MAUS by Art Spiegelman - Analysis

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Numbers in parentheses (n) indicate page numbers. I don't have the edition of my copy of MAUS - the title page of Chapter 1 begins on page 9.



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Themes

·       Dreaming of going to America (16)
·       Disdain of communists
·       Preoccupation with money

Style and devices

·       Faulty English

·       Photo of Anja (mom) as mouse (17)
·       Bringing the past into the present
·       Overshadowed by his father

·       About comics as a genre (97)


People and Places

·       Art (Artie)
·       Mala (Vladek's new wife)
·       Francoise (Art's wife)
·       Czestochowa, a small city not far from the border of Germany
·       Sosnowiec
·       Lucia Greenberg
·       Anna Zylberberg (Art's mother)
·       Richieu


Response

·       Even though MAUS depicts both Vladek and Art's lives, the sections are titled after periods from Vladek's life, indicating the dominance of his father's life over his
·       Going against father's wishes and reneging on his promise


·       Holocaust jokes
·       Ironic

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