MAUS Panel Close Read

    



    For the close read, I chose to examine the bottom part of page 117 and page 118. In these series of panel, Vladek is discussing Haskel, and the 'rat' that turned his family over to the Gestapo. I find it very interesting, that Spiegelman drew the contrast between mice and rats. He portrays the Jews as mice, but claims that the traitorous ones are rats, and that they are like vermin.

    However, Vladek clearly has contrasting feelings about this. On one hand, he feels disgusted at Haskel, for having such 'friends'. This is evidenced by his comment at the end of an exchange with a Nazi: "such friends he had". On the other hand, he also feels a sense of gratitude to Haskel, for having been his family's Avenger, and saving grace in the ghetto. He sends him packages, even after the war, much to Artie's surprise. I suppose it paints a picture of gratitude, and Spiegelman argues that Vladek still feels gratitude to Haskel, despite Haskel's 'friendly' relationship with the Nazis. 

    I also found it to be of considerable importance that Vladek suffers from a heart palpitation right as he begins to think about the ghetto, and Haskel. It seems as if the poor conditions in the ghetto have come back to ‘haunt’ him, causing him a small panic attack. Another interpretation could be that when he feels immense conflict, he suffers from these problems. To an outsider, one of the people on the street, per se, this issue would be normal considering that Vladek is a heart patient. Personally, I believe that it is the first of these three possible interpretations. The trauma from the ghettos, have an effect on him, causing a panic attack. The fact that he is a heart patient doesn’t help.

Comments

  1. ManishOctober 9, 2022 at 1:00 PM

    I like your connection to his heart problem and the living conditions in Auschwitz and how you think it still "haunts" him and thinking about it triggers him to get a palpitation.

    ReplyDelete

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