While reading the book,"Maus," by Art Spiegelman, I was overwhelmed with grief at how horribly innocent people were treated. This short story tells the journey one man took through the Holocaust, and how he came out alive. The author tells this story by personifying the Jews as mice, the Germans as cats, and the Polish as pigs. Artie is a thirty year old mouse (Jewish man) who is in search of a good story to tell, so he travels to his father's house looking for information about his past. What he finds is the horrific experience his father, and his extended family had to go through. What struck me about this story was the cold and unfeeling way that Artie's father treats those around him, despite his own suffering.
Nearly every day Artie visits his father at his house to get him to talk about the life-changing experience he had in the Holocaust. One evening after dinner Artie says to his father's new wife, "Thanks for the dinner, Mala. It was delicious." His father then proceeds to put Mala down, telling her the chicken was dry and dismisses her. He then tells young Artie he doesn't know what he's going to do about Mala. On another occasion Artie's father implies Mala doesn't clean up anything and she makes him "meshuga" - or crazy. Artie's father seems to have no compassion for his wife's feelings, which was odd to me considering how much family he lost during the Holocaust, and how much his own survival depended on the kindness of others around him.
Compassion is something that I think all people need to learn, or feel. In life, so many people can be hurt or resented when others communicate the way Artie's father does. There have been many times in my life where I have said very rude things to my parents becuase I have been so deeply hurt, or upset. Reading this book, I have realized that I have sounded exactly like that many times before. If I were to read my version, I'm positive that I would dislike my character, as much as I dislike Artie's father. Culturally, I don't think people should treat one another with such hostility.
I really liked your post, Sarah. I agree that Artie's father is dislikable, and compassion is a trait we should all learn and utilize in our day-to-day lives. It's hard to know whether we should excuse Vladek's actions, because of the war and all that he has been through, or if he should still be accountable. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteI undertsand that Vladek was not very likable to many and that he wasn't the kindest, but know that the holocaust really did change him. It's not much of a suprise because once people have expirienced some unfortunate event like that, its hard for them to come back out the same way they were before
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