Literary Devices In Maus

“I realized that he did not want to see what they were going to do to me. He did not want to see the burning of his only son”(42). When Eliezer arrives at Auschwitz, the separation of his family puts an emotional toll on his father since he realizes that only him and Eliezer are still alive. This will be a catalyst to their relationship becoming stronger as they endure more together. Elie Wiesel, the author of the novel Night writes his own personal accounts of experiencing the Holocaust through the character Eliezer.

With a dark tone and a completely contrasting black background compared to the white seen throughout the novel, the burden of his family’s past that he continues to carry is understood. The image of Art wearing concentration camp clothing allows readers to recognize how connected he feels to his father’s experiences in the Holocaust. The only other time Art’s true feelings are expressed is when he accuses his father of being a “murderer” (Spiegelman 159) for destroying his mother Anja’s diaries. This shows a true loathing towards his father that has not been lessened even though these diaries would bring back awful memories to his father. Without always knowing Art’s feelings it is difficult to relate to and feel the passion for his second generation trauma.

With historical events as large and dehumanizing as the Holocaust was for so many people, representation and retelling of the event becomes a difficult subject. How can someone accurately convey the pain and suffering so many millions of people felt especially when there is the potential for someone to profit? Art Spiegelman's comic book Maus was subjected to the same criticism and more surrounding the ethics from publishing his comic and the issues raised by the tale of his father's survival. The means that Vladek Spiegelman and other Jews used to try and remain alive were considered barbaric by the outside world and brings into question the ethics of survival and the fragility of morality. Art Spiegelman portrays this complex issue on page one hundred and fourteen with the interaction between Vladek and his cousins Haskel and Jakov.

“ Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one,” - Bruce Lee My hook relates to the book Night, a book by Elie Wiesel who is a Holocaust Survivor who had suffered in a concentration camp with his father, because it is saying how you can’t pray for an easy life, you have to be strong enough to live through it.It is about horrors of the Holocaust in first person, and how Wiesel and his father endured it. In Night, Elie and his father’s relationship changes throughout the book because in their home town of Sighet, Elie and his father are distant but they become much closer when they get deported. By the end of the book, they are drifting apart because Elie’s selfishness takes a hold of him. In the beginning, in Sighet before they are deported, Elie and his father are very distant until they are deported. When Elie talks about how him and his father were not very close and he was more involved in business than his family, he states,”He rarely displays his feelings, not even with his family, and was more involved with the welfare of others than his own kin,”( Wiesel 4).

Maus, an award winning series of biographical graphic novels by Jewish American comic artist Art Spiegelman, tells the harrowing yet powering story of a Holocaust survivor. Through his father Vladek Spiegelman’s eyes, the artist gets an insight into the lives of his parents as they struggled to survive the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the Auschwitz Concentration camp as well their lives in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The Holocaust is depicted in a very innovative and contemporary manner in Maus. Vladek Spiegelman voices his skepticism because he feels like no one would be interested in listening to his story “It would take many books, my life, and no one wants anyway to hear such stories” (Maus I, 12:5).

His book Night is a haunting tale about the horrors Jewish people experienced during World War II. This book explains the perils of indifference by telling us about how much the Jews suffered and the fact that no one felt the need to act upon these abhorrent actions by the Nazis immediately. This marks the point where I will begin talking about Elie Wiesel’s book Night and how it drives

In 1947, Martin Niemöller’s short poem became an iconic reminder of the consequences of the Holocaust. In his poem, First they came… , Niemöller exposes his unwillingness to help the victims of the Holocaust and the guilt he carries along with his actions. Niemöller blames himself for his inability to speak against this evil and warns the reader of a similar fate. His poem also relates to the works, Night by Elie Wiesel and Hangman by Maurice Ogden. All three have the same theme; that it is one’s solemn duty to stand against injustice.

Art has to look for ways to ensure every second he spends with his father enables him to learn something new about the Holocaust. Art wants to spend the least amount of time with his father because of the bad relationship between them that was caused by the death of his mother. However, in the Great Gatsby, the central conflict is between a man and himself. Gatsby thinks that Daisy will be attracted to him because of the great wealth that he has acquired over the years. But Daisy requires more proof that Gatsby is a changed man and he no longer possesses his past character.

The Metamorphosis illustrates the consequences of assimilation for the Jewish identity and human sense of self through Gregor’s struggles to communicate, the betrayal of his father, his loss of civic identity when he can no longer work, and the isolation that accompanies the bourgeois lifestyle. Kafka drew from his personal experiences as well as contemporary politics to frame the anxiety of the Samsa household. The Judaism passed onto Franz Kafka from his father left him longing for something more, something Gregor hungers for as well in The Metamorphosis. Isolation and despair fill the pages of Gregor Samsa’s tale but it is the hunger Gregor cannot satisfy. He eventually copes with his loneliness and finds hope beyond his despair, but the hunger is more problematic.

Death of a Salesman Free Response Essay Throughout the play Death of a Salesman, author Arthur Miller discusses the flaws of Willy Loman and the extent to which they bring about his own suffering and the suffering of others. As a tragic hero in the 1940’s, Willy exemplifies a typical man trying to achieve the very unrealistic American Dream. This dream not only solidified his fate but also threatened the success of every member in his household. Willy Loman first encounters the American Dream after his uncle Ben shares his successes and priorities with him, which in turn, become the basis of Willy’s dreams as well. His uncle is very vague about the details of his success which makes the audience wonder whether or not this dream is actually attainable.