LA201 - Non FictionName ______Maus: A Survivor’s Tale – My Father Bleeds History

Directions: To help yourself understand the relationships between the groups, record what ethnicity each animal represents.

Mouse: ______

Cat:______

Pig:______

Directions: As you enjoy Spiegelman’s graphic novel, consider and respond to the following analysis questions.

Chapter One – “The Sheik”

Francoise = Fran-swa (Art’s wife)

Czestochowa = Sest-cho-va (a city)

Rudolph Valentino = silent film star of the 1920’s. A sex symbol and the object of much Hollywood gossip. Starred in a famous film titled “The Sheik”

Sosnowiec = Sos-no-vee-ac (a city)

  1. What has happened to Artie's mother?
  1. How does Vladek get along with Mala, his second wife? What kind of things do they argue about?
  1. How long has it been since Artie last visited his father? What do you think is responsible for their separation?
  1. How does Vladek respond when Artie first asks him about his life in Poland? Why might he be reluctant to talk about those years?
  1. On page 12, we see a close-up of Vladek as he pedals his exercise bicycle. What is the meaning of the numbers tattooed on his wrist? How does this single image manage to convey information that might occupy paragraphs of text?
  1. Describe Vladek's relationship with Lucia Greenberg. How was he introduced to Anja Zylberberg? Why do you think he chose her over Lucia?

Chapter Two – “The Honeymoon”

Bielsko = Bell-sko (a city)

Zlotys = Polish currency

Richieu = Ree-shoo (Vladek and Anja’s oldest son, Art’s older brother)

Kilo = unit of weight; kilogram. 2.2 pounds is equal to 1 kilo

Pogrom = government-sponsored persecution of minority groups (especially Jews), including property damage and physical abuse

Sanitarium = mental hospital

Anti-Semitic = a term referring to Jews and other minority groups; dates back to the ancient Hebrew period, when the people of Moses and Abraham were said to have descended from Semitic peoples in the Middle East.

  1. What is ironic about the title and picture accompanying this chapter?
  1. How does Vladek become wealthy?
  1. How does Anja change right after the birth of her first son?
  1. Why is Anja leaving her family and travling to Czechoslovakia?
  1. What does Vladek and Anja see while traveling through Czechoslovakia?
  1. Why, symbolically, might the artist have placed a swastika in the background of the panels that depict the plight of Jews in Hitler's Germany (p. 33)?

Chapter Three – “Prisoner of War”

Er Verblutete = Ear Ver-blue-tait

Jan = Yon

Bar Mitzvah = the Jewish rite of passage when a boy becomes a man, usually at the age of 12 or 13

  1. When Artie refused to finish his food as a child, what did Vladek do? How does he characterize Anja's leniency with their son?
  1. Why was Vladek's father so reluctant to let him serve in the Polish army? What means did he use to keep him out?
  1. What is the meaning of the beard and skullcap that Vladek's father is shown wearing in the panels on page 46?
  1. How does Vladek feel after shooting the German soldier?
  1. How did the Germans treat Vladek and other Jewish prisoners after transporting them to the Reich? How was this different from their treatment of Polish P.O.W.'s?
  1. What is the significance of Vladek's dream about his grandfather? When does he believe he will free?
  1. How does Vladek arrange to be reunited with his wife and son? What visual device does Spiegelman use to show him disguising himself as a Polish Gentile?

Chapter Four – “The Noose Tightens”

Modrzejowska = Mo-dray-joev-ska

Reichsmarks = German money

Katowice = cat-o-vice

Stara Sosnowiec Quarter = a ghetto

Zionist = a Jew in favor of establishing a Jewish homeland in the Palestine area

Szklarczyk = Sklar-chik

Convalescent home = like a nursing home

Theresienstadt = Te-resen-stat

Dienst = Deenst

Dabrowa = Da-bro-va

  1. In the opening picture that accompanies this chapter, what symbol appears whitest on the page? What might the artist have done this?
  1. Although Jews were allowed only limited rations under the Nazi occupation, Vladek manages to get around these restrictions for a while. What methods does he use to support himself and his family?
  1. During the brutal mass arrest depicted on page 80, Vladek is framed by a panel shaped like a Jewish star. How does this device express his situation at that moment?
  1. Take a look at the last panel on page 81. What happened to little Richieu? What could Vladek’s pedaling (and stopping) of the stationary bicycle mean symbolically?
  1. What happened to Vladek's father? What does the scene on pages 90-91 suggest about the ways in which some Jews died and others survived?

Chapter Five – “Mouse Holes”

Srodula = Shro-doo-la

Zawiercie = Za-weer-see

Auschwitz = Osh-vitz

SS = Brown shirts. Hitler’s street thugs. This group evolved into killing squads that dealt with external (non-German) “problems”

Gestapo = the SS; the Nazi police

Judenrat = Jew-den-rat

Liquidate = when the Nazis emptied the ghettoes and sent the inhabitants to work or killing camps

Juden raus! = Jews out!

Kombinator, Kombinacya = Kom-bin-ach-ya

Nitrostat = a drug used to quickly relieve chest pain associated with a heart condition

Zakopane = Zak-o-pain

  1. Why does Artie claim that he became an artist?
  1. How does the comic strip "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" depict Artie and his family? How did you feel on learning that Artie has been hospitalized for a nervous breakdown? Why do you think he has chosen to draw himself dressed in a prison uniform? What is the effect of seeing these mice suddenly represented as human beings?
  1. Why did Anja finally consent to send Richieu away? Was his death "better" than the fate of the children depicted on page 108?
  1. Describe the strategies that Vladek used to conceal Anja and himself during the liquidation of the ghetto. How did the Germans get them despite their hiding?
  1. What eventually happens to the "mouse" who informed on the Spiegelmans? What becomes of Haskel, who refused to save Vladek's in-laws even though he accepted their jewels?
  1. What does the incident on pages 118 and 119 tell us about relations between Jews and Germans? Does the knowledge that some Nazis fraternized with their victims make their crimes more or less horrible?
  1. What do you notice about the path Anja and Vladek must take on page 125. Why did the artist do this?

Chapter Six – “Mouse Trap”

Pragmatic = practical

Dekerta = Da-kair-ta

20 Kilometers = 12.4 miles

Szopienice = Zo-pee-a-nees

  1. What does Vladek mean when he says that reading Artie's comic makes him "interested" in his own story?
  1. On page 136 Vladek says that he was able to pass for a member of the Gestapo but that Anja's appearance was more Jewish. What visual device does Spiegelman use to show the difference between them?
  1. Given the fact that the Spiegelmans are "mice," what is the significance of the panels in which Vladek and Anja's hiding place turns out to be infested with rats? Why might the author have portrayed this incident?
  1. What stories did Poles tell their children about Jews? How do you think such stories helped the Nazis to kill so many Jews?
  1. Why does Vladek want to flee to Hungary? How are he and Anja eventually captured?
  1. Why does Artie call his father a murderer? Is he justified? (***Take a bit of time to reflect upon and answer this question)

What type of non-fiction is Maus? Objective or subjective? Memoir, essay, or biography? How do you know?