MAUS Auschwitz (Time Flies) Part 2 Chapter 2

1. MAUSAuschwitz (Time Flies) Part 2 Chapter 2 By Rebekah de Keijzer

2. Chapter Overview • The success of MAUS and the effect on Spiegelman • Vladek and Anja reunite in Auschwitz • Vladek’s jobs in the working camp • The horrors of the Auschwitz

3. Art’s guilt over the horrors his parents experienced yet his evasion of them Despite Art never living through the holocaust, the events are a part of his everyday life The pile of people, represents the continuing effects of the Holocaust on Art The commercialization of the death of millions of people Haunting representation of the effects of the past on the present

4. The mask of a mouse, suggesting that his own metaphor is simplistic and meaningless, people are first are foremost people. Guilt- consumes Vladek about his survival, consumes Art as he did not experience what his father did Survivors dealt with their grief differently, Pavel wanted to help others, Vladek became a cold, shell of a person and Anja killed herself Art’s regression into a child a result of not being able to deal with his depression

5. Vladek’s eyebrows: frustration that no one else understands, that they had not been through what he had and seen the things he’d had seen Francoise’s face turned away from the angle of the frame; unwillingness to delve into the disputations between Vladek and Art The need to understand his father, yet not knowing what he had been through The edges of Vladek’s face are drawn rougher and more pointed to depict age and weariness

6. Lines drawn closely together, indicate darkness for nighttime As a reader, the feeling of frustration at Vladek as he was highly critical of Vladek Vladek’s long face, weary and used to Vladek’s odd ways The Eyebrows: hopeful to be relived of the burden of Vladek

7. A line under the eyes to signify exhaustion Dots drawn on to represent facial hair and the awful state people were in physically

8. Uniformity, without faces or actual identity A large, imposing figure. More powerful than the mice in stature and position A dark shadow, larger than the figure. Makes the German even scarier Physically smaller, body language helpless and weak

9. Despite the creature, all feel pain Eyes not drawn with a simple black dot, but with the entire eye opened in horrifying fear. Most detailed of eyes in the book Page 232

10. A mask, signifying the metaphor Spiegelman employs has lost its complexity to him A cat mask Art shrinks in each frame, unable to cope with the commercial success of Maus

11. Exasperated eyes Realizing detachment from his own father’s story Usually facial expression does not give much away but body language does Time flies; chapter name and flies have been very much present in this story

12. How Vladek survived Auschwtiz • Work: English teacher, tin shop, shoe shop, black worker • Gifts of food: to Yidl, the Kapo in charge • Evading the inspection by hiding in the toilet when he was too thin • His resourcefulness and saving food or money • Trading with the Poles Though Vladek certainly lived through and beyond the holocaust, his post-holocaust life was marred by the atrocities he witnessed the Nazis commit.

13. Analytical Structure • The chapter commences as a “meta-narrative”, switching back and forth from past and present, following a path of meta-past-present • Meta-narrative is deals with Art’s guilt and doubts about the book and the way he portrayed his father • Many of the books main themes are included particularly guilt survival and luck

14. Animal Metaphor • A change in the animal metaphor • In past and present previously throughout the graphic text, all character are drawn with human bodies and animal heads • In the meta-narrative, the characters are drawn as humans wearing animal masks • The string is clearly visible behind their heads • This indicates that Art is rethinking his idea to assign different nationalities different animals • Characters in masks: issues of race and nationality are products of our own minds and human discrimination

15. Language, narrative voice and literary devices • Holocaust narrative is written in normal font and other narratives are written in italics to make sense of the disoriented time frame • The present is narrated by Art and the past by Vladek, as is the rest of the book • Spiegleman directly addresses his reader in the scene where he visits Pavel, whose home is overrun by dogs and a photo of a cat in a frame, “Can I mention this, or does it completely louse up my metaphor?”

16. Main themes • Guilt- Art’s portrayal of Vladek in Maus 1, Vladek’s guilt for surviving when so many didn’t and taking this out on Art, Art’s guilt for never going through the holocaust and surviving unlike the brother he never knew • Survival- whether it is admirable to have survived the holocaust, and not admirable to have not survived or whether it was luck • Luck- Vladek possessed qualities of a survivor but also a few occasions he was lucky to survive eg. Talking to Anja, hiding in the bathroom for selections • Depression-Art’s gradual recession into a child with the inability to deal with the success of Maus and the implications it brought forth, also full of guilt • The past’s effect on the present – the emaciated bodies that trailed down the street show that the holocaust not only haunts Art in his work but in his everyday life

17. The frustration of a survivor • “Maybe everyone has to feel guilty. EVERYONE! FOREVER!” Art, pg. 204 frame 4 • “…but look how many books have already been written about the holocaust. What’s the point? People haven’t changed? Maybe they need a newer, bigger holocaust” Pavel, pg. 205 frame 4