For Monday: Spiegelman, Maus II, Chapters One & Two

NOTE: I'm posting this a little early so you have time to read and think about it. I know it's hard to get started again, and for some of you, it will seem pointless to finish a class you don't even attend. However, we only have about a month left, and I want to get you all to the finish line, and also, to share these works and ideas with you. In many ways, Maus is the perfect work to read at this time, because it's about a man who survives the end of the world, and lives to tell about it. Our world isn't ending, but sometimes it might feel that way...so let's try to finish the semester, and I'll do everything I can to make it bearable and hopefully a little interesting as well.

ALSO, I'll be posting a short video tomorrow with some ideas to think about in regards to reading the second part of Maus. For now, however, here are some questions for Mondays's class. These are NOT due on Monday, but can be e-mailed to me any time this week, but no later than Friday. I'll give you another set of questions later in the week that will be due on Monday. 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: Where do we see Artie wrestling with the ethics of writing a comic book about his father's life (and the Holocaust) in Chapters 1 & 2? What is he most worried about? Are his fears justified, or is it merely another form of guilt for not appreciating his father? 

Q2: What do you think Vladek most wants to communicate to Artie, or to the reader, in his story of the Holocaust? While he's obviously trying to make himself the hero (sort of), what else does he want people to understand about the reality of making it through Auschwitz? 

Q3: One of the most touching passages of these chapters occurs early in Chapter One, when Vladek gets new shoes and a belt for his friend, Mandelbaum. Why is this such an important passage in the book? What does it show us about the very 'human' element of the inhuman Holocaust?

Q4: Even though Spiegelman uses simplistic animal metaphors for the different people in his story, how does he attempt to humanize even the 'villains' in his story? What does he reveal about the nature of the various Germans and Poles who ran Auschwitz? If this is a book about the nature of evil, what might surprise us about the people who commit evil deeds?