Alicia Maus Week 2 Question Commander

1.  Art Spiegelman depicts his characters as animals. How do you think this affects the story (and how would readers interpret the story differently if the characters were humans?)
          I think this symbolism works well in the story, and if he had chosen to make the characters human, it wouldn't have the same effect. We know the Nazis were bad, but by making them cats and the Jews mice, it sort of reminds us that they are the enemy. Also, it helps the reader to identify who is who in the story. If the characters were all human, we wouldn't be reminded that the Nazis were constantly going after the Jews like cats and mice, and it also might be more difficult to identify the different characters.  

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2. Why is Vladek so concerned with money (ex: he insisted on fixing the roof himself instead of hiring someone)  How does this derive from his experience in the Holocaust?
          In my opinion, it derives from his experience from the Holocaust because Anja's family was very wealthy (so Vladek was rich as well) and even with all their money, the family was affected by the Holocaust. Their situation would have been even worse without all the money; Vladek probably realized the importance of money that way, and I think that's why he tries to save money. It may also be because he doesn't work anymore, and he needs to save money.


3. How would the story be different if we were reading what Art wrote about his fathers experience, instead of seeing him tell Art the story?
          It would probably be more difficult to tell what kind of person Vladek was, and what his thoughts were, since he barely talks about his opinions during the Holocaust, and we only see him expressing them to Art. Also, it would  be less interesting because the way the novel is written (or drawn) let's us see more aspects of Vladek's life, and also some things about Art. If we were just reading a book about what Art wrote, we wouldn't know things like Vladek's relationships with Mala and Art, or how he behaves now (saves money, hoarder, etc.) 

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Another question I have, that I don't know how to answer is: why do you think Vladek married Mala?

Week #1, Question Commander

Ryoung Kim

Maus 

By Art Spiegelman

February 8, 2015

Week 1

Page 5-71

How would Maus change if the author used human figures instead of animals?

In my opinion, I think that the book will be less interesting by visual, by using human figures instead of animals. Also, I believe that visualizing with cats and animals was helpful for some people to understand the relationship between the Nazis and the Jews. For example, an image from page 62 clearly showed the fear of the mouse (Jew), due to the cats (Nazi). On the other hand, I think that the story would approach to us in a stronger way because it uses our kind as the characters. Also, I think it would call the readers to relate more on the Jew's feelings. 

How does Vladek feel about the hanging?

First of all, Vladek did not feel good at all about the hanging that happened. Because of the hanging, he did not go outside for a few days because he didn't want to pass where they were hanging (page 84). He also thought that there was a possibility of one of the hanged people could have told on him to the cats (Germans) to save themselves. On page 84, he claimed that the hanging still makes him cry. Due to this, the readers can clearly see that Vladek truly fears and cries when thinking of this coincidence.

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Question 3: Why did the Nazis dislike the Jews? 

After the loss of WWI, Hitler thought that the Jews were the reason for the loss and the economy fell down because of them. Germany's economy fell down. Also, he thought that his mother died by one of the Jew doctor by accident. Due to this, Hitler did not have a good opinion on the Jews. 

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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. 

Question Commander – Juliana Vieira

Question Commander

Persepolis Introduction + pp. 3 - 62

Juliana Vieira


1- Why does the author choose to depict God as a character that visits her and that she talks to?
Since Satrapi choose to make this a very lighthearted book, she had to make some adaptations to the story. One of those is religion-wise. Religion is something that can immediately make something very deep and controversial. In order to avoid that, Marjane choose to make God a character that she talks to. This leaves it unclear for the reader whether she is showing us that she actually imagined God visiting her, or if she wants to just keep the subject lighthearted. In my opinion, it is the latter, for the whole purpose of this specific graphic novel is to turn a very controversial subject into a lighthearted one.

2- Does Marjane Satrapi narrate the story as it was, or are some details untold, exaggerated, or modified?
Since she is telling us the story of her life ever since she was ten, some details were forgotten, faded with time. She might have left out something important within the narration that may have affected the story. Adding on to that, some details may have been exaggerated. Children have a different way of seeing things than adults. Something that she may have remembered as enormous may just have been regular-sized, for example. She may also have had to modify some details in the story. Since she makes the book very shallow, she may have had to leave out some disturbing yet important details that would have been too deep.

3- How does Satrapi make such a controversial topic into a lighthearted story of her life?
The main way in which she does that is by telling the story in a child's point of view. A child's perspective will always be more innocent, lighthearted, and even humorous than an adult's. So far, she has narrated the story as a ten-year-old child. She shows only her thoughts and opinions. One may dig deeper and find the real meaning, but in the surface, it is only the story of a child's life. This reminds me of Maus, also a graphic novel that talks about a very controversial topic in a shallow manner. The way Art Spiegelman depicts the characters as animals - Nazi as cats, Jews as mice - is similar to the way that Marjane Satropi narrates the story from a child's point os view.

Maus

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Persepolis

Question Commander, Guilhermo Pagnano Gonzalez

Why do you think Vladek is such a conservative when he faces money?

In my opinion Vladek is such a conservative and non spending money person since he had to face a dramatic and horrific time.  During his time as a prisoner Vladek had to live and figure himself out with very little.  The outcome of all the suffering he faced shaped him in a different matter that originally he used to be.  He has learned different beliefs through hard work and pain. That is why in the book he acts in a brutal way with his family. For example, when he states he needs to fix the celling.  He does not ask for help, or hire someone. He believes that he can get his hands on work and fix it, with the need of no money. This is very similar to lots of men in this world that have to be taken to war, just like Vladek many of them get physically and emotionally challenged and faced which in the end they become different.

In my opinion Vladek is a depressed man who doesn’t move on with life. It is like saying, when life gives you lemons you do a lemonade, yet Vladek does not use the lemons, he stays and stares at the lemons like a mean less man. He is a person who gave up and life and didn’t know how to keep on going. He abuses his wife is she was a slave or animal just like the Nazis did with him.  As a conclusion, the past shaped him as a person that believes that life can be held with their own hands and very little money.

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  What was the intention of the author to interpret mice as Jews and cats as Nazis?

My point of view to this situation is that the animals interpret a metaphoric meaning. A meaning of an ecosystem in which cats eat mice.  In our real world mice have to face an enemy called cats, mice fight for their lifes by hiding and tricking their so known predetors with many techniques. They have to face a live or die situation everyday. In the book the mice woult be depicted as the Jews, and the Cats as Nazis. Nazis just like cats want to eat, destroy and devour mice as a meal.  As we read the Nazis would kill and tourture Jews if they were animals with meaningless reasons. Spiegelman chose to represent something that happens naturally in nature, which cats are more powerful than mice. As stated in the book, “this is book is no ordinary tom and jerry type of thing it is really using cats and mice to tell a serious story about the past.

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Do you consider Vladek a “murderer” after having read he burned all his mom memories.

My judgment is that Vladek is completely right as a human being and as a father.  I consider this act very sad since he was burning all his wife’s belongings that she beloved and lived with it throughout her life, but also very heroic.  Vladek is not the best father in the world, yet he can be considered one of the best. Vladek and his family have lived through a time in their lives that should be forgotten forever since it just brings fatigue and bad memories of the past. What I think is that Vladek is trying to create a scenario in which what happened, happened, and is done and cannot be changed.  Vladek does this since he wants to create an environment where his son can be safe unlike the past. He only wants the best for his family and the stories Anja lived is not the best for them.

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