Formative Blog Post #4 -- Julia Jacob

LITERARY ANALYSIS QUESTION:  
 

• Is the book’s structure chronological or does it move back and forth between past and present? Does the author use a single (first or third person) viewpoint or shifting points of view?  Why might the author have chosen to tell the story this way and how does it influence the reader’s understanding?

Maus, A Survivor's Tale

The book Maus does not have a chronological structure but it transfers back between past and present. I believe the reason the author decided to do this was to demonstrate the reaction Artie had to his Father's story. There were so many horrifying things that his father shares that the reader also needs a time to take all the information in. This structure that Art Spiegelman chose for his book was very influential because the reader would reflect on how peaceful our world is today and actually compare the time periods, even thank God for not having passed through all that. 

Since this survivor's tale travels from present to future, vice-versa, and it is a cartoon, the book is mostly told by first person when it comes to the Holocaust stories (by Vladek) but when it goes back to the present day life there is a different person narrating (Artie). On page 26 we can see the narration made by Artie: "For the next few months I went back to visit my father quite regularly, to hear his story." The difference between the two different types of narration is that Artie's is not inside the comic strips like Vladek's. Vladek's has to do with the sequence to the story, like wise: "And when I went upstairs ..." - 27

These two types of first person narrations are very different because the Holocaust experience is being told based on the memory of the survivor, therefore he is telling the story to his son. As for the present day part of the book, it is not a memory, it is happening currently and it has nothing in context to the story being told about the World War I & II.

Illustrious Artist- Julia Jacob- Maus #3

I chose to copy an exact drawing of the book because there is no better way to represent what Vladek said. Like it was said in our talk with Mr. Lipman, the context of war changes everything. In some ways it even covers up for all the killing and all the dehumanization that was done to the jews. This is exactly what Vladek said in the comic strip. This statement is very powerful because when you reflect on the idea of World War I and World War II, you can notice that there are so many issues being taken care of that some horrible things pass by as unnoticed. That was how it was during the Holocaust. 

Connection Captain -- Maus #2

      Having read the two first parts of the book Maus by Art Spiegelman, I can very well connect this book to several others we have read in seventh grade and last semester. Some of these books are The Giver, Anthem, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Uglies and The City of Ember. Maus being based on a historical event being the Holocaust and World war I/II it has to do a lot with equality and a completely different world. For the Nazis Group this completely different world meant no Jews, no disabled people and no Gypsies. It meant that everyone had to be a cert way, and that way was having blue eyes and blond hair.
      Isn't it ironic how Hitler wanted the people to have these characteristics even though he didn't have them?  I think so two.
      For all the other books their idea of perfect world meant the creation of no difference between the people and almost no emotions. But the difference between all the books and Maus is that they are all set in the future with just a scenario. As for Maus, it happened, and people had to suffer for something that lead to despair and failure. People gave so much to receive such a massive destruction.

Maus/Persepolis _ Question Commender

Our current event in Humanities being the World War II, we have talked a lot about Hitler and the Nazi's Party in which the book Maus is based upon. 

Question One: How would Maus be different to the reader if Speigelman had used human figures instead of animals? Would we connect more to the book?

--> I believe that if the author had used human figures instead of animals the reader would be able to reflect a bit more upon the problem because we would end up taking it more seriously. I believe this because having the story be told with the people that actually experienced this would make the problem more realistic.

Question Two: Why is it that Speigelman chose rats and cats for the characters of his book? 

--> I think that these were the two animals that he chose because in some ways we think of cats being superior to mouse and rats because of their size. Just like we humans are sacred of sharks and lions. It is mostly because of their force and killing instincts. 

Question Three: Vladek had to experience a lot threw the Holocaust and certainly all the work and the separation from his family made an impact on him. What might have changed in him from that experience? 

--> Since the Holocaust was such a terrible time for the Jews I believe that everything that Vladek passed threw made him care more about material things than people because it was the cigarettes, the jam, and the chocolate bars that Anja sent him that kept him alive while he was in the camps. I believe that loosing his friends and his loved ones during the war was such a hard time for him that he chose to not get attached to anyone as much so that if something happens, he won't have to feel the same amount of pain.