TRHS AP Euro

Monday, May 14, 2007

Maus: Vol. I, Ch. 2

Read Ch. 2. Again, please make general, thought-provoking comments along with answering the following questions.

1. How does Spiegelman portray the Poles?

2. What is the situation when they return to Poland? What happens to Vladek shortly after they return?

3. Why do you think Art concludes the chapter in the way he does, just as Vladek goes to war?What do we learn by this brief return to the present?

Due: MIDNIGHT, Tuesday, May 15

posted by RJS at 7:19 AM

7 Comments:

  • Well, I just lost my whole comment, but here we go again. Yet another cliffhanger ending to the chapter with a comic relief segment. I'm surprised at how much the author separates Poles and Polish Jews, even casting them as different sorts of animals. The Poles are pigs, and when referring to Poles the author seems to not include Polish Jews in that group, but specifically Polish non-Jews. I suppose this is because of their increasingly open anti-semitism. As Vladek and Anja return from the Czech sanitarium, Nazi influence has made Poland more anti-semitic, and a likely unrelated robberty has occurred at the textile factory. Vladek is quickly given a draft notice upon his return, and he is to go into the infantry reserve. Art concludes the chapter with the comedy relief segment to provide a cliff hanger and simply as comic relief so the story doesn't get too depressing or tense for a casual reader. It just seems to give you the energy to keep reading. This also may further suggest Vladek's current health problems and his old age.

    By Blogger Unknown, at Monday, May 14, 2007 4:11:00 PM  

  • The non-Jewish Poles are, as Nate has mentioned, drawn as entirely different animals, which probably means to emphazise how distinct the two cultures are from one another. As Anja says on page 37, after hearing of the riots against the Jews downtown, "When it comes to Jews, the Poles don't need much stirring up!". Although there are many Poles later on who are willing to hide them, the Poles as a mass represent hostility. In the begining I thought it looked offensive, but perhaps they are drawn as pigs because of the comfortable lifestyles they are allowed to keep. The same goes for the Jews as mice,because they are hunted and forced into uninhabitable places, and the Nazis as cats, the hunters of the mice. When the family returns to Poland, they have been the victims of looting and robbery, a common theme against Jews during that particular period of Nazi crowd-rousing, although Vladek's father seems to believe it wasn't tied to the riots. Shortly after this, Vladek is sent off to war against Germany due to his enrollment in the Polish reserves. I think the chapter was concluded in the present because quite a few events had just occured that were rather depressing and gaining in intensity, so a short break was needed to break it up and remind the reader that its all part of a bigger story.

    By Blogger TheBishop, at Monday, May 14, 2007 5:13:00 PM  

  • Poles seem to be anti-semitic at sometimes and also very demanding. Many of the poles are beginning to support the Nazis and Poland is not a safe place to live for a Jew.
    It seems that the condition in Poland after Valdek and Anja return from the sanitarium is chaotic and almost in a state of war. The persecution of Jews is increasingly getting worse and many Jews are moving away. At the end Vladek is seperated from his family and he must serve in the Polish War.
    The return to reality at the end of the chapter shows the effect of the war on its veterans. That they saw so much. The health problems and his ADD show how gruesome and terrifying the war truly was.

    By Blogger jackson smith, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 5:53:00 PM  

  • Spiegelman portrays the Poles as communist pigs, perhaps contributing to as victoria said, the comfortable lifestyles they are allowed to lead. When compared to the Jews(the mice) the Poles seem to have no threat posed against them during the pre-war years. Poland has been in a tumult dealing with the Nazis and Vladek's factory has been robbed, although his father in law believes it has nothing to do with the riots going on in the streets at the time. Art concludes the chapter as his father goes off to war with a return to the present to show the audience the extent to which this new event in Vladek's life will have on him, it is life altering which is why the chapter ends with a kind of cliffhanger, to show the dramatic effect of this new event. Art could have also wished to return to the present to remind the reader that this is the story of his father and his father is telling the story to him as he is writing it all down to eventually turn into a book. It also seems like a present moment to us, even though we realize that the story was written not so very recently, but this enables the reader to again feel a connection to the characters in the novel, as if we are present as the story is being told, we are apart of the "break" they take because the break is the ending of a chapter and the beginning of another, so we take a break with the characters as we are reading.

    By Blogger gabriael, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 7:47:00 PM  

  • Chapter 2 shows the first elements of Nazi influence in Poland-with Anja helping her communist friend and the sight of a swastika flag flying above a small town in Czechoslovakia.
    Spiegelman portrays the Poles as pigs, which I still don't understand their significance. I understand the cat & mouse thing but then there are pigs. I guess they show that the Nazis focus wasn't on them as much as the Jews. I don't know that's just a guess. But the Poles' support of the Nazis was increasing, so punishment as P.O.Ws (chapter 3) isn't as harsh. Now don't get me wrong, Poles still opposed the Nazis but they believed getting rid of the Jews would end German control in Poland.
    Vladek and Anja return to a chaotic Bielsko-Vladek's factory was robbed while he was away, there's a riot, and Vladek is drafted. He is sent the German frontier to prepare for war.
    Art ends the chapter in the present to counteract the sadness and depression the reader feels earlier on. You see the scenes of the Nazis hurting the Jews so it's relieving to see Art and his father at peace.

    By Blogger taylor, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:00:00 PM  

  • I agree with Nate, it is interesting that the writer casts polish non-jews as pigs, yet Jews entirely, even if polish, are still mice. A pig is indifferent to mice, but at the same time does not shield them from the barn cats. Spiegelman portrays the Poles as bystanders who neither hate nor like Jews, and really do not care what happens ot them.
    Vladek's factory is robbed. Because while they were away, the Nazis were able to spread Anti-semetic feelings to the majority of the public, Jewish owned businesses would be often targeted and robbed or vandalized simply to crush the hopes and dreams of the JEws.
    I believe the chapter ends with Vladek going off to war because this encourages readers to continue reading the story to find out what happens to the character and his family whiile he is away.

    By Blogger victoriasmith, at Tuesday, May 15, 2007 10:07:00 PM  

  • well I'm only a night's sleep late.
    WHY does he have to knock over his pills right then??
    The Jews are all rats, and the poles are pigs. THe actual polish people remind me of France during the occupation. There were French collaborators and other French people that wanted to Jews to just leave to solve France's problems, and the Poles (non-Jewish), in what I think is his opinion, were like the French in that they would let the Anti-semetism take hold so that they stayed out of trouble. but I don't know what the real relationship between a pig and a rat is, and I was wondering if that had anything to do with it (becuase the Nazis, or maybe just the Germans, are cats).
    First his Father-in-Law tells him that his factory was robbed. He tells Art that he thinks it wasn't anti-semetism, but during that day in age it was always very likely for that to be the case. A bit later he's drafted, so he knows there will be a war. He sends his wife and kid off with her father to Sosnowiec and he goes to fight in the war(was this the phoney war at the begining? maybe?).
    well at first glance I would expect it to just be a cliffhanger, and those are really annoying so I'm gonna go with it reminds the reader that Vladek is a real person with real suffering; that he was really alive and that the story isn't just some story about some guy in some war.

    By Blogger TeganLove, at Wednesday, May 16, 2007 8:17:00 AM  

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