Thursday, February 14, 2008
Maus
I thought the second half of the first book was far more interesting. It really began to get into the details of their actual experience through the holocaust. Vladek tries to use his financial situation to get the family out of trouble and is very successful for quiet some time. He as a character grows more and he takes on a leadership role, not only in the family but in the Jewish population. After a series of events it ends up just to Vladek and Anja hidding. They have lost their son and rest of the family. I think this section of the novel allows for the different themes to grow such as the theme of social status. The family is able to get out of a lot because of who they are and the amount of money they have. My favorite part was when Vladek finds the cartoon Arty had drawn after his mother had committed suicide. For me, it brought the characters more to life to see their pain, not just remembering their pain and it was a good break form the originial plot line. I think the illustrations in the second half are not quiet detailed and leave the reader up to interpret them. The faces have slight changes in emotions but nothing compared to the graphics in Arty's other cartoon. I think those images show so much more detail than any others. I think he did that because Arty experienced those emotions first hand and knows exactly how the characters were feeling, while he can only guess about how they would have looked and felt during their experience in the Holocaust.
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5 comments:
I also thought Arty's other comic was very interesting. And I appreciate your analysis about his own experience of emotion versus his interpretation of his parent's emotions in the past!
I really like your point about the amount of detail in the comics and feeling the emotions firsthand. I hadn't looked at it that way when I read it, but it really makes a lot of sense.
I agree with you about Arty's first comic. It shows his guilt, and his father's pain at the death of Anja. It really helps us to get to know the characters and the things they've been through together, and tells us a little bit more about Arty like the fact that he was mentally/emotionally unstable and in an institution for a little while.
not only that but it seems lie there is a bigger divide between the young Vladeck and older Vladeck. It's hard to see one in the other compared to the beginning of the book. I agree that social status plays an even bigger role in the second half but in the sense that money doesn't solve everything like father-in-law kept saying. bubbles are bursting in the second half along with more information about Artie and Vladeck's relationship. i mean just look at the ending of book one.
to me his first comic was very intese, the way they were drawn appart from the fact that the subject matter was something like his mother's suicide.
it was interesting how he thought that everybody blamed him for his mother's death. when we see in maus that she has always had an issue.
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