Memory of the Holocaust in Maus

Memory of the Holocaust in Maus It is considered a sacred Jewish practice for kids to listen to and conserve their parents stories because it is a way to understand and carry on to their fib. But what happens when most of your family and relatives are suddenly marked for death? What happens when they are confronted with the horrific reality of the massive structured and nonionised extermination of count little numbers of Jews known as the Holocaust?For the second generation survivors, how can one even find any means to relate to their parents miraculous experience of surviving in a place that could be called hell on earth? Art Spiegel cosmoss Maus A Survivors Tale confronts this issue, by revealing the psychological and physical damage which one Holocaust survivor, Vladek went through as he fought his way to racy and to tell his story to his son. Vladeks experience in Auschwitz renders him or so as a ghost, devoid of any emotion which puts a strain on his family with his son, A rt, who in turn is living his parents shadows of their survival.In Maus, the yarn of the tr sr.y and tribulation the Holocaust survivors experienced reveals how memories can have a negative and electronegative impact on the present for the survivors and later generations, suggesting that it is best to avoid the recollection of the traumatic away. Vladek Spiegelman appears a brave, valiant figure in his account of the duration he endured in Auschwitz. From his interpretation, the reader gets this perception of him as an indestructible hero, similar to the Superman.We see him as a clever, bright, and determined man as he negotiates and barters his way in the camp to coax a better chance of surviving. Although he constantly asserts it was due to good fortune, the majority of it came through his personal undertaking. However, in contrast to the fearless Vladek we are told about, the aged one who shares his memories is only a white ghost. The severe physical torture he has undergon e has weakened his body and mind to the point where he becomes a neurotic whos obsessed with the littlest details, such as counting pills and money.When Art asks him if everything is okay as hes sorting his nails, Vladek rep falsehoods Nu? with my liveness now, you know It cant be everything okay. (I. 5. 98) All the massive strength he used to endure the pain has turned him into an paranoid and temperamental old man. His strange obsession to make unnecessary everything fine stems from the constant need to continue fighting for his life after the events of Auschwitz. It reveals how difficult it is for a survivor to let go and move on from the past since his obsessive sorting of his things in a way represents his sorting of his painful memories.As Vladek narrates his story to Art, he always stressed the importance of surviving, such as the time where he persuades a depressed Anja to not commit suicide once she learns the death of their son, Richieu. Vladek tells her No, darling T o die, its easy But you have to struggle for life (I. 5. 122). This hopeful young Vladek seems false since the reader and Art never get to know what his feelings were at that time. Vladeks difficulty with communicating his emotions to his son demonstrate the damaging psychological effect that Auschwitz has left on him.Therefore it is best to only tell the facts since doing so brings back all the sorrow and sorrow. Maus is told from two get-go person narrative and so as an audience, we are allowed to see both Vladek and Arts personal viewpoint. Spiegleman does this for the audience to form a rather deep connection with both characters. Arts relationship with his father, Vladek is volatile and there is a rift between the Holocaust survivor and his son. Vladeks narration of his story is not in chronological order at all because he jumps from place to place and even forgets to mention other possibilities with what might occur in Auschwitz.Vladeks storehouse fits in James Young defin ition of deep memory in The Holocaust as Vicarious Past. In it, Young describes it as that which remains essentially inarticulable and unrepresentable, that which continues to make up as unresolved trauma just beyond the reach of meaning (667). It is memory that can not be recalled at will, and for some people such as Vladek who suffered a traumatic event alike(p) Auschwitz, cant be integrated into a storyline. His recollection of his experience in the camps is unreliable at most times so Art has the responsibility of keeping it true according to historical sources.The reader also sees Arts failed attempt to put it in a logical order in order to create some meaning out of it. Arts set downing of his fathers history and drawings of the events assists him in connecting to Vladeks mind and behavior, but only to an extent. At the end of the story, Vladeks fading from consciousness is a type of closure and is deep memory in the sense that it does not offer reconciliation of the narra tive. Instead, the narrative turns into anti-redemptive and more wounds open up as after Arts father mistakes him for his first dead son.Art Spiegelman is the second generation of the Holocaust survivor and tries to represent this event by recording his fathers history. In Maus, he is seen as the reviewer and is sort of removed from his parents history. Since he is unable to access their experience or identify with them, he lives under their shadow and also his unhatched brother, Richieu. Vladek transfers his survivors guilt onto his son and places desires on Art that he would never can achieve. Therefore Art will always feel remorse over his failure and a certain responsibility to please his dad.As a result, Art resorts to his therapist, Pavel, who also is a survivor of the Holocaust, as a father figure. in some way my arguments with my father have lost a little of their urgency and Auschwitz just seems too scary to think about so I just lie there No matter what I accomplish, i t doesnt seem like much compared to surviving Auschwitz (II. 2. 44). Art was the son who survived but because he wasnt an echt witness, he cant empathize with his parents scars.All he can do is only acknowledge and attempt to understand it, but at times he also resents managing with their trauma. This is shown when he accuses his mother of her suicide and not letting him take the blame for their grief and heartache. Art cant stand his dads overwhelming grief and in turn writes another comic, Prisoner on Hell Planet to express his frustration and shame. Vladek soon discovers this comic and all the emotions and grief comes back as he relives the traumatic memories of the Holocaust.This demonstrates how influential the Holocaust survivors history is on the second generation, leading to a mixture of forgiveness and resentment regarding their relationship with the event. Arts vexation over his inability to relate personally to his parents tragedy and his tenacious attempt to record his fathers past reveals the personal difficulties and stress one goes through to represent accurately the painful memories of the Holocaust. Continuing the conversation with the therapist, Pavel tells Art Anyway, the victims who died can never tell their side of the story, so maybe its etter not to have any more stories. Art replies Uh-huh. Samuel Beckett once said Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness (II. 2. 45). This is an example of Peter Weiss My Place, where he discusses fearful anticipation of the attempt to form an authentic connection with the deplorable the victims experienced during the Holocaust. Weiss talks about how being in Auschwitz and touching the rooms to try to reconnect his body to the space, including the concrete blocks, the Black Wall, the washroom, etc.Weiss comments Thoughts, none. No impressions, except that I am alone here, that it is cold (22). Despite reading about this place in books before, there is a lack of knowledge of what actually occurred since being there almost destroys all his preconceived notion of the event. Weiss visit to the camps to try to place himself in the minds of both the victims and perpetrators only leaves him with an overwhelming feeling of survivors guilt. Everything he learned about this place, he cant learn more even when hes here.The more he tries to confront the reality of Auschwitz by manner of walking around from place to place, the more disconnected he feels. Likewise, the more Art tries to describe and narrate his dads story to express this catastrophic event, the less the words mean because it is insufficient to address it this way. Weiss learns this lesson when he mentions that yet after a while everything is silent and unmoving even here. A living man has come and what happened here hides itself from him (28). He realizes that he is only standing in a vanished world.Here there is nothing more for him to do Then he knows that it has not ended yet (28). There is a questioning on the entire relationship between father and son, revealing the complexities attached with the lessons one learns and tries to understand involving a survivors memory of the Holocaust. The kids of Holocaust survivors cant truly relate to the horrors their parents were subjected to. The past cant be retrieved because of Pierre Noras acknowledgment of the third type of memory in the modern era, outmatch-memory, which are distorted versions of the past memory.It is no longer a retrospective continuity but the clarification of discontinuity (16). It is a past that thats a world apart from us due to the births of new ideas and events rather than speaking of origins. Theres a discontinuity with distance memory because what happened was lost in remnants of the persons mind. It changes every time they try to recollect it. All one can do is be a witness to their testimony and the answer lies in the attempt to learn from it.