelings for Sally remain present afterwards. The "queer moment" recurs and refuses to be relegated to the past.
CONTENTS:
Introduction
Seamus Heaney
Heaney: a Follower of Romanticism
The Personal and the General
The Trilogy
Several Connotative Meanings to Digging
Heaney’s Poetic Theory
Post-colonial Theory
Psychoanalytical Approach
Eco-critical Theory
The Pen/Spade Analogy
Techniques
Frost
Bogland
Words
Language
The Sense of Place
“Digging”
“Follower”
“Gravities”
“Personal Helicon”
“Midnight”
This summary provides the key details from the document in 3 sentences:
The document is an excerpt from the novel Jane Eyre, which describes Jane as an unhappy child living with her cruel aunt Mrs. Reed and cousins at Gateshead Hall. Jane is emotionally and physically abused by her cousin John Reed, faces neglect and criticism from her aunt, and has a terrifying experience being locked alone in the haunted red room as punishment. The doctor who treats Jane suspects the abuse is the cause of her depression, and recommends she be sent away to school to escape her unhappy situation at Gateshead.
From "Chinese Cinderella" by Adeline Yen MahGeeth Menon
The document provides background information on the autobiography Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, in which she describes growing up in a wealthy family in Hong Kong in the 1950s, facing rejection from her stepmother. In this extract, Adeline relates the only moment when she was praised by her father, after winning a playwriting competition. Though usually a distant figure, her father recognizes her talent and agrees to let her study in England. The extract depicts Adeline's fear and excitement in meeting with her father in his private room, where he praises her accomplishment but remains a commanding presence, leaving Adeline still wary of their relationship despite gaining his approval.
1. Kelley 1
Tim Kelley
Dr. R. Permenter
American Literature II
6 Dec. 2014
Misunderstanding Vladek Spiegelman
The graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman is a partial biography of his father, Vladek
Spiegelman, and partial autobiography of Art and his relationship with his father. Throughout the
novel, the reader can see the struggling and failing relationship the father and son have because
of the different times that they lived in and the far different experiences for which they
encountered. After reading Maus, the reader can see that Art did not fully understand his father,
including his strange tendencies and his trauma of the Holocaust. However, some evidence can
be found that Art did eventually understand his dad after writing and drawing illustrations for the
novel.
Ever since Art was a child, the reader can see that he had a struggling father-son
relationship with his father. He mentions a time when his friends left him and his father’s
response was, “Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a
week…then you could see what it is, friends!” (Spiegelman 6), which is quite a harsh response to
such a young boy. Art is only about ten or eleven years old in that scene, which means the
Holocaust was probably less than fifteen years before. That means Vladek would still have
horrible, traumatic effects of the Holocaust fresh in his mind. Just from reading the first few
pages where this scene is located in the novel, it can be assumed that Art and his father probably
do not, and will not, get along too well.
2. Kelley 2
Throughout the rest of the novel, Art gets quite frustrated with his father. There are two
prominent examples of frustration, and those would be the jacket incident and the telephone wire
scene. The first incident was where Vladek threw out Art’s old, shabby jacket and replaced it
with another old jacket. Art gets angry with his father for his decision to just throw out his
jacket; Art states, “You really threw out my coat. I can’t believe it! I just can’t believe it”
(Spiegelman 69). Another less dramatic scene was when Vladek was picking up a piece of
telephone wire along the sidewalk. Art states, “You always pick up trash! Can’t you just buy
wire?” and Vladek responds with, “Pssh. Why always you want to buy when you can find?”
(Spiegelman 116); Art’s frustration with his dad’s frugalness is evident in this scene. However,
Vladek went through the horrific trauma of the Holocaust; Holocaust victims knew that
possessions were few and many held on to as much as they possibly could. These people had
little to no money, so they become frugal and Art does not understand this theory. In Art’s world,
if someone needs something, then he or she buys it; he or she does not try and scavenge for it on
the streets. That idea was foreign to him, most likely because he was never actually forced to do
anything of that nature.
As author, narrator, and one of the protagonists of the novel, Art does not seem to portray
himself as any sort of hero, but he actually portrays himself as the frustrated son who regrets the
way he treats his father. He makes the reader feel like it is not only Vladek who was a jerk, but
also himself. After reading and viewing this graphic novel, readers get the feeling from the text
and images that Art began to regret the way he treated Vladek. According to Elmwood, “The
central problem…is the author’s need to write himself into a family from whose founding trauma
he was absent” (681), which is quite obvious with Spiegelman’s novel. For someone to write
about an event that he or she never lived through, it is hard to capture all the emotion involved
3. Kelley 3
and accurate information. Spiegelman shows his audience that he was aware that he did not
understand his father and that they were growing further apart; this becomes evident in numerous
frames throughout the novel, take for example the last frame on page forty. In this frame, Art
draws the scene of him and his father at a table sitting as far away from each other as possible; in
addition to that, there are objects between them and Art is leaning back as far as possible. He
knew the separation between him and his father existed and how their relationship was failing.
When someone is aware that he or she is growing apart from a loved one, then chances are that
person regrets letting that separation happen.
Spiegelman also shows his audience that he did not understand his father in the last frame
of the book. It is this frame where he strongly uses irony. Art asks his father about the diaries of
his mother and Vladek responds with, “These notebooks, and other really nice things of
mother…one time I had a very bad day…and all of these things I destroyed” (158) and, “I looked
in [the diaries], but I don’t remember…only I know that she said, ‘I wish my son, when he grows
up he will be interested by’” (159); Vladek was distraught by his wife’s death and when people
are stressed and upset, sometimes things happen like this event. He should have known, though,
that telling Art that his mother wanted him to read the diaries that Vladek burnt would upset him.
In the last frame Art calls Vladek a “Murderer” (159); this is ironic because Vladek is a war
hero, Holocaust victim, and a sickly man. This is one of many scenes where the reader knows
that Art does not quite understand his father, and his emotions are getting in the way.
Art and Vladek are quite emotional about Anja’s suicide. Vladek dealt with his grief by
burning the belongings of Anja while Art wrote his comic “Prisoner on the Hell Planet.” It is this
section of the novel where emotions become complicated and the audience can see Art’s
frustration with his parents, Vladek’s breakdown, and Anja’s depression. Art describes his last
4. Kelley 4
confrontation with his mother where she asked him if he still loved her; he gives her an annoyed
response. After discovering she committed suicide, Art states, “Congratulations! You’ve
committed the perfect crime….You put me here [in a metaphorical prison]….shorted all my
circuits…cut my nerve endings…and crossed my wires” (103); Art went from blaming himself
for his mother’s suicide to blaming her, then eventually blaming his father. Kolář explains,
“[H]is narrative is permeated by self-accusation; he ruminates that he might have saved her…if
he had not been resentful to her attempt to tighten their emotional bond” (230); this shows Art’s
complicated feelings about the suicide. With Art’s mixed emotions, the traumatic event of his
mother’s suicide, and his father’s actions, it is understandable that Art gets frustrated with his
father. He felt that Vladek burning Anja’s diaries was “killing” her memory and the only object
left of her.
Finally, although it is evident that Art began to understand his father and regret how he
treated Vladek, there is a piece of evidence that he has not forgiven him. Art made the effort to
visit his father, even though it was mainly for his book, he could have just called him on the
phone. For Art to travel to Vladek’s home and sit for hours and listen to stories, he must have
respected and loved his father somewhat. After all, he chose to write about his father. Readers
can find regret through tone and images in the novel. He also shows the separation between him
and his father, which gives the audience a feeling of regret; oddly enough, however, Art does not
give his father any recognition in the “Thanks” section of the novel or in the dedication. In the
dedication, he mentions only his mother. This can be seen as a puzzle because the novel gives
the feeling of regret, yet he does not give his father recognition in the dedication. One would
think that if a person was the basis of a story, that author would recognize that person and put
5. Kelley 5
him or her in the dedication. The audience may assume that even though he started to understand
his father’s problems, maybe he has not quite forgiven him yet for burning Anja’s diaries.
Overall, the readers can conclude that Art, who hardly understood his own feelings,
clearly did not understand his father’s while doing the interviews. This is evident through his
frustration with his father and his father’s tendencies, such as picking telephone wire on the
sidewalk or throwing out Art’s jacket. However, the audience can feel through Art’s tone that he
now understands his father after writing this novel and drawing the illustrations. It is
understandable for Art to be an emotional mess and not understanding his father since Art,
himself, never went through the Holocaust. It can be found in certain frames where Art shows
how he and his father were separated by not only physical objects but an emotional wall. By Art
showing the barriers between him and his father, he gives his audience a feeling of regret.
6. Kelley 6
Works Cited
Elmwood, Victoria A. "Happy, Happy Ever After": The Transformation Of Trauma Between
The Generations In Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale." Biography: An
Interdisciplinary Quarterly 27.4 (2004): 691-720. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6
Dec. 2014.
Kolář, Stanislav. "Intergenerational Transmission Of Trauma In Spiegelman's Maus."Brno
Studies In English 39.1 (2013): 227-241. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Dec. 2014.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus I. New York: Pantheon, 1986. Print.