1. In “Monument and Memory in a Postmodern Age (The Yale Journal of Criticism 6.2 [1993]), Andreas Huyssen writes of the problem of our “increasing generational distance” from the Holocaust, the “unavoidable process of forgetting at a time when the generation of witnesses and survivors is slowly fading, and new generations are growing up for whom the Holocaust is either mythic memory
or clich” (256). How does Maus, as the testimonial narrative of a survivor and his son, address this problem? You might want to consider any of the following as you plot your response: the treatment of a tragic subject matter in a comic book form with animal characters; the nature of Vladek’s narrative of survival; the manner in which Art juxtaposes and interweaves Vladek’s narrative with his own, or the narrative past with the narrative present; Art’s increasing awareness of the problematic nature of his own project of representation (see Maus II, pp. 14-16, 41-46).
2. Discuss the significance of the animal representations in Maus and how they contribute to our understanding of the story. Focus your argument on the most important of these.
3. Analyze the effects of the narrative form of Mausthat is, discuss the significance of the narratives continuous movement between past and present, between Vladeks story of survival and Arts story of
telling Vladeks story, and the way in which the two are interwoven.
4. Central to Maus is Vladeks relationship with his loved ones and the effects of his past experience on those relationships and his character in general. Some might argue that Vladek was so traumatized by his past experience that his character changed in fundamental ways and that this has an adverse
effect on his present relationships with Art and Mala. Others might argue that his past experience only magnified pre-existing character traits, and that those traits were actually beneficial to his and Anjas
survival during the war, but that they now have a detrimental effect on his relationships with his family members. Analyze Vladeks character and his relationship to Art (and Mala).
5. Discuss the central theme of guilt in Maus. Who is affected by guilt? How? What are its causes? How do characters attempt to deal with their guilt? You might consider the therapeutic role that storytelling itself plays in this context.
