Guilt Prevails Essay

Guilt Prevails Maus by Art Spiegelman is a graphic novel telling the story of Holocaust survivor, Vladek, and his experiences living through the tragic genocide of Jews. Presented using minimalistic drawings, Maus depicts a story that words cannot describe. Spiegelman captures the story of the Holocaust through his father, but the emotional investigation of what happened reveals more about their relationship than ever. The feelings of guilt are present throughout the entire Maus and it comes in many forms. Maus reveals to the readers how guilt can cause drifts between relationships and how the complex feelings of guilt must be explored to come in recognition with one’s self. In Maus, Spiegelman reveals how Vladek and Artie can never escape guilt and must realize the influence that guilt has with how they perceive not only themselves, but with each other and their relationship. Generational guilt is rampant throughout the story of Maus. Vladek transmits his guilt to his son, and Artie senses the feelings of guilt he receives from his father. In the beginning of the story, Artie falls and tries to get comfort from Vladek but instead receives a harsh response: “‘Friends? Your friends?... If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week … THEN, you could see what it is, FRIENDS!” (Maus I, 6). As a young child, Artie was only yearning to feel warmth from his father, but alternatively gets disregarded by his father. Spiegelman has used the beginning set of panels to set the nature of his relationship with his father. Even though Artie was born after the Holocaust, he was growing up in a time where the wounds of Holocaust survivors are still very fresh. Already as a young child, Artie experiences extraordinary feelings of guilt, and the reader can later see how this guilt he experiences at a 1 young age affects their father-son relationship when Artie and Vladek are older. Artie acknowledges his own feelings of guilt and realizes that Vladek is passing down guilt that many children of Holocaust survivors feel. Francoise and Artie are driving to Catskills to tend to Vladek, and Artie tells his wife, “I know this is insane, but I somehow wish I had been in Auschwitz with my parents, so I could know what they lived through! I guess it’s some kind of guilt about having had an easier life than they did” (Maus II, 176). He is aware that his life is much easier than Vladek, especially since his father went through a horrible tragedy that can never compare to the average and day-to-day life that Artie lives. The guilt Artie feels is so deeply rooted in himself, that he even wishes for something beyond despicable just to express his feelings. Artie struggles with trying to learn to somehow accept the guilt that his father is passing down to him on having a simpler life than he did. This reveals to the reader that Artie, someone who did not even literally live through the Holocaust, can’t escape from his own feelings of guilt and that he will never be able escape the generational guilt being handed down. Throughout the story, Artie feels guilty believing that he is not a good enough son to Vladek. From the first page of Chapter One in Maus I, Artie already immediately starts off the book saying, “I hadn’t seen [Vladek] in a long time- we weren’t that close” (13). Although Vladek and Artie do not live very far from each other, it was very rare for Artie to visit his father without any reason. In Chapter Five of Maus I, Vladek awakens Artie with a phone call, asking if he can come over and fix his roof. Francoise asks questions if he will go help Vladek and Artie responds, “No way- I’d rather feel guilty! Besides, I’m too busy and he can easily afford to hire somebody” (99). Artie already feels a lot of guilt by not going over to help his dad, resulting in him feeling like he isn’t a good enough son. Artie feels guilty when he thinks about Richieu, his brother that he never met because he died during the Holocaust and before Artie was born. The 2 only keepsake Artie has of his dead brother is a photograph: “[Richie] was mainly a large, blurry photograph hanging in my parent’s room” (Maus II, 175). Although his brother isn’t alive, there is still a sibling rivalry between the two, “The photo never threw tantrums, or got in any kind of trouble… it was an ideal kid, and I was a pain the ass, I couldn’t compete” ( Maus II, 175). Artie feels that he will never be able to compare to Richieu, and that Vladek will always compares Richieu to Artie, leaving Artie to feel as a futile replacement. It is important to note that Vladek does not intentionally try to make Artie feel like he is competing with Richieu. However, Artie still continues to fabricate a sibling rivalry in his own mind, therefore creating a tension between father-son relationship, producing an even bigger gap in their relationship. As a result of this unreal sibling rivalry that only exists to Artie, he is left with the belief that he will never be a good enough son to Vladek. It is important to clarify that Artie is guilty for reasons that are different from why Vladek is guilty. Artie’s personal feelings of guilt derives from Vladek’s guilt, which are stem back to his survival of the Holocaust. Vladek’s quarrelsome behavior leaves Artie to feel enormous amounts of guilt to a point where he feels that he will never be a good enough son to his father, “…[He] couldn’t do anything as well as [Vladek] could” (Maus II,204). Artie always feels that his father has to be right, and his survival of the Holocaust justifies his father even more. Because of the competitive nature his father has, Artie has difficulties connecting and understanding him. However, Artie puts blame onto Vladek in regard to Anja’s journals. Anja’s diaries, being the only mementos left after her death, was burned by Vladek and causes Artie to react in a bitter way, “GOD DAMN YOU! You-you MURDERER! How the hell could you do such a thing!” (Maus I, 161). By bursting out to his father, Artie is making Vladek feel guilty for burning the journals when Vladek’s actions can be perceived as being completely justified, he 3 even tries to rationalize, “After Anja died I had to make an order with everything, these papers had too many memories… after the tragedy with [Anja], I was so depressed then…” ( Maus I, 161). Artie doesn’t understand of the emotional pain that Anja’s journals were having on Vladek. Vladek was compelled to burn the journals because they were connected to Anja’s experiences in the Holocaust, which was too painful of a memory to be kept around Vladek. Artie thinks of the journals not only as one of the only things left of his mother, but as material for the book is writing. These differences that Vladek and Artie have in perspectives lead both characters to feel disconnected with each other, resulting them to be unable to reach an understanding with one another. Being unable to see eye to eye, Artie finally recognizes his own guilt and struggles with accepting his guilt after the publication of Maus I. The beginning of Chapter Two in Maus II starts with Artie wearing a mouse mask and sitting atop a pile of dead mice. A reporter asks Artie why should younger Germans feel guilty when the Holocaust occurred before they were even born, and Artie responses, “Who am I to say? … I dunno… Maybe EVERYONE has to feel guilty. Everyone! FOREVER!” (202). It is clear that Artie feels tremendous guilt and is including himself when he says emphasizes on ‘EVERYONE’. However, with these set of panels, Spiegelman questions the idea that if everybody should feel some type of guilt over the Holocaust and that it should extend beyond the Germans. Children of Holocaust survivors and of the Nazi Germans share a similar guilt, where neither lived through the Holocaust, but both share trauma and guilt that lingers by the generations previous to them. Artie is realizing that success that came from publishing Maus does not feel gratifying to him and he cannot help but feel remorseful for becoming a huge success of his father’s unspeakable experiences of the Holocaust, a cataclysm he never even lived through. Artie is trying to self-victimize himself with 4 the Jewish people that suffered the horror of the Holocaust by wearing a mouse mask. The matter of Artie wearing a mouse mask reveals that Artie is pretending to be one of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but the reality is that he actually was never a victim and never be will one. Instead, Artie is a victim of the guilt he feels from his father, a survivor of the Holocaust, “My father’s ghost still hangs over me” (Maus II, 203), connecting back to the theme of generational guilt that is also present. Now that Vladek is dead, Artie feels even more guilty, not only for making a success off his father’s story, but for illustrating his dad in hostile way. Making success from a huge devastation that affected millions is putting on an emotional toll on Spiegelman and it is visualizes in the story as his character shrinking into a child mouse. Artie tries to make sense of the survivor’s guilt that Vladek feels from being one of the only survivors of the Holocaust. Although survivors guilt originates from Vladek, the guilt is unconsciously passed down this to Artie. An important discussion takes place between Artie and his therapist, Pavel, as Artie’s deep-rooted feelings are investigated he reveals that, “No matter what [he] accomplish, it doesn’t seem like much compared to surviving the Holocaust” (Maus II, 204). Artie surrenders his feelings once again, succumbing to the guilt, and recognizes that his life can never compare to his father’s. Even though Artie feels the same trauma as the Holocaust survivors, it is only to a certain degree, and he will never really be able to compare his guilt to actual survivors like his father. Vladek’s survival through the Holocaust channels inner guilt towards himself, and is explained by Pavel, “Maybe your father needed to show that he was always right – that he could always SURVIVE- because he felt GUILTY about surviving” (Maus II, 204). The survivor’s guilt that Vladek feels is poured out on Artie, who is described as “the real survivor” according to Pavel. 5 Pavel is an essential key component in helping Artie and the reader understand the entangled emotional feelings of both Vladek and Artie’s guilt. Pavel is able to shine a light on Vladek in a sensitive way, explaining that Vladek’s unruly behavior is the result of guilt from surviving the Holocaust. Pavel, a Holocaust survivor as well, is able to defend Vladek’s survival guilt by his inference “Yes. Life always take the side of life, and somehow the victims are blamed. But it wasn’t the BEST people who survived, nor did the best ones die. It was RANDOM!” (Maus II, 205). Vladek’s survival wasn’t just based on the fact that he resourceful, but he was also very lucky in certain situations. After the Holocaust, Vladek feels obligated to prove that it wasn’t just mere luck for his survival, but because he was clever and capable to. Artie endures the actions of Vladek’s competitive behavior, however suffers the consequences as it causes a drift between their father-son relationship, Artie even admits, “[Vladek] loved showing off how handy he was… And proving that anything I did was all wrong… One reason I became an artist was that thought it was impractical… It was an area where I wouldn’t have to compete with him” (99). Because of his survival through the Holocaust, Vladek will never escape the guilt of surviving and Artie will always feel guilt for being unable to weigh against the life of his father’s. Maus by Art Spiegelman captures the unimaginable experiences of the Holocaust through interviews with Vladek, questioned by aspiring comic book writer and son, Artie. With the stories revealed in Maus, we are able to delve into the thoughts and emotions of Artie, exploring how guilt influences with their father-son relationship and how the unescapable feelings of guilt intertwine and correlate between Vladek and Artie, creating an emotional toll that influences their perception on each other and on themselves. 6