The Theme of Survivors Guilt - Essay Example

Introduction The Holocaust can be defined as a reminder of the many struggles endured by people throughout the years. MAUS is no doubt a good reading experience. It shows us a story of struggle against something too horrible and frightening to explain into words. The subject and theme of this book was ever unspeakable. This theme is reflected in MAUS as the main and underlying themes like the trials of surviving Auschwitz, the trials of living with a survivor or a trying to adjust with an act that would be really unthinkable in normal circumstances. Sethe forcefully made a decision that would haunt her forever, to kill a life which had grown inside of her. Just because it was what she had to do. The sister of Vladek did the same thing in MAUS. She not only killed herself but also her three children to save them from a pain that death could not compare with and to save them from a life that would offer them only suffering and pain without any hope. The Holocaust is all about speaking about all the unspeakable things that happens in our lives but difficult to accept. The death suicide of wife, the struggle to stay alive while your family and friends die around you feet and the guilt of having survived was such things of Vladek's life. The pain of what Sethe went through is quite similar. She never gets to Beloved to tell her that what she did was right. She had a fear to loose Beloved. This fear was due to the fact that the unspeakable would never have been spoken. Art was the Beloved of Vladek. Art no doubt was the reminder of Richieu, Anja and of everything that he loved in this world. This is what made him speak the unspeakable thing. Beloved made Sethe speak it in the same way. MAUS Vladek tells us a straight story which is based on facts and quite objective. He shares his entire life with us without any kind of bitterness and hatred. His account of Auschwitz shows an unseen side of an imprisoned Jew, a Jew with a strong will power seeking a way to live a better life. The entire family of Vladek was burned by the Nazis. He did what all was possible for him to save himself and the one that he loved. At the end of Volume I, Art has been begging Vladek to let him see the diary of his mother from the war. Vladek has not only thrown them away but burned them with the memories of Anja, Art's mother. Art walks away from Vladek's house thinking that Vladek is a "Murderer..". But on the other hand, if he had kept the diaries then he would have preserved the pain inside him. This was his way of dealing with the pain he had in his heart. In a scene in MAUS Volume II, Vladek don't find any harm in destroying a fly with pesticide and he knows that people were killed in Auschwitz with a pesticide gas, Zyclon B. but still, he thinks of destroying a bug this way without any hesitation. Again in the second volume, Art, his wife Francoise, and Vladek were driving home from the supermarket. Art's wife has decided to pick up a hitchiker, which happened to be black. Vladek lost it and claims that all colored people steal. Despite of being a survivor, he would have remained a victim of the Holocaust. The story is factual and a true portrayal of a life constantly in struggle. He fought to save himself from a pain worse than death. This was the pain of losing the wish to live. Vladek survived as a lonely old man. This makes this book really unique and memorable. It shows a vision of the Holocaust without any feel of guilt followed by hearing a tragedy. Vladek did a lot of sacrifice of himself and others to be where he is. But he is not seeking any sympathy or apology. The first volume of MAUS is presented in a very effective way with all the pain. Art Spiegelman says, ". . . look at how many books have been written about the Holocaust. What's the point People haven't changed. Maybe they need a newer, bigger Holocaust." (MAUS, page 45 Volume II). The survivors of the Holocaust survived and live on. How ever, the people failed to recognize them. MAUS explores a survivor's history in Auschwitz, his life after survival, and his quest for surviving. The Theme of Survivor's Guilt The survivor's guilt is the result of both Vladek and Art's relationships with the Holocaust. Most of the part of Maus revolves around this relationship between past and present along with the effects of occurred events on the lives of those who missed to experience them. Art was born in Sweden after the end of World War II. Both of his parents were survivors of the Holocaust and deeply affected by the event. As given in Chapter One of Book II, Art and Francoise are driving to the Catskills. His relationship with the past to accept the form of guilt is shown, he states, "Somehow, I wish I had been in Auschwitz with my parents so I could really know what they lived through! I guess it's some form of guilt about having had an easier life than they did". His feelings of guilt over the death of his mother are very straightforward. In Chapter 5 of Book I, he feels responsible for his mother's suicide. He recalls that she asks him if he still loves her and he responds with a cold and dismissive "sure". It was a painful reminder of this disregard. This particular form of guilt does not play a major role in the story. Vladek also feels a deep sense of guilt about being survived from the Holocaust. The sense of guilt in Art continues through the late 1980s. He visits Pavel (his psychiatrist) five years after the death of his father and they discuss the nature of guilt and what it means to be a survivor of the Holocaust. Vladek's survival in the Holocaust was the result of both his luck and bad luck. It was not due to any particular skill. Pavel suggests him that Vladek himself felt a deep sense of guilt for being a survivor of the Holocaust while most of his friends and family did not. Might be Vladek took this guilt out on Art in response to his guilt. Therefore Vladek's guilt may have been passed down to his son. That can be a possible reason for the immense guilt that he is feeling towards his family and its history. Pavel calls him the "real survivor". Work Cited Page Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale. Pantheon Books, 1997. ISBN 0679406417. Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: A Survivor's Tale : and Here My Troubles Began. Pantheon Books, 1992. ISBN 0679729771. Spiegelman, Art. The Complete Maus. Voyager, 1994. ISBN 155940650X. Read More