Maus Postpartum Depression Essay

Many people and characters experience traumatic changes or events. The book Maus written by Art Spiegelman includes the story of Anja Spiegelman. She was a mother of two with a history of depression that slowly worsened over time. The disheartening life of the young mother, somber and fearful, would slowly start to deteriorate after the birth of her first son, Richieu. Anja would go on to have postpartum depression, a depression that began after her first born son passed during the time of the Holocaust and lasted due to her survivor’s guilt.

Firstly, after Anja’s first born Richieu was brought into the world Anja developed postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is an exorbitant depression that follows after childbirth, typically because of hormonal changes. In the book Anja gave birth to a 3 kilo baby boy named Richieu leaving her weighing only 39 kilos. When her and Richieu were released Anja states “...I have a family… I should be happy. I just don’t want to live anymore”. Anja gives clear signs of postpartum depression after the text.

A few years later Vladik and her family were reunited. Soon after they reunited one of her husband's friends asked if they wanted to put their son, Richieu into hiding with the man's son, they said no. A year later they had to put Richieu into hiding anyway. The adolescent boy went into hiding with Anja’s sister and her kids, sometime after that Anja’s sister killed herself and the children. Anja and her husband Vladik did not know until much later. Struggling, moping, mourning, Anja would go into a great depression in which she no longer wanted to escape the Holocaust but instead