Maus Pre-Reading. Reading a Graphic Novel: Read from left to right, from top to bottom. Allegorical Representation of People

Transcription

1 E JERICHO HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH NAME PERIOD DATE Maus Pre-Reading MRS. MCDERMOTT MRS. BOULER MAUS ART SPIEGEMAN Maus is a graphic novel ( ) written by New Yorker, Art Spiegelman. Spiegelman based his book on his father, Spiegelman s true story about being a Holocaust survivor. Maus is German for. The entire book uses animals to tell the story of the Holocaust. The representation of ideas or moral principles by means of symbolic characters, events, or objects is called. Maus is an. In 1992 Spiegelman won the for Maus, the first time that the prize has ever been awarded for a graphic novel. The book is told using a story frame ( ). The framing story is set in in the, and the inner story is set initially in in the. Reading a Graphic Novel: Read from left to right, from top to bottom. Allegorical Representation of People

2 Character Notes The Zylberbergs Janina Chapter 1 Study Guide: The Sheik Pages 1 23 Vocabulary: Dowry (noun): the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage 1. Explain the narrative shift that occurs between pages 12 and How long does Vladek date Lucia Greenberg? Why doesn t he marry her? What does Anja have that Lucia doesn t? What complication almost broke off Vladek and Anja s engagement? 3. Explain the irony of page 23. Pay particular attention to the line, It makes everything more real more human.

3 4. Why do you think the author and illustrator, Art Spiegelman, included the story of Lucia and Vladek? Chapter 2 Study Guide: The Honeymoon Pages Vocabulary: 1. Sanitarium (noun): an institution for the preservation or recovery of health, especially for convalescence; health resort. 2. Pogrom (noun): an organized massacre, especially of Jews. 1. Reflect on the image and title of chapter 2 (page 25). What is the effect of calling the chapter The Honeymoon and including an image of a Nazi flag? 2. Explain the story with the seamstress. Be detailed. 3. Who is Richieu? What happened to him? 4. What evidence suggests that Richieu was not premature? Why would Vladek tell his son that Richieu was premature? 5. What do Vladek and Anja see for the first time on the train ride to the sanitarium? What examples of the mistreatment of Jews are discussed on the train ride? 6. Why do Vladek and Anja go to a sanitarium? Where is the sanitarium? What is it like? How does the atmosphere in the sanitarium differ from the atmosphere of the surrounding country?

4 7. What news does Vladek receive in August of 1939? 8. Why are Vladek s complaints about his current condition (in the present-day story frame) ironic? Explain your answer. 9. How has Vladek s financial situation progressed since he met Anja? Despite setbacks like the robbery, how is Vladek s factory doing? Is there a connection between financial stability and power? Explain your answer. Chapter 3 Study Guide: Prisoner of War Pages How does the conversation at the dinner table reflect on Vladek s life experiences? 2. Why didn t Vladek s father want his children in the army? How does he try to prevent their inscription? 3. How did Vladek fall into German hands? 4. How are the Jewish prisoners of war (POWs) treated differently than the Polish POWs? 5. How did the POWs spend their days?

5 1. 6. Where does Vladek go after the POW camp? Why? What was this change like? 7. What does Vladek dream? What happens? Explain the significance of the Parshas Truma? 8. Why doesn t Vladek actually get released home after his stint as a POW? 9. What does the Jewish leader tell the released POWs about what happened to the previous group of POWs? Relate this incident to a particular incident in Night. 10. How does Vladek get released from the Lubin camp? 11. How does Vladek escape from Lubin to Sosnowiec? 12. What happened to Vladek s father s beard? Why? 13. What does the incident with the coat reveal about Vladek? And about Art and Vladek s relationship?

6 Chapter 4 Study Guide: The Noose Tightens Pages What has happened to the Jewish owned businesses? How were the Jewish owners compensated? How does this affect their position in society? 2. What happens with the furniture? 3. How do people procure extra food? What is the inherent danger with this process? 4. How might Richieu have been saved? Why didn t this happen? 5. What new edict is issued in late 1941? 6. What was life like for the family in the ghetto? Be descriptive. 7. Look at the image on page 82 of Vladek s family leaving their home. What does the sign say behind them? 8. What do the Germans do to make an example of men who sell on the black market? 9. What does the family do to protect Anja s grandparents? How does this work out? What happened to the grandparents? 10. What occurs when the Polish Jews are forced to register with the Germans? Who gets sent to the bad side? 11. Based on the end of the chapter, what information can we infer indirectly about Mala? about her relationship with Vladek?

7 Chapter 5 Study Guide: Mouse Holes Pages List two reasons why is Artie unwilling to help Vladek fix the drain pipe? 2. Why did Art become an artist? 3. Why is Vladek unfriendly to Artie on page 98? What is going on here? 4. ( T / F ) On pages 100 to 103, Anja is presented to us as the antagonist of the story. Explain your answer. 5. ( T / F ) The comic book within the graphic novel allows us to see that Artie views his mother Anja with ambivalence. Explain your answer. 6. Do you think that Vladek ever views Anja with ambivalence? Support your viewpoint with textual evidence. 7. Why does Anja's suicide seem so much more disturbing to us than the other deaths we have seen in Maus? How do the images in the comic book differ from the images in the rest of the graphic novel? How might this impact upon the reader s reaction to the story? 8. Why do you think Art Spiegelman chose to include "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" in Maus? Couldn't he have just mentioned that comic, instead of showing it to us? Explain Vladek s reaction? 9. What happens to the village of Srodula in 1943?

8 10. Why does Wolfe s Uncle Persis have more power and influence than the other Jews? How does he use this power? 11. How does Richieu die? What is Tosha's motivation? How does Vladek feel about this? How do you feel about this? 12. Describe three separate hide-away bunkers that we see in Chapter Describe what happens to Pesach and the people who leave the bunker with him. 14. How is the family betrayed? What happens to the informer who betrays Vladek's family? 15. What happens to Anja s parents? 16. Vladek does not approve of his Cousin Haskel. Is it just because Haskel is always looking for ways to make a profit (like Vladek himself) or is more going on here? Explain your answer. 17. Vladek calls Haskel a "Kombinator." What does he mean by this? Give two examples of Haskel acting like a "Kombinator." What term might we use today to describe him? 18. Why did Art Spiegelman depict the road away from Srodula as a swastika? What was your reaction to this image on page 125?

9 Chapter 6 Study Guide: Mouse Trap Pages How would you describe the relationship between Artie and Mala? 2. Both Artie and Mala have so many issues with Vladek, yet they continue to spend time with him. What does Artie need from Vladek? What does Mala need from Vladek? 3. On page 131, Artie brings up the issue of stereotypes. Why is it important to him that in his book Maus, Vladek should not appear as simply "the racist caricature of the miserly old Jew"? 4. On page 136, why does Richieu's old governess, Janina, refuse to help Vladek and Anja? 5. Mrs. Motonowa, a seller of black market goods, hides Vladek and Anja in her own home. Why does she choose to take such a risk? What is her primary motivation? What hints do we get which help us to determine this? What other hints do we get that might change our view? 6. Even though Vladek and Anja have a hiding place with Mrs. Motonowa, Vladek decides to go to Hungary. Why is this important to him? Why is Anja so afraid of leaving Poland? 7. By page 157, Vladek has told Artie the whole story leading up to how he and Anja ended up in Auschwitz. We also know that, somehow, both he and Anja survived Auschwitz. On page 158, Vladek tells Artie that he destroyed Anja's diaries, after her suicide. Artie is so upset by this, that he yells and curses at Vladek and calls him a "murderer." Art Spiegelman dedicates Maus to Anja. He also thanks Mala, his wife Francoise, and six other friends who gave moral support and encouragement to him while he wrote Maus. Surprisingly, Spiegelman does not thank Vladek. He ends Maus with Artie walking away, still calling Vladek a "murderer." A. What does this ending tell us about the relationship between Artie and Vladek? B. Do you think that Anja and Vladek would approve of this ending? Explain your answer.

10 Studying a Graphic Novel 1. Describe the faces in Maus. Are they iconic (could be anyone) or particular (could only be Vladek)? Why do you think Spiegelman drew the characters this way? Hitler reduced Jews to vermin. Is Spiegelman doing the same thing? Why? 2. Where do you think the artwork is most detailed? Where is it roughest? Is there something about those moments in the story that calls for a particular way of drawing? 3. What are stereotypes? Are they harmful, and if so, how? What are some current examples of stereotypes? How does Spiegelman use stereotypes in Maus? Seek and select specific examples. Summarize his techniques, and analyze why he uses them. Infer the artist s attitudes, and the reasons for his choices. 4. What symbols are on page 33, book one? What associations do these symbols have? What is the effect of the swastika in the panels on page 33? Is it the same in every panel? 5. Look at page 64, book one. Why does Vladek wear a mask? Look at Spiegelman s self-portrait inside the back cover. Why is he wearing a mouse mask? Hypothesize what that means? 6. Look at page 12, book one. What does the number signify? Describe its placement. 7. How is the Holocaust a part of life after the Holocaust?