Many young adults experience frustration or resentment towards their parents while growing up, with parental expectations and belief systems often constraining those attempting to forge their own paths. Children inherit more than just physical features. All too commonly, a parent’s traumatic experiences are reenacted upon their children, passing the trauma down to the next generation. In Maus we see a cycle of trauma between father and son. Vladek Spiegelman was victimized in one of the most violent events in recent history. Although he remains matter of fact while recounting the brutal acts he witnessed, we as readers see how Vladek’s suffering currently impacts his life and how he treats others. While ostensibly a Holocaust survival narrative, Maus is also a story about irreconcilable divisions between two generations’ lived experiences, highlighting how trauma can both bring families closer and tear them apart.
Although Vladek’s tone implies the Holocaust is behind him, the underlying trauma still manifests in his words and actions. We quickly discover Vladek’s need to control every situation and those around him, a reaction to the uncontrollable powerlessness he faced during his life. His father continuously starved him, and he responds by forcing Artie to “always…eat all what is on your plate.”[1] In his younger years, every cent could mean the difference between life and death, leading him to obsessively save now. Nazis made Vladek quickly clean messes under threat of death. Now Artie would “never hear the end of it” if Vladek noticed dropped cigarette ashes or misplaced books.[2] Despite surviving the Holocaust, Vladek remains in survival mode. Terrified of anything disrupting the money and control he has now amassed, Vladek passes on the trauma he endured to those around him.
Vladek is also relentlessly self-sufficient and mistrustful of outside assistance. This mistrust manifests in seemingly mundane situations, as he thrusts this worldview onto those around him even when it deeply upsets them. As early as Maus’sopening scene, Vladek scoffs at Artie for being surprised that his friends abandoned him.[3] Later on, Vladek will not give Artie his safe deposit key because “[he] only would lose it!”[4] He also demands his leaky pipe is immediately taken care of, climbing up on the roof himself to fix it.[5] For Vladek, putting his life at risk is preferable to hiring a repair person or allowing the problem to remain unresolved. Vladek survived a situation where individuals did anything to live. His world was a cutthroat place where no act of violence or betrayal was beyond comprehension. As a result, the only person he truly trusts now is himself.
Another source of trauma for Artie and Vladek was Anja’s suicide, with each dealing with the loss in distinct ways. Artie wrestles with guilt over not preventing his mother’s death, expressing his hidden feelings through art.[6] Always the immediate problem solver, Vladek tries to reestablish control by getting remarried. Yet Mala is not Anja, becoming a constant stressor for both Vladek and Mala. He eventually breaks down, realizing it is impossible to truly replace what was lost.[7] Finding a new wife is not so simple as patching a leaky drainpipe. Children often feel guilt over abandoning their parents towards the end of their lives. Similarly, spouses may experience guilt over eventually remarrying, struggling with whether their new partner is a true replacement to a lost bond.
This tortured father-son relationship has deeply impacted Artie’s art, as he is caught between accurately depicting Vladek while still rejecting how he lives. Artie clearly loves his father, but constantly struggles with his beliefs. Vladek is relentlessly practical and frugal, with Artie complaining how he always “loved proving…that anything I did was all wrong.”[8] He even admits he initially became an artist to spite Vladek’s fanatical pragmatism. Artie knows that Maus’s portrayal is both truthful and unflattering. He frets over how his father appears “like the racist caricature of the miserly old Jew.”[9] Yet Vladek acts that way because that is what was necessary to survive. Without those traits Artie would likely never have been born. Artie feels trapped between despising his father’s character while knowing he was forced to become that way through circumstances outside his control. While Artie desperately tries to understand Vladek, his art project instead highlights the irreconcilable divide between them. Simply put, Vladek endured the Holocaust and Artie did not. He can record, draw, and publish his father’s life, yet he has no way to bridge the divide of lived experience. For Artie, life is about pursuing his art and finding closure. Yet Vladek succinctly stated his worldview to his now-deceased wife: “To die it’s easy…but you have to struggle for life.”[10] While Vladek tries to live a peaceful life, his past trauma continually shapes every conversation and action. He remains in constant survival mode, hoarding money and personal control at the expense of family relationships. Vladek carries the Holocaust with him and passes the pain down to Artie, continuing the traumatic cycle for another generation.
~ Gabriel DeJoseph
[1] Art Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History (National Geographic Books, 1986), 43.
[2] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 93.
[3] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 6.
[4] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 126.
[5] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 96.
[6] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 102.
[7] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 127.
[8] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 97.
[9] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 133.
[10] Spiegelman, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale, 122.
crg@cgp 