As I read Maus, I quickly came to discover that Vladek's Holocaust narrative/experience was a very rough and wearisome time. The farther into the book I got, the worse it sounded. It made me wonder how anyone survived this harsh typeof treatment and how you could be even slightly “normal” after going through this type of event. Reading about the times when Vladek was a prisoner of war really made me look deeper into my emotions and ask myself the question “what emotions would I have felt during that time and how would I have coped”? Also, on pages 108-109 where Vladek and Anja have to make the decision of whether or not to send their son away so that he would have a better fate then being killed by the Germans really struck me as an interesting passage. I personally believe that this would be such a hard decision to make, but after reading the novel and seeing the brutal killings that happened to many of the children, I believe that the way their son died and what they did for him was the right thing to do.
As the novel progresses on, I believe that it is not the basic narrative that so much changes, but more the situation that changes a little bit each time and for the worst. For example, it starts out with Jews facing some struggles.Then as time progresses, the noose begins to tighten as Chapter 4 suggests, and things become even more strict. It comes to the point where Jews just have to hide out in bunkers that they build themselves to avoid the Germans at all costs and death as long as they can. In my group, we discussed how these bunkers were actually really interesting and that it was pretty cool that you could see the layout of the bunker in the images.
The story that is being told visually and not so much in the words are what the settings and times were really like. The images let us imagine even further what it was like because they give detail that we then connect with what we read. The visual story also shows us around what age Vladek is experiencing each situation. This helps to follow the narrative as well. When we look at both the words and images together however it puts the whole picture together and we really get to see the type of emotion that the characters are feeling and see the full situation. With both of these elements, we can read what the narrative is saying and then view the images of what the author wants us to really get from the words instead of each person having their own interpretation of what type of emotion is supposed to be felt.
I agree with you about the way their son died. It was so violent the way the other children died, the Nazis were really monsters. If I was her I probably would have drank the poison a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to Cara's comment, the Nazi's were truely monsters. Hitler was the worse though. How could you murder all of these innocent people!? It was completely unfair and harsh. I infact did the same thing as I read the comic. I put myself in the novel as well. How could anyone live like that and go through that? I'm acutally surprised that Anja didn't commit suicide earlier than what she did.
ReplyDeleteThe children really struck my emotions as well. If I were Anja I know how hard it would have been to give away a baby just like that but if it were to save my child from the crematory, I would have just hide for as long as I could and then let him die peacefully but never in the crematory. It would just be too harsh for myself and my baby to live through. It was a very sad or horrible time to go through.
One thing that I agree with is the fact that the further you got into the book, the more I understood how rough of a time these people must have been going through in these camps.
ReplyDeleteI agree that what happened during wwii was very bad, i also think that we have to look at the mess that was going on inside of hitlers head and the german economey at that time. prior to wwii the german economey was a mess the germans were desperate for anything to bring economic life back to their country, hitler begain recruiting many men into the nazi armys. Soldiers were promised steady jobs, food, clothing, shelter, and a steady life; not only for them but also for their families as well.
ReplyDeleteI guess the point im trying to make here is that at the time all of germany was "Nazi" however having not lived through the conditions that they had and not have expierenced the life they did i dont really think its fair to say that all Nazis were monsters, hitler was extreamly charasmatic and an even stronger speaker, he knew what the people were going through and promised them he had found a way to fix it, all they had to do was go along with what ever he said, and by the time that anyone realized that hitler was bad news it was far too late.