Maus: Vol I, Ch. 1
Read Ch. 1 of Maus Vol. I. Make general comments, and then answer the following questions. Please take time to really put thought into this exercise. This could be a great experience for all of us.
1. Before the memoir proper begins, why does Spiegelman (Artie) present us with the roller-skating episode from his childhood?
2. Why does Art include the story about Lucia, when his father told him to leave it out?What does Art mean when he says he wants to make the story more real, more human?
3. In Chapter One, is there any sense of what's about to happen to Vladek, his family, and his people?
Due: MIDNIGHT, Monday, May 14
1. Before the memoir proper begins, why does Spiegelman (Artie) present us with the roller-skating episode from his childhood?
2. Why does Art include the story about Lucia, when his father told him to leave it out?What does Art mean when he says he wants to make the story more real, more human?
3. In Chapter One, is there any sense of what's about to happen to Vladek, his family, and his people?
Due: MIDNIGHT, Monday, May 14
posted by RJS at
7:18 AM
8 Comments:
Well, this is pretty fun reading. I like the written broken English (like "Then you could see what it is, friends!"). It's an interesting style choice to cast the holocaust story in a comic book with animal characters, but I suppose that opens up the audience quite a bit. I might read this voluntarily but likely would not read Anne Frank's diary of my own free will. I suppose the opening segment is there to immediately identify who is the child and who is the father, and serves as the only real suggestion of the holocaust until chapter two (if you don't count the cover). The story about Lucia is included, as Artie basically says, to give the characters some human qualities, building your sympathy for the future chapters. Without the opening peacetime segments to introduce the characters, the people have only the same emotional content as you would get in a picture of a holocaust survivor you did not know. It's still worth sympathy, but backstory makes the story notable and purposeful. That's what Art means about making his story more real. I suppose there really isn't any suggestion of what's to happen in this first chapter, as that's not really the point of the introduction for now. An interesting read so far, I believe I'll go on to the next chapter.
By
Unknown, at Monday, May 14, 2007 3:45:00 PM
Hey, this is Victoria Kouznetsov, but I had to change usernames for some reason. The rollerskating episode has the purpose of showing how the father's experiences during the Holocaust are brought up by the most trivial things, and also gives a little bit of insight as to the relationship between the father and his young son. Lucia's story is included in part because the author seeks to tell the story in its unadultered truth and also to give a more rounded character to his father during that time. As far as foreshadowing in the first chapter, there isn't really any. I think the first chapter is meant for background as to how life was before the Nazis came to power, because if it jumped right into the Holocaust the story would be less developed. This story is really interesting and much more different than the other Holocaust stories I've read, not only because its in comic form, but because there are multiple levels: first person, third, narrative and dialogue, yes, but then there's the father's story of his survival, the father's relationship with his wife, the artist's relationship with his father and then the story of his mother. Of course this comes much later, but I read the whole book first rather than go chapter by chapter.
By
TheBishop, at Monday, May 14, 2007 4:38:00 PM
This reading is more interesting than I thought it would be. The fact that it is in comic form makes it more exciting and appeals to readers because it portrays real people with personal stories, rather than just the basic stories and details that everyone has been taught about Anti-semitism and the Holocaust.
The roller-skating episode in the beginning shows that the story is personal to the reader and it gives this scene as a specific moment that he remembers from his childhood. Perhaps it also forshadows events that will come, as the father gives his son advice on friends and trust and who will wait on or stick around to help you when you have fallen in life. I'm still surprised that roller-skates were invented that early.
Perhaps Artie wrote in the part about Lucia because it is the details that draw readers in to the story and he did not want to leave those out. THe details create empathy and help readers relate to the person's story rather than the world's story. His father's personal love life helps readers view him as the "main character" of focus and gets them away from viewing him as a simple part of the disaster.
I beleive the first chapter's purpose is to simply get readers in the mindset of the father's character and really is just a personal background that led up to the time of the Nazi's disruption.
By
vsmith, at Monday, May 14, 2007 6:42:00 PM
So this is a fun read. Not like 'Oh yay the Holocaust' or anything, just that it's in an interesting style which allows for a broader audience.
The roller-skating episode just gives us insight into Art's relationship with his father. Art doesn't know yet what his father has been through and this small, seemingly insignificant scene shows the great impact the Holocaust had on his life.
Like he says, Art wants to make the story more real. Well, if he didn't include the story about Lucia, there wouldn't be much balance. It's humorous to see this woman giving everything she has(literally) to this man that has no feelings for her whatsoever. And that scene with her laying on the floor, clinging to Vladek's legs, ha it's pretty pathetic. Anyway, the whole Lucia-thing balances the terror that I'm sure will appear later on; so that the story, while still having its natural effect on the reader, won't seem quite so grotesque. Like Art says, more human and more real.
Nothing in Chapter One, that I can see, foreshadows the events that are about to occur, except for when Vladek mentions Hitler and the Holocaust. The first chapter shows that these are normal people, or mice in this case, and there wasn't anything that made them different from others. Which makes the situation even more puzzling, why would normal people be the object of a man's persecution?
By
taylor, at Monday, May 14, 2007 10:17:00 PM
Thomas's blog:
Wow, what a story. I see why your other students requested part two. Yes, I finished the book, but I won't give away any spoilers, just constrain myself to chapter one. The book has a strange familiarity to it- a little creepy, actually. I keep wondering if I've seen these images before.
The roller-skate episode introduces the father and son relationship for the first time and shows that, whatever their bickering later in the book, they do in fact share a fairly deep bond. In addition, it provides an ominous foreshadowing of the horrors that the father has endured in his holocaust years. A more subtle note is the fact that the father is engaged in repairing something- again a common theme of his psychology.
The Lucia story introduces the readers even more fully to the character of Vladek- makes him more human, faults and all (e.g. he leads Lucia on a bit). It also provides an example of a life completely devoid of the holocaust. Indeed, the only references of impending doom come from the conversations between the father and son.
Now I have a couple of questions. Why did Vladek write down all of Anna's medications? And how much did money factor into Vladek's decisions on his girlfriends? Money is also a major motiffe in this story. Whatever Vladek's values of it later, his obsession starts before the holocaust even begins.
As a final note, did anyone else have a problem seeing a mouse in lingerie?
This is my final post. It's been a wonderful year in class with all of you. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, Taylor, Jackson, V1, V2, Nate, Laura- best of luck next year. Mrs. Stone- you've made a social studies class at TRHS fun, productive, and enriching- thanks. I hope I get referenced next year as much as Dorman students got referenced this year. Stay in touch.
By
RJS, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 3:01:00 PM
The signigicance of the roller skating episode is the father's response to it. He represents the Holocaust with this episode because he says what kind of friends will they be when you're locked in a room together.
He includes the story with him and Lucia to show that the victims of the Holocaust were completely ordinary people who should have never gotten such treatment. It shows that they were'nt just pigs waiting to be slaughtered.
It seems as if the family of Lucia and Vladek have no cares in the world and feel as if they are completely safe when truly the Holocaust will begin in only a couple more years.
By
jackson smith, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 5:47:00 PM
So this book is pretty awesome I must say.
In the beginning, Spiegelman includes a memory of a moment shared with his father as a child in which he has just been left by his friends after rollerskating with them. His father is upsetted by their behavior and says that you'd know your real friends if you were forced to spend grueling days and nights with them in a crowded bunker. This shows that his father can be reminded of his experiences during the Holocaust very easily, and that he has a certain bond with his son in which he is able to share such experiences (hence, the rest of the book). Art includes the information about Lucia--a woman his father had a relationship with to make the story "more real" and "more human"--meaning that his father experienced similar lifestyles and events that people today experience, so the reader can relate to the character in a way. Art wasn't merely including what his father deemed important about his life, he wanted to include everything that could possibly relate to others reading. I don't think the first chapter really foreshadows anything about the rest of the book, but is just setting the stage for the rest of the book.
By
gabriael, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 7:32:00 PM
I'm going to try and do tonight's blog too, since this is make-up, but I haven't finished reading it and... I'll try.
So far, really swell. I like it. Lucia's kinda clingy though. I like how it shows the closeness between the two: it's like a real father-son talk.
I'd say the roller-skating incident was about seperating truly caring people from the insincere in times of distress. Artie is in pain and his friends skate off laughing. He tells is dad and his dad talks about how true horror and pain bring people together.
Including the story about Lucia shows his dad as the average Joe. He has some relationships, he falls in love, he has the regular problems. Making the story "more human" makes his father easier to relate to (and more entertaing, really). Relation to the main character in a piece like this is Art's entire purpose for the reader.
I think it's interesting that Anna's so skinny she needs meds and that Lucia starts to be a royal problem but in the first chapter, those seem like normal people problems everyone has.
By
TeganLove, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:15:00 PM
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