Similarities In Maus

   

The last pages of each volume of Maus are similar in a variety of ways. First being that the conflict on both pages deal with Anja. On page 159 (Volume 1), Art is angry with Vladek because he burned Anja's old diaries. Art is upset because he wanted to see how Anja felt during the Holocaust, and he has no other way to get this information now that she is dead. Contrarily, Art fails to see this situation through Vladek's eyes. Vladek wanted to burn away the bad memories associated with Anja and the Holocaust. The reason that the two men have so many altercations is because they lack a sense of empathy towards each other. It is ironic that Art is calling Vladek a murderer because earlier on in the volume Art expresses how he blames his mother's suicide on himself.  On page 136 (Volume 2), Vladek is discussing how he and Anja both made it out of the war alive. He says "More I don't need to tell you. We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after." However, this is ironic because we know that they did not exactly live "happy happy ever after" because of Anja's suicide. Another similarity between these two pages is that they both end with one of the men calling the other by a different name. At the end of Volume 1, Art calls his father a murderer because he "murdered" all of Anja's diaries, killing all of her experiences that Art wants to know about very badly. On the final page of Volume 2, Vladek calls Art "Richieu." This demonstrates the bad relationship between the father and son. Having this as the last dialogue of the graphic novel, Art makes his final point about their broken relationship. The final page also wraps up both of the stories that were going on throughout the books: Vladek's story about the Holocaust and Art's story about his relationship with Vladek. Vladek's Holocaust story ends on a happier note showing Vladek and Anja embracing after they are reunited, and later on the page showing their grave together. Art's story with his father clearly does not end in the same way.  

How The Past Affects The Present

Think of the last time you told someone a story. Did you tell it exactly as it happened, in the exact order that it happened? Did you leave out details by mistake, or add details in to add emphasis, emotion, or excitement? Even as we tell of small, almost insignificant events, we as humans cannot portray to another person exactly what we have experienced.

In Maus, Art asks Vladek to tell him about his experience of the years during the war, as well as his personal life. Vladek carries the emotional burden of the death of his wife, Anja, who he misses very much. Even as Art uses words and pictures to tell the story of his father, the reader still will never come close to feeling anything remotely similar to what Vladek felt as he experienced these terrible things first hand. We can sit here and say how terrible it all was, or feel sympathy and sadness towards the horrific events that went on during this time, but no one will truly be able to understand what Vladek went through and how that affects his life after the war. This is demonstrated throughout Maus, as Art has trouble relating to his father in certain aspects of his life. Art lacks a sense of empathy towards his father, instead he becomes easily aggravated towards his father's quirks, which are most likely a result of the war. Mala also lacks this sense of empathy, which is ultimately what leads to their break up. Mala believes that since she also experienced the war and concentration camps, the two of them should not have as big of differences. What both Art and Mala fail to understand is that people have different experiences that affect them in very different ways, and it is impossible for anyone to truly understand how another individual thinks or feels unless they were faced with the same exact experiences. For example, Art does not understand his father's need to save money or his desire to keep everything neat and organized.

Here are a few passages that illustrate the differences between Vladek and Art and Mala and their lack of understanding towards him.

Feminism in Society Today

Bell Hooks defines feminism as "a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression." Feminism does not state that men are the enemy, nor that females are the only ones who can be feminists. "Practically, it is a definition which implies that sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult," (Hooks 1). In today's society, people throw around the word "feminist," unaware of what it really means. People have so many negative stereotypes associated with feminism, when in reality everyone, male or female, has at least some feminist beliefs.





Many people think that feminism is the belief that women are better than men, when in reality it is very different. Men are not the enemy in feminism; females can have sexist thoughts against their own gender. Bell Hooks says, "Sisterhood could not be powerful as long as women were competitively at war with one another." Ultimately, this means that women cannot expect men to think of them as equal and treat them the way that they would like, if women have sexists beliefs against women themselves. This ties in with a quote from one of my favorite movies, Mean Girls; "You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores."

Obviously, there are many differences between males and females that make it impossible for the two genders to be one hundred percent equal in every aspect of life; but that should not take away from the power and importance that women have in the world today. In The Woman Warrior, Kingston can only be in a position of power when she is disguised as a man. Although she is the best warrior in her area, she will only be taken seriously if she is a male, and unable to be a warrior if she is a female. As a child she was told that she could only grow up to be a wife or a slave. Luckily, our culture today is moving away from that. Now males and females can both serve in war, and many females are taking on jobs that have been considered to be "men's jobs" in the past. We may still have a way to go, but fortunately, society is moving in a positive direction for female equality.

Our Country Today

In "The Partly Cloudy Patriot," Sarah Vowell discusses the impact that the events of September 11th have had on her life. This made me think about what important national events have had an impact on my life. After thinking this through thoroughly, I concluded that all of the national events that have had a major impact on my life have happened before I was born or old enough to remember them. I am not saying that there have been no important or tragic national events in my lifetime that I remember, but the most important and effective events have happened before my lifetime.

As for the events of September 11, 2001, I do not remember that day at all. I was only two years old. Sarah Vowell writes, "What did happen, a lot, was that citizens or politicians or journalists would mention that they wonder what it will be like for Americans now to live with the constant threat of random, sudden death."  All that I have ever known is the world post 9/11, I have nothing to compare the world today to; but from what I know our country has changed drastically. For example, the Patriot Act was passed in October of 2001, adding security and law enforcement to help prevent terrorism. This is why airport security is much more intense than it was previous to 9/11. Many people are against the Patriot Act because it limits our freedom, but it is necessary to prevent anything like this from happening to our country again.

A few events that have impacted my life the most include the Revolutionary War and the struggle for women's suffrage. Of course, these events happened many years before I was born, but they still affect my life today. Just imagine how different our lives would be if the Revolutionary War never took place in 1775. Our freedom would be nonexistent and who knows what other differences would be prevalent. We could still be under the rule of the British. Or instead of obtaining gay marriage rights in 2015, we could be having a revolutionary war against the British right now. Also the fights for women's suffrage and other women's rights took place many years ago, making it so that women today are treated more equally. Granted, our country still has inequalities and other flaws that we must work on; but compared to life back in the 1700's, 1800's, 1900's, and even the early 2000's we have come a very long way. Our generation may face some difficulties and they may not be easy to overcome, but we are lucky that our country's worst struggles are in the past, and that we can continue to make our country great.

But we are all Americans...

Throughout history, many minorities have struggled to be treated fairly in our country. In Frederick Douglas's "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro," he discusses the struggles African Americans faced during the time of slavery. Elizabeth Cady Stanton argues for equality from women in her piece, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." Although both of these pieces deal with issues from the past, certain minorities are still not treated completely fairly today in our country "[where] all men are created equal," (Jefferson). 

If all men are created equal why are some people treated differently? Are some people just more equal than others? Why do people believe men to be superior to women? Why are people discriminated against merely because of the color of their skin? These are all questions asked by many people today regarding inequality. For many years the identity of America was thought to be just the white man. Today many people think of it as a diverse melting pot, however many people still do not. This is America! No one is purely American, everyone's ancestors came from some other country. You can ask any American what their nationality is and they will respond with something like German, Italian, Mexican, etc. My point being that no one is technically "All-American," so why should people be discriminated against because their ancestors came from a country where people have a different color skin? It is just mind boggling that people used to think that this was okay, and some people still do today. The Americans in the 17 and 1800's had just finished fighting for freedom from England and then they turn around and control slaves in an even worse way. Frederick Douglas says, "Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body?" Douglas uses an effective argument with creative persuasion techniques to prove why slavery should end. Obviously racial discrimination is not nearly as bad as it has been throughout history. Our country has come a long way since the times of slavery and segregation. For example, we currently have our first African-American president. However, it still remains clear that our country has a long way to go, and we may never get to the place where we should be. 

                             

Why Does Who Is Remembered, and How, Matter So Deeply?

Everyone is the person they are today because of their past. The paramount events that happen in people's lives drastically affect who he or she is today. Everyone carries an emotional burden of something that has happened in the past, and most likely it deals with another individual. In Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, carrying emotional burdens is one of the central themes of the novel; most of these burdens are caused by the remembrance of other people.

In the episode, "In the Field," all of the men are mourning Kiowa's death. They all feel a sense of guilt and sadness. They will forever carry the memories associated with Kiowa, and the burden of his death will follow them for years to come. Many years after the war, O'Brien goes with his daughter back to the field in Vietnam where Kiowa was killed. O'Brien was trying to find closure for the death of Kiowa. "I looked for signs of forgiveness or personal grace or whatever else the land might offer,"(O'Brien 173). Tim needed to find this closure because he cared about Kiowa so deeply and thought so highly of him, that it was so difficult for him to cope with the grief. Tim O'Brien, and the other men, remember Kiowa as an honest man with a kind heart, and all of the good memories of him helping the other men deal with their regret and sadness over different situations make coping with his death so difficult. If they had more negative memories associated with Kiowa, it would not have been as difficult for them to deal with his death. This proves that the more positively one remembers another individual, the more pain and sorrow will be present when that person is no longer in his or her life.