So I have been sick for a while, but i think I might have actually gotten caught up... maybe.
Maus has an amazing way of getting the story across. I love the way it's word for word the way the father says it, and all of the emotion that goes into the story line. the mad relationship that Vladek has with his wife Mala, is abusive and you can tell that the only reason they got married was for the companionship. the horrible things that happened to him when he was a young man were awful and made him the man that is is now, the narrator of the tragedy. Artie is in the middle of a marital conflict, that has obviously going on for a long time, and wants no part of, though both of them drag him into it, no matter what he does. The terrible things that happen to Vladek and Mala make them bitter and really difficult to be around, for good reason. I think the way it ended was very blunt, but gave no room for embellishment, which meant no falsification of the real story.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
MAUS II
When I was reading Maus II, I didn't particularly like how it started because I just finished reading Maus I. I wanted to jump into the story of Auschwitz, and it was taking awhile. I can be impatient. As expected, I see that Vladek lives through Auschwitz better than the other Jewish prisoners. Being taken into a concentration camp, it's probably not right to say they were even prisoners in the eyes of the Nazis. It seemed interesting at the end of chapter 2 when Vladek attempts to sleep that he cries out the same way as one of the other Jews that was expecting death. It seems that Vladek, no matter how lucky, was expecting death in the concentration camp. You can see that if it was not for Vladek's luck, he would be dead earlier. We can see soon after Vladek's cry before sleeping that Art gases the insects that bother him. I feel as though there is some kind of reference that in the eyes of the Nazis, the Jews were just annoying little pests that had to be taken care of in order to have peace in Germany. Vladek finishes his story with an ironic twist saying that Anja and he lived "happy happy ever after." I thought it was also interesting in the end of the book how instead of saying Art, Vladek says "Richieu." It seems that through the "happy happy ever after," a kind of fairy tale raconteuring, Vladek wishes that the son he grew to live with was Richieu.
Maus II part 1
After reading the first part of Maus II the idea of how Artie really feels inadequate to his father really comes into play towards the begginning of the story. He describes how he never looked up to his father and rather saw him more as a burden, that caused him to feel like he would never be quite good enough. I have trouble putting myself in Artie's shoes on this one because all the people I have been around my entire life have been so supportive in leeting me do whatever I want and feel would be good. I think it would so hard going through your life always having to compare your accomplishments with the accomplishments of your father. When in reality you can never really live up to such a task as surviving the holocaust. Because of this the best advice I think Artie could recieve from anyone is to do the best he can with the time he is given.
Another thing that was interesting about this selection from the book, was how you really get a taste of how awful it really was. When they discuss toward the end of the reading how the Jews were killed it is almost too much for one to process. How they could ever do such cruel things to humans is beyond me. The part that stands clearly in my mind is how they would burn them alive in their graves and then use the fat from the recently killed jews to fuel the fire for the next bunch.
One criticism about this selection would be that I felt like I was always waiting for them to get back to the story of auschwitz and stop talking about what was going on in the here and now. Whether this means that I was just really interested in the actual history part of the book, or if the information about artie and his father's relationship is just fluff I am not sure. Although I can say that it does give the story some credibility to be coming from a real life source, with which you can somewhat relate to.
Another thing that was interesting about this selection from the book, was how you really get a taste of how awful it really was. When they discuss toward the end of the reading how the Jews were killed it is almost too much for one to process. How they could ever do such cruel things to humans is beyond me. The part that stands clearly in my mind is how they would burn them alive in their graves and then use the fat from the recently killed jews to fuel the fire for the next bunch.
One criticism about this selection would be that I felt like I was always waiting for them to get back to the story of auschwitz and stop talking about what was going on in the here and now. Whether this means that I was just really interested in the actual history part of the book, or if the information about artie and his father's relationship is just fluff I am not sure. Although I can say that it does give the story some credibility to be coming from a real life source, with which you can somewhat relate to.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
First Responce to "Maus"
I find it very intreeging. I love how at the end of the first chapter his father tells him not to put in the part about the first girl, and Art Spiegelman "promises" that he won't, but what did we just read? Oh yeah, that part! I thought it was funny. I also like how the different races are represented by different animals, although I don't really understand why the Polish are pigs. I understand that the Nazis are cats and the Jews are mice, because the cats go after the mice. That was an easy metaphore to understand. I like how I breese through this reading, too. I am usually a slow reader, but I was able to read to page 75 in just an hour. This is amazing for me. I am usually lucky if I am able to read a page a min.
First Responce to "Maus"
I find it very intreeging. I love how at the end of the first chapter his father tells him not to put in the part about the first girl, and Art Spiegelman "promises" that he won't, but what did we just read? Oh yeah, that part! I thought it was funny. I also like how the different races are represented by different animals, although I don't really understand why the Polish are pigs. I understand that the Nazis are cats and the Jews are mice, because the cats go after the mice. That was an easy metaphore to understand. I like how I breese through this reading, too. I am usually a slow reader, but I was able to read to page 75 in just an hour. This is amazing for me. I am usually lucky if I am able to read a page a min.
theme
hmm i never thought food could be a theme but as we talked on how vladeks father did not want him to eat and how vladek wanted artie to each everything, whenever the war started and the men have to go out and find a way to get money, vladek's fatehr in law tells him how the family wants to keep on living like before, with the big banquest meals and all that. Food, then is rationed into coupons and becomes like a monetary system. Or when vladek and the others are sent to move mountains, how they were fed really good the first day so they could regaint heir strenghts, or before that how the polish prisoners of wall would get three good meals a day and teh jewish only once a day and very poor. IT is almost like, food is important because is sustains your body, because it nurtures your body but also because it becomes a monetary system to where it can save your life if you sell it or trade if for something else. (or save someone esle, like his nieces)
Maus Book I
Art Spiegelman does a fantastic job of taking an issue that is so real and intense, and is able to make it so accesible to readers. The Holocaust was such a tragic event in the worlds history and a lot of people are only aware that many people died, but there is so much more to the issue. There is the mental effects, economical damage, the social distinctions, and the abuse that haunts the victims to this day.
The 1st half of the reading of Maus gave you background information to issues you would soon read into the 2nd portion of our reading. Page 5-6 are an example of a flashback that you may not of directly understood at 1st, but as you continue in the book, you begin to understand what Vladek is saying to Artie when he says," If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week..THEN you should see what it is, friends!" my initial thought was wow, what a unsensitive father talking to a small child like that, but I learned to realize that the mental damage done to Vladek wont allow him to see things in such a simple picture, the Holocaust has cause him to not be able to sympathize with his son on any level less than the struggle he had to put up with.
The art helped visually connect what was happening in the story and made it more aesthically pleasing to the mind. It helped create the situations. When Artie comes home, I soon realize that the Vladek is a very picky and stubborn man because he yells at Mala for not putting his sons jacket on the wooden hanger. The fathers intentions may be good, but the way he expresses is reflects poorly on his character. Artie has come to ask his dad about his experience about his life in Poland and the war. Of course you can assume that it is about the Holocaust by the book cover, but if there was not a cover, by paying attention to detail you would see on pg. 12 that his father has number labeled on his arm that let you know he was a Jew and that he was then, a Holocaust victim.
The 1st half was very crucial to the rest of the novel because so much information pertaining to things we read at the end of the 1st half and all of the 2nd half were at least mentioned in the beginning. Artie is trying to make this story real, so the little deatils have an affective impact on how "real" Vladeks story becomes. On page 32, the unofficial point in the novel where nazi rule begins to take place. The nazi flag is in the air, but not depicted as a "complete" nazi flag which could signify that german occupancy is not in full effect yet, maybe a sense of foreshadowing?
Vladeks relationship with his son is very different from the relationship Vladek had with his father. Of course to me, that makes sense because things change during different periods of time, but I notice that to Vladek, its more personal than that. Vladek tried to compensate for everything his dad did not do in some sense such as Artie had to eat everything on the plate etc... When Speigelman begins with Vladek entering the Holocaust, it becomes so intense and real. The issues did happen and its frustrating to know that nothing was being done to change this.
The 2nd portion of our reading was very detailed and specific about certain issues. It is affective that speigelman would do this because again, it makes this more personal and easier for the reader to relate to. For the 1st portion of the Holocaust, Vladeks family had it pretty nice compared to others because they had money, but we soon learned that money could not sustain them forever. A point in the novel that bothered me was on pg. 83, when Vladek discuessed how Nahum Cohn and his son along with 2 others were hanged. You could tell this bothered him because it was the cover picture to chapter 4, and it affected him so much that he could not leave the house for days.
Swtiching from the story to Artie and Vladek, you can see patterns of things that still carry on in Vladek from the war. He is very independent and stingy wtih money. He eventually reads a comic made by Artie that really deters his mood. Anja was very important to Vladek and any memory of her haunts him.
It is amazing to see how Anja and Vladek make it SO CLOSE to being free, when they are eventually hoaxed into a trap. The pictures have made reading this novel very easy while obsorbing so much knowledge. The novel is very easy to read, and honestly doesnt require much reading, but attention to detail. So much is unsaid in the comic than said. Spiegelman does a fantastic job at bringing this into reality for the reader.
The 1st half of the reading of Maus gave you background information to issues you would soon read into the 2nd portion of our reading. Page 5-6 are an example of a flashback that you may not of directly understood at 1st, but as you continue in the book, you begin to understand what Vladek is saying to Artie when he says," If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week..THEN you should see what it is, friends!" my initial thought was wow, what a unsensitive father talking to a small child like that, but I learned to realize that the mental damage done to Vladek wont allow him to see things in such a simple picture, the Holocaust has cause him to not be able to sympathize with his son on any level less than the struggle he had to put up with.
The art helped visually connect what was happening in the story and made it more aesthically pleasing to the mind. It helped create the situations. When Artie comes home, I soon realize that the Vladek is a very picky and stubborn man because he yells at Mala for not putting his sons jacket on the wooden hanger. The fathers intentions may be good, but the way he expresses is reflects poorly on his character. Artie has come to ask his dad about his experience about his life in Poland and the war. Of course you can assume that it is about the Holocaust by the book cover, but if there was not a cover, by paying attention to detail you would see on pg. 12 that his father has number labeled on his arm that let you know he was a Jew and that he was then, a Holocaust victim.
The 1st half was very crucial to the rest of the novel because so much information pertaining to things we read at the end of the 1st half and all of the 2nd half were at least mentioned in the beginning. Artie is trying to make this story real, so the little deatils have an affective impact on how "real" Vladeks story becomes. On page 32, the unofficial point in the novel where nazi rule begins to take place. The nazi flag is in the air, but not depicted as a "complete" nazi flag which could signify that german occupancy is not in full effect yet, maybe a sense of foreshadowing?
Vladeks relationship with his son is very different from the relationship Vladek had with his father. Of course to me, that makes sense because things change during different periods of time, but I notice that to Vladek, its more personal than that. Vladek tried to compensate for everything his dad did not do in some sense such as Artie had to eat everything on the plate etc... When Speigelman begins with Vladek entering the Holocaust, it becomes so intense and real. The issues did happen and its frustrating to know that nothing was being done to change this.
The 2nd portion of our reading was very detailed and specific about certain issues. It is affective that speigelman would do this because again, it makes this more personal and easier for the reader to relate to. For the 1st portion of the Holocaust, Vladeks family had it pretty nice compared to others because they had money, but we soon learned that money could not sustain them forever. A point in the novel that bothered me was on pg. 83, when Vladek discuessed how Nahum Cohn and his son along with 2 others were hanged. You could tell this bothered him because it was the cover picture to chapter 4, and it affected him so much that he could not leave the house for days.
Swtiching from the story to Artie and Vladek, you can see patterns of things that still carry on in Vladek from the war. He is very independent and stingy wtih money. He eventually reads a comic made by Artie that really deters his mood. Anja was very important to Vladek and any memory of her haunts him.
It is amazing to see how Anja and Vladek make it SO CLOSE to being free, when they are eventually hoaxed into a trap. The pictures have made reading this novel very easy while obsorbing so much knowledge. The novel is very easy to read, and honestly doesnt require much reading, but attention to detail. So much is unsaid in the comic than said. Spiegelman does a fantastic job at bringing this into reality for the reader.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)