Summary of MAUS

Introduction

The "Typical Dysfunctional American Family"

Recording American History

The Ideal of the American Dream

Conclusion

Note to the Reader: This paper is written in hyper-text and is not meant to be read or understood in a linear fashion. Like the recollection of memories from the past, some of the links may appear out of place or a bit random. However, the entire content of the paper serves to illustrate the interconnectedness of memories and life in the present. The internal links highlighted in blue will move you throughout the body of the paper while the external links also highlighted in blue will give you more insight into topics mentioned in the paper. Please see my Ceremony webpage for another interpretation of cultural paradoxes in current American literature.

In his novel-comic books, MAUS and MAUS II, Art Spiegelman tells his father's story of survival during the Holocaust. Using a cat and mouse metaphor, Spiegelman brings the Holocaust and the stories of its survivors to a level at which people can discuss and analyze. These discussions can lead the readers to attempt to begin to understand all of the horrendous repercussions of Nazi Germany. MAUS: My Father Bleeds History and MAUS II: And Here My Troubles Began are not only a survivor's tale of the Holocaust, but also a poignant story of an American family.

Vladek Spiegelman is the central character of the story. Vladek was a Jew living in Poland before the outbreak of World War II. He married into a wealthy family and Anja Zylberberg became his wife.  However, the war disrupted their content family life as the Spiegelmans saw many of their family members disappearing and never returning from the concentraton camps. Eventually Vladek was sent to Auschwitz while Anja was held at Birkenau. The Spiegelmans overcame many horrific obstacles while in the concentration camps and moved to America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, after their internment. In New York, the Spiegelmans had a second son, Art. Their first son, Richieu was killed during the war. Art was able to record his father's story of the Holocaust shortly before Vladek suffered a heart attack. Thus, MAUS is a comic book and a historical memoir, and an autobiography of Vladek Spiegelman.

In his comic book-novels, MAUS and MAUS II, Art Spiegelman tells his father's story of a Holocaust survivor. Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew, encountered many different obstacles in Nazi Germany. Vladek's story is a powerful one of the truimph of the human spirit. MAUS chronicles Vladek's problems as a Jew in Nazi-occupied Poland while MAUS II concentrates on Vladek's imprisonment in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Through the story of MAUS, Spiegelman reveals a few of the paradoxes of America that strike to the heart of this nation. Through the interactions with his father, Art Spiegelman illustrates the typical "dysfunctional" American family which contradicts the Cleaver family image on which America has been raised. Furthermore, much like in Leslie Marmon Silko's, novel Ceremony, the paradoxical nature of American history is revealed. The comic book is a powerful medium in which to capture history and one that has not been used extensively in the past. This new medium of expressing history also serves to show the wide generation gap between parent and child. Furthermore, MAUS is a perfect example of the current idealized version of the American dream. Now, more than ever, being American inherently means having to have struggled out of restrictive circumstances. MAUS II also contains a harsh commentary of the commercialization of the American dream.

When one thinks of the typical American family, two images may come to mind. Most Americans would hope that the Ward and June Cleaver image - now with 2.5 children and a mini-van in the garage would appear. However, more realisitically the dysfunctional American family is more prevalent, compounded by step-parents, half siblings, single mothers, and strained communication. Such is a paradox in America, while we strive to attain the Cleaver ideal, we know that the Roseanne disappointment is the reality. A large part of the Spiegelman's comic-novels concentrates on his relationship with Vladek. Spiegelman presents a very realistic father-son relationship, as he admits before starting the MAUS project, "I hadn't seen him in a long time - we weren't that close" (Spiegelman, MAUS 11). Vladek desperately wants to maintain a close bond with his son. Although Art's motive is not to bond with his father, he sees him more often in his Rego Park home in order to learn the Spiegelman family history. The communication is strained as Vladek rambles and Art has to prod his father in order to keep the story coming out in chronological order, "But let's get back to 1939!" (Spiegelman, MAUS 47).

Furthermore, Art and Vladek see many things differently, as is illustrated in the debate over the Special K. Vladek says, "It's a shame to waste. I'll pack and you can take it home with you." Art responds, "The box is almost empty. Just leave it here" (Spiegelman, MAUS II 78). When Art and Vladek cannot agree on something as simple as Special K, one has to wonder how they would ever agree on issues of weightier importance. Unfortuantely, this type of familial communication is much more prevalent that most Americans would like to admit and is an inherent American paradox.

Another aspect of the dysfunctional American family present in MAUS is that of Anja Spiegelman's suicide. Both Art and Vladek are tremendously affected by her death and attempt to express their pain and grief in different ways. Art creates the "Prisoner on the Hell Planet: A Case History" to illustrate his pain, "...you murdered me, Mommy, and you left me to take the rap" (Spiegelman, MAUS 103). Vladek is also profoundly affected by Anja's death. Mala says to him, "Yes. You keep photos of her all around your desk - like a shrine" (Spiegelman, MAUS 104). Art continually pleads Vladek to give him Anja's diaries and mementos to aid him with the book. Vladek finally tells him, "These notebooks, and other really nice things of your mother...one time I had a very bad day...and all of these things I destroyed" (Spiegelman, MAUS 158). Vladek's reaction is double sided, while he wants to have Anja's image around him, he also wants everything connected with her destroyed. Art and Vladek's reactions to Anja's suicide are very typical of the American family of today's society - communication is strained and it is difficult to talk about such issues.

The family relations are also strained and difficult because Art feels a type of "survivors guilt" that is very typical of Children of Holocaust Survivors. Feelings of inferiority and of ungratefulness arise in Art as he listens to all of his father's struggles and horrendous experiences. Art tells his pyschartrist, Pavel, "No matter what I accomplish, it doesn't seem like much compared to surviving Auschwitz" (Spiegelman, MAUS II 44). Much like Denver in Toni Morrison's, Beloved, Art must deal with being the child of a survivor. The Spiegelman family legacy undoubtedly contains pain and suffering, which Art must inherit. However, it is difficult for Art to ever fully comprehend such pain. He must find for a way in which to incorporate the lessons of history and family into his life. Art struggles with this, "Somehow my arguments with my father have lost a little of their urgency...and Auschwitz just seems too scary to think about" (Spiegleman, MAUS II, 44). Thus, one American paradox is found in the nuclear family. While we strive for the made for t.v. ideal, we are often dysfunctional in terms of structure and communication. But, these same dysfunctional families provide love, pain, and suppport as is illustrated in the Spiegelman family.

Another inherent paradox of American culture is the manner in which Americans record history. Americans tend to diminish the embarrassing or controversial moments in American history as Leslie Marmon Silko reveals in her novel, Ceremony. Americans like to glorify their best historical moments, the signing of the Declaration of Independance, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech", and the American landing on the moon. However, these events along with other highlights in American history have been recorded and maintained in very conventional ways, such as school textbooks. Spiegelman breaks this tradition and reveals the paradox by telling his father's story through the medium of comics. As Art explains, "It's an important book. People who don't usually read such stories will be interested" (Spiegelman, MAUS 133). As school teachers do not often utilize alternative mediums, MAUS is undoubtedly a historical breakthrough. History is more than just facts and figures, as it encompasses people's emotions and lives. Another paradoxcial element of American history is while Americans take pride in their history, it rarely highlights the triumph of the human spirit as in MAUS.

Another interesting aspect is the cat and mouse metaphor. Spiegelman attempts to bring a devastating historical event to a level where people can discuss and analyze it. A global and historical disaster such as the Holocaust must be taught and discussed, however it is difficult to do so when so many painful memories are evoked. In this sense, Spiegelman provides America with a new medium of history where people can begin to understand the ramifications of the Holocaust and how they continue to have an effect even today.

In Spiegelman's MAUS and MAUS II, the generation gap is clearly evident. The generation gap is relevant to maintaining history because as one generation can vividly remember the past, the preceding generation must struggle to grasp the importance of historical events. Just as Art must deal with "survivors guilt," an entire generation of Americans deal with generation gaps. MAUS and MAUS II attempt to bridge that gap, Art tells us firsthand Vladek's story in a medium of pop culture. The paradox attempts to be rectified as Spiegelman gives us true history in a medium the current generation can identify with.

Spiegelman also provides a paradoxical commentary on the American dream. Being truly American means having to have struggled out of confining circumstances. In this sense, Vladek had to struggle to become an American by enduring all of the discrimination and horrors of Nazi Germany. While the readers do not hear of Vladek and Anja's journey to America, Vladek tells Art, "More I don't need to tell you. We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after" (Spiegelman, MAUS II 136). Much like slave narratives, MAUS and MAUS II detail the struggle towards freedom. In order to be American, one must have been deprived basic civil liberties, in that vein Native Americans, slaves, and women have all struggled in this very country to attain the respect and security that is guaranteed in the United States Constitution.

In the same vein, Speigelman comments on the commericalization of the American dream. Following the commerical and critical success of MAUS, Spiegelman comments, "At least fifteen foreign editions are coming out. I've gotten 4 serious offers to turn my book into a t.v. special or movie (I don't wanna)" (Spiegleman, MAUS II 41). And as one agent tells Art, "Artie, baby. Check out this licensing deal. You get 50% of the profits. We'll make a million. Your dad would be so proud!" (Spiegelman, MAUS II 42). This harsh commentary leads one to wonder about the desirabilty of attaining the American dream. As one arrives at success, he is beset by commercialization and trivilization, thus an inherent paradox in the American dream.

Art Spiegelman gives America a poweful piece of history in his comic-novels, MAUS and MAUS II. They are not only Vladek's story or Art's thoughts about his relationship with his father, but rather the books give a glimpse into American literary traditons. There is an inherent interconnectedness in terms of memory, history, the present, and the medium in which these stories are told. It is now with the Internet and other innovatitive storytelling methods that Americans are able to apppreciate the many paradoxes of our culture and understand the importance of them. Spiegelman shows a few of the American paradoxes in his work, however he also reminds us that Vladek and Anja came to America in search of freedom from oppression and for the opportunity to achieve the illustrious American dream.