Maus, Volume II Discussion Questions

Otis Redding Jr.-Jr. thanks you for your patience in waiting for the discussion questions. Below are the questions for Thursday's class:


1. Now that you have read the full text, how might you classify Maus? Is it fiction? Nonfiction? Memoir? A hybrid of classification? How does the comic book genre factor into your classification?

2. How do you interpret Vladek's racist response when Francoise picks up a hitchhiker?

3. Vladek's memory of his experiences at Auschwitz (both arrival and the duration) is both similar and dissimilar to other texts we have read. What main overlaps or departures do you notice in his narration of events?

4. Spiegelman inserts a somewhat cheeky (but quite astute) question on page 43, the frame in which Art is depicted entering his psychiatrist's office that is "overrun with stray dogs and cats." Spiegelman interjects, "Can I mention this, or does it completely louse up my metaphor?" How do you understand the meaning of this interjection? What hidden meanings or interpretations can you ascertain? How does this differ from Delbo's narrative interjection?

5. The economy of the camps plays a significant role in representing camp life in a couple of texts we have read for the course, namely, Levi's Survival in Auschwitz and Sara Nomberg-Przytyk's Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land. In Volume II of Maus, Art Spiegelman illustrates (pg. 64) the trade-off Vladek contemplates for bringing Anja near his barracks. How does this visual depiction differ from the texts we have read?

6. Chapter Three is entitled "And Here My Troubles Began..." Besides Vladek's memories, what does this title suggest? How does it relate to Vladek's racist outburst to Francoise after she picks up an African American hitchhiker?

7. What is the role of the American troops in the frames depicting/narrating liberation? What praise as well as critiques do you interpret in these frames?

8. How do you interpret the closing of the volume? Is anything resolved? Are there questions left unanswered? How might you characterize the sense of "closure" Art sought in gathering/representing his father's experiences?