Maus Questions + Answers (for reference only) PDF

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Might be helpful for Personal Reflection Assignment if you choose to write about Maus...

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1. As a comic, is Maus able to better deal with trauma, grief, and tragedy in the Jewish diaspora through images than regular literature (novels, fiction, or nonfiction)? Why or why not?

Yes, Maus provides readers with a visual aid to guide their grief as they interpret what that image represents in their minds. Each picture is equal to a thousand words and triggers the reader to evoke different emotions based on the details that stood out to them. Moreover, the lack of explanation is a vivid representation of what traumatic events do to groups of people. Their unspoken fears are like an invisible residue which is difficult to address because it has been morphed into something unrecognizable due to the long-term effects of the trauma.

2. Does the use of animals humanize or dehumanize the characters that went through such trauma?

The use of animals dehumanizes the characters however this choice reflects the Freudian influence on the author Art Spiegelman. The trauma suffered by the Jews was driven by the German’s unregulated Id nature which caused them to become predatory against them. As a result, this event threatened the Poles’ morality so much that they accepted this new norm and few secretly helped Jews to ease their guilt since it weighed so heavily on their conscience (superego). Art used anthropomorphic comic strips to depict people as biological creatures that operate based on their primitive instincts rather than their evolved sense of reason.

3. How does Maus as a comic talk about second-generation trauma in the Jewish diaspora?

The discussion takes place in non- chronological order amongst Arty and his father in between recaps of his father’s memories of the Holocaust. Arty's observation of the changes in his father's personality, provide him with just enough terror to taint the way he looks at the reformed world he was born into. His father hoards junk and random scraps for fear of becoming destitute abruptly and as a result, Arty refrains from verbalizing his father’s addiction. This

generational weight is carried by Arty unknowingly as he struggles to avoid contaminating the next generation with the same pessimistic mindset.

4.Why do you think the characters are presented as humans at one point in the story?

Art drew humans to reveal how apathetic civilized people can be to each other. This representation is vivid in his narration of the guest chastising him at his mother’s viewing. The biological change in illustration from animal to human portrays an image of humans expecting to have superior emotional intelligence; while Art drew the animals with more emotional transparency....