Maus by Art Spiegelman: A Comic's Tale

The following sample essay on “Vladeks”:tells about the comic and its main character.

Maus is a comic book written by Art Spiegelman chronicling his father’s life through the Holocaust. Vladek is an aggravating character he’s stingy, contemptuous, and illiberal. Vladek’s irritating personality is an effect of his experiences during the Holocaust. His selfishness can be blamed upon his experiences where he had to take things to survive, even if it meant taking from others. His distrust is a result of him being betrayed on multiple accounts, and his fixation with money can be linked to how money helped him through the holocaust.

The underlying traits of Vladeks personality would have always been there but the holocaust has affected him in a way to bring the aggravating characteristics to surface.

Vladek’s selfish character is a side affect of his traumatic experiences where  ‘every man is for himself’. Every soul in the holocaust had to learn to put themselves before others for survival, this severely affected Vladeks character.

Vladek’s egoistic behaviour showed when he climbed onto someone’s shoulders to hang a hammock for himself to lie on, so he wouldn’t be killed, or trampled when others were shoved onto the train to the concentration camp. This event in the book really mad clear the importance of putting ones self before others for survival. Vladek’s selfishness when he wanted to give Art a new coat, saying “It’s a shame my son would wear such an old shabby coat making clear it was shameful for his own reputation.

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Instead of buying Art a new coat out of love, he gave him a coat out of keeping a high image for himself. He later says, “I have for you a warmer one. I got at Alexander’s a new jacket, and I can give to you my old one; it’s still like new!” This shows that Vladek did not care for arts image but only for his own, buying himself a new coat and letting art have a hand me down.