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Mau's Role In Maus I And Art Spiegelman

Decent Essays

Many siblings usually compete with each other in many things, such as games or races. One example of this, but in a more serious way, is the books Maus I and Maus II and the siblings Art Spiegelman and his brother Richieu. Art has never met Richieu, who died in the Holocaust, but Art feels as Richieu continues to compete with him. Art thinks that he is an outsider compared to Richieu because Art is the only one in the family that has not lived through the Holocaust. Richieu’s role in Maus I and Maus II is that he makes Art feel as Richieu is the favorite son and Artie can’t compare.
When Vladek tells his story of the Holocaust to Art, Richieu is the favorite son and Vladek and his family give Richieu lots of attention. One example of this is in the 7th panel on page 66 after Vladek is temporarily released by the Nazis and he is so happy to come back to Richieu that he says Richieu made “the joy” very “big” in their house (Maus I; pg. 66). This proves that Vladek had loved Richieu very much and that Vladek thinks of the memories of Richieu as happy. This also illuminates that Art is not praised as much as Richieu due to Vladek saying this about Richieu but not about Art. Not only does Vladek care a lot about Richieu, but Vladek’s family does as well. Another example is on panel 5 of page 81 when Vladek brings up the idea of giving Richieu to some people to …show more content…

Art creates this rivalry because he feels as Richieu has suffered, as well as others Art knows, but Art has not. This rivalry causes Art much stress and guilt and he even goes to a therapist about his guilt. Sibling rivalries are usually fun for siblings because they have fun competing, but in this case the rivalry is not healthy due to the result of Art’s stress. Rivalries are sometimes helpful because they push people to do their best, but they can also be very harmful and

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