The Tortured and the Torturer “Authority allows two roles: the torturer and the tortured. Twists people into joyless mannequins that fear and hate, while culture plunges into the abyss” (Alan Moore). In “Geek Love,” Arturo, also known as Aqua Boy, was the torturer. In “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale,” the Nazi regime was the torturer. The antagonists in both novels use fear and manipulation to gain authority over the people. The authors of “Geek Love” and “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” emphasize that authority is problematic and should be challenged. Authority is corrupt and problematic; authority is greedy; authority puts down those who resist. In “Geek Love,” Arty, and Elly and Iphy fight for power. The Binewski children fight for the power by bringing …show more content…
He was not the one to decide whether or not he lived; the Nazi guards killed the Jews when they felt like it. Vladek uses his skills to work while at the concentration camps to survive. He survived longer because he was bilingual; when he first got to the camps, Vladek was spared his life because he was able to speak both English and Polish. The Kapo acknowledged Vladek by his name, not by his number, because the Kapo wanted to learn English, so he was privileged with food, clothing, and a skilled job (Spiegelman 2: 32). He was of use to the Nazis, so his life was spared. Vladek is not the only character in “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale” to struggle with personal autonomy. Artie Spiegelman, the author and son of Vladek Spiegelman, struggled with personal autonomy. Although Artie was able to write the comic novel that he wanted to on his father, he was not satisfied. Vladek always told him that he “couldn’t do anything as well as he [Vladek] could” (Spiegelman 2:44). Artie could never break free from his father. Even after his death, Artie felt guilty for his accomplishment. He didn’t feel like he made Vladek proud because his father did not approve of his choice in creating comics. Artie felt jealousy towards Richieu, his brother who died during the war, because Richieu was the perfect child in his parents’ eyes. Artie Spiegelman didn’t feel free because he didn’t feel …show more content…
Those who helped refused to commit these immoral acts against the Jews challenged the authority of the Nazi regime; they resisted the commands of the Nazis. Those who fought against social injustice were thought highly of and were seen as brave heroes because they were able to do what others couldn’t, which was to stand up for what they believed in. Recently, there has been an influx of protests in the U.S. due to the court decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown, a black teen from St. Louis, to death (As Verdict Looms in Ferguson). Those who are protesting the court decision are fighting against social injustice; they are protesting because there has been a pattern of police brutality. In most cases, these protesters have been thought highly of because they are standing up for a repetitive problem. They are standing up against corruption. They are standing up to bring
Vladek is depicted as a hero who shows countless acts of selflessness and generosity and a villain who is, “opinionated, tight-fisted, and self-involved”. (Brown 6) Art Spiegelman’s book Maus, tells the story of how Vladek and Anja Spiegelman survived the Holocaust. Spiegelman illustrates Vladek as a man who single-handily saved his family from starvation and Auschwitz in World War I. During Spiegelman’s interviews, we get an idea of Vladek’s darker side since the war ended. Mala to speak of her astonishment and disgust in Vladek’s character. Which leaves us to question how truthfully these stories are being told. In the end, Vladek’s unsuccessful heroism is a constant reminder of his failure; survival with Anja was always easier, after her death, Vladek pushes everyone away with his “guilt and manipulation” (Brown 7)
In “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King utilizes both ethos and rhetorical questions to effectively appeal to his audience about the value civil disobedience. The text reads, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal’”(King Page 8). This supports ethos because people know who both Hitler was and who the Hungarian freedom fighters were and what they were responsible for. Also, this quote explains the value of civil disobedience because the terrible things Hitler did were considered “just” and the amazing things the freedom fighters did were considered “unjust”. This relates to civil rights because segregation was considered just/legal
The manner by which Vladek changes throughout the book is reflective of several of the experiences of other Jewish Holocaust survivors. Even after the Holocaust, he, and countless other survivors were stuck in the same state of mind that they were on right before and during the Holocaust. They are unable to move past their experiences and they were trapped in the past. A main example of this is when Vladek called Art “Richieu” shortly before his death. This illustrates the fact that many
Martin Luther King then continues to justify his cause for protest and establishes reasons for the advancement of civil rights. He does so by raising questions and doubts on the mean of just law, King points out specific examples of laws which are unjust and unfair. He says “we should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungry was ‘illegal’. It was ‘illegal’ to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.” By saying this he establishes a powerful example of unjust law and what his reaction would have been. Saying this puts the decision back into the Clergymen’s hands. By saying this King forces the
Although Valdek thought he wouldn’t survive the Holocaust, he used both skill and luck to get him free and survive the Holocaust. Most people didn’t have as much luck as Valdek and were killed. Vladek used his skill against the Natzi’s and managed to survive. This shows that people struggled with the Holocaust, but some people would use their skills and survive to be able to tell their stories, such as Art Spiegelman in the book “Maus”, Vladek is a survivor from the Holocaust. Vladek needed both skill and luck to help him out in the Holocaust for good and bad.
Vladek is willing to lie to get to where he needs to and is not scared about most of the consequences. When Vladek escapes the prison camp and dresses like a pig which shows he is Polish he is allowed to get home to his family in order to save them. Lying is normally looked as a weakness but in this case it was a strength. Another strength that can also be a weakness that Vladek posses is that he does not show his emotions very much. During the Holocaust you don’t see a lot emotions besides being scared and that is shown through Vladek. Vladek is a character who is not really worried about what others think of him but Artie does care what other people think of him and of his
After the Holocaust on May 8th, 1945, a book called Maus was released which is revolved around survival. The author, Art Spiegelman intended the story was to reflect upon his past and express his feelings world how he had to deal life was at the time.The book is a story of Art’s father named Vladek, he tells his point-of-view to the world to show multiple struggles he had to withstand. The theme of Art Spiegelman’s book Maus is survival; Art Spiegelman shows the theme of survival by using tone, mood, and point-of-view throughout the graphic novel. Vladek is the main character of Maus and shares his point of view. Vladek tells a true story about how he survived the Holocaust and the things he had to accomplish to make it through alive. This book is based on a true story of what had happened during the Holocaust.
Injustice is a big problem in today’s society. Martin Luther King wrote the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in which he addressed many forms of injustices that was present then and continue to be present in today’s world. Martin Luther King did a lot of things that still effect today. He got in trouble for some things as well; such as like protesting how blacks were treated. He was arrested and was sent to Birmingham City Jail. He wrote a letter to defend the strategies of nonviolent resistance to racism. He employs the use of pathos, ethos, and logos to support his argument that nonviolence resistance is definitive. Based on the pathos, ethos, and logos present in this letter, the article is overall effective to this argument.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a key figure in the civil rights movements that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is an open letter written by King defending nonviolent resistance against racism. The letter argued that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust and unethical laws. The letter also stresses themes of unity among brothers in order to overcome racism. I will argue in support of King’s stance that citizens are morally justified in breaking unjust laws and that openly and responsibly opposing unjust laws is itself a duty of every citizen.
The character Vladek in Art Spiegelman’s Maus greatly changed throughout the book. Events due to the Holocaust shaped Vladek into the person he is at the end of the book. The Holocaust caused Vladek to become extremely frugal, to have an obsession with tidiness, and to not be able to trust anyone. Vladek became extremely frugal from living through the Holocaust. In the beginning he was poor and couldn’t buy extravagant things.
Uprisings against police crimes, protests on Israeli occupation, lobbying for gay rights, striking for a higher minimum wage, etc. are all fought with the same fist and same power: that of the people. Just in recent months, black activists in Chicago have traveled with student groups to Palestine in opposition of apartheid, and Palestinians marched beside the black community during the Black Lives Matter movement. Political prisoner Angela Davis lead the community hand-in-hand with Rasmea Odeh, a contemporary victim of political repression. The same can be said about so many other organizations and communities here in Chicago. The struggles of so many across the globe are unified here in Chicago by the thread of tyranny and injustice. This unifying thread only serves to symbolize how struggles belong to no single body or group of people, but are obstacles that must be overcome by the global
The holocaust has effected more lives than anybody could imagine, the tragedy has not only affected those who were there or primarily affected but those of every generation to come after that. This illustrated by Art and Vladek’s inability to get along, Vladek’s personality quirks, Anja’s suicide, Art’s guilt, are all factors that contributed to the rocky family relationship the Spieglemans had, and are all due to the horrors of the holocaust. The horrors of which did not end when the Nazi’s were defeated in WW2, rather continuing to have an impact on further generations, in which all of their stories will never be
The Maus books are award-winning comics written by Art Spiegelman. They are the non-fictional stories of Art and his father, Vladek. In the book, Art Spiegelman is a writer, planning to portray Vladek’s life as a Jewish man during WWII Europe in comic book form. While Art gathers information for his story through visits to his father’s house, much is learned about their relationship and individual personalities. Through this analysis, Maus becomes an example of how the Holocaust has effected the lives of survivors and their children for decades. Survivors suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which impairs their ability to live normal lives and raise their children. By
Maus is a graphic novel that features Art Spiegelman as he interviews his father, Vladek, about his experience during the Holocaust. His father, Vladek, is elderly and has a troubled marriage. He is a very frugal person and does not like to spend his money. The book goes into detail about Vladek’s life as he goes from being wealthy to living in poverty. He goes through two marriages and raises his son. The author shows the characters in the book as Jewish mice, the Polish people as pigs, and the Nazis as cats. This is to dehumanize the tragic events of the Holocaust. Vladek’s will to live is strong and this allows him to live through the horrors of concentration camps. He was separated from his wife, nearly starves to death, watches his friends
The graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman conveys many varied and powerful themes to the reader. Spiegelman has conveyed the themes Guilt and Survival by using various methods including narration, dialogue and several comic book techniques to show the expressions and feelings of the central characters. Guilt is an especially strong theme in Maus, appearing many times with Art and Vladek. Survival is another primary theme in Maus. Images are used by Spiegelman to display the ways that Vladek survived during the Holocaust.