Maus Discussion Questions

In Maus II, we finally get to see a couple of panels of Art, in what is supposedly the "present", drawing Maus. We also accompany him on his trip to the psychologist and to a couple of public events. Like Jing, I am also curious as to why he portrays himself as someone wearing a mouse mask instead of an actual mouse. Is it because he doesn't consider himself of the same caliber as Vladek because he didn't have to undergo the horrors of the Holocaust? Why is the psychologist also wearing a mask?

I also wonder why Vladek is so suspicious of Mala. She is a fellow survivor, so she's been through the same things that he has, but yet he still doesn't trust her with his money. What makes her different from any of the friends that he helped out after the Holocaust?

Finally, why does Art have trouble coming to terms with his success as a cartoonist? We see on pages 41-42 that he slowly turns into a child when he's faced with reporters inquiring about Maus. He's also portrayed as a child when he visits his psychologist. What idea is he trying to get across by showing us that?

- Irene

identity crisis!

Building off of Jing's comment about pages 41-47, I also do not understand Art's use of the mouse mask. From what I gathered, he is showing his frustration in trying to convey his father's feelings and experiences. Does the mask show that he is having a hard time understanding what his father went through? Or is it just a symbol of remorse? I got really confused when I saw that the psychiatrist also had a mask on, because by the book's "definition" of a mouse, the psychiatrist should be portrayed as a real mouse. After all, he went through the holocaust and Auschwitz as a Jew. Also, on page 47, Art is shown listening to a tape recording of his father. Art is having an extremely difficult time keeping Vladek on track. He ends up yelling at him to finish the story. As we have all noticed, Art does not seem to appreciate his father the way that most of us appreciate ours. Do you think that most of Art's interviews with his father followed similar patterns? It seems like Art did not take any of his father's problems seriously? I feel like he shrugged them off, picturing his father as a hard-headed survivor who only thought of himself. Do you think that this is true? And if so, does this mean that Art exploited his father, using his stories to create a career?