The mental perspective from which the oral narrator recalls Holocaust experiences may be indicative of two different forms of memory. Lawrence Langer refers to these two forms of memory as "Deep" and "Common" memory. "Deep" memory occurs when the oral narrator recalls Holocaust experiences from the perspective of the individual or "self" experiencing the events. "Common" memory occurs when the oral narrator recalls Holocaust experiences from the perspective of the pre- or post-Holocaust self.

Most of Maus seems to be written in "Deep" memory; Vladek narrates events from the mental perspective of the Holocaust self as the events were occurring. However, in Maus II Vladek produces a number of photographs for Art. While viewing these photographs, Vladek’s perspective suddenly comes to mirror that of Art; both Vladek and Art are experiencing the perspective of the post-Holocaust self -- the self in the present looking back on the Holocaust experiences others. This is "Common" memory.

Vladek: In Warsaw, you know how it was. If they stayed only in Russia, they still now could maybe be alive. Anja’s parents, the grandparents, her big sister Tosha, little Bibi and our Richieu . . . all what is left is the photos.

In mentioning the photos, Vladek demonstrates that he is considering the lives of the loved ones that he mentions, not from the perspective of the Holocaust self, but rather from the perspective of the post-Holocaust self -- the self who is looking back upon the effects of the Holocaust.

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