Maus Analysis
For this blog I chose to analyze a couple different pages and panels. Throughout Maus, the author is trying to make an argument on trauma and how it is passed down generationally or how trauma is shaping the behavior of the affected people.
Starting off, on page 67 we see Artie and Vladek talking about Mala. Vladek mentions how all Mala does is talk about Vladek's money and will (Panels 2,3, and 4). Due to these comments on Mala, at first she might appear as someone who does not care for Vladek and only cares for his money. But thinking about it more, I realized this is her way of venting her trauma. During the war, many people were only given coupons and ration books to buy food, and most of the time the amount of food was hardly enough for a family. Due to this, money was an incredibly important aspect of every person's life, money represented probably the only way of survival for everyone. Especially to Mala, who had a job to clean up "the people's filth" (Page 92) in order to smuggle her mother out from captivity. Having a job like that surely left a need for money for Mala, and we can see this psychologically imprinted into her brain, even now after everything has passed.
This psychological "addiction" can also be seen in Vladek as well. Throughout the book we see Vladek counting pills and nails, symbolizing the need for order in his life. We also see his accounts and notes all the way from 1965 (Page 93) and how organized he is. All of these traits about Vladek shows his trauma. We see many times in Maus the bars and stripes representing the "cage" that the survivors of the war are trapped in. On the fourth panel of page 31, we see Anja terribly sick on a couch, but the image can be seen as Anja trying desperately to "climb" out of a box. All the survivors of the war are trying to mentally "climb" out of the box of trauma in their minds.
I had a lot of similar thoughts as you. I agree with what you said about trauma and how it affects everybody in different ways. Everybody copes with stress, trauma, and depression in varying ways, and Maus does a good job of illustrating this.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used two different examples to show the same theme. Both those scenes show that the trauma the Holocaust brought the characters was permanent, yet reflected in different ways in their lives after.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about their ways of copying with their physical and mental trauma of their past. It makes a lot sense to see how difficult it is for all of them to heal from their wounds, and to stop themselves from constantly reliving their past.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you drew connections throughout the novel to demonstrate the significance of trauma throughout the novel. This really showed me how important this was and how it is a vita, component of the story.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you described trauma with different pages of Maus. Showing how common trauma is brought up within the book. I also like the connection of “climbing out the box”.
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