Vladek Relationship

Vladeks Affected relationships

A traumatic experience in life can change one’s perspective on the way they think and change the way one acts. In the Novel Maus, Art Spiegelman takes his father’s stories about the Holocaust and turns it into a comic book. In this novel, Vladek seems to have many different sides to him that are shown through the different time periods. Vladeck, Art’s father, seems to have changed from the person he was Pre-Holocaust to someone different Post-Holocaust. He lets the tough times from the Holocaust create a different identity for him. The events from the horrific experience continue to influence the life of Vladeck, a Holocaust survivor. Ultimately all that had happened was affecting his present relationships. Vladeck

Not only does Vladek continuously compare Mala to Anja but he also keeps more pictures of Anja on his desk than he does of Mala. Although Mala also went through the Holocaust he is unable to communicate with her because the memories of Anja draw a gap between the couple. Vladek went through the extremely unpleasant times with Anja and both lost important people in their lives, so connecting with Anja was not as a challenge as it is with Mala. His relationship with Anja was filled with love and affection. However, his experiences with the Holocaust seem to have shifted his attitude. Vladeck does not display any of these characteristics in his current relationship with his wife Mala. He is very stingy, stubborn, and distant with. They lack the closeness he once had with Anja. For example, in the first chapter of Maus, Anja received a letter and began to think Vladeck had many other

He deals with the fact that his first son, Richieu, was killed because of someone else’s decision and now he must deal with a strained relationship with Artie. Artie states in the opening chapter of the book “I hadn’t seen my father in a long time- we weren’t that close” (13). The issue of Artie and Vladek not being close mainly comes about because of Vladeks compulsive behavior and his strange ways of doing things, which causes Artie to become sick of his father. He cannot develop a healthy bond with Vladek because he has not fully gotten over the dead of his first son. Vladek deeply loved Richieu, being that he was his first-born child, there is a connection that is always going to be there however once Richieu was taken away from him, his ability to love another child the way he loved Richieu was demolished. Artie did not go through the difficult times with Vladek in the Holocaust, however, Richieu was there during those times so it causes an emotional gap between them. Their connection is complicated because they are unable to express their love for each other and share the pain they are feeling.

In Conclusion, Vladek relationships with his Post-Holocaust family are tainted because he is unable to adjust to his new environment. He is drowning in his personal guilt of having out lived both Richieu and Anja and now unable to reach out to his second son and care for a person he doesn’t love. Vladek does not