The Management of Intergenerational Trauma: The Necessity of Spiegelman’s Maus

Maus, written by Art Spiegelman, was a graphic novel that was based in Poland in the 19305 and gives a graphic representation of when the Nazis invaded the Jewish population. In this graphic novel, Spiegelman portrays his characters as animals such as pigs, and mice, cats, and dogs Vladek was a Polish Jew that survived the mass genocide known as the Holocaust, In Maus, Artie is Vladek’s son, and he writes down the events his father had experienced during World War II in Europe. Vladek did anything he could to survive, such as working in the black-market trade, and mining mountains to flat land. These experiences and events caused Vladek to develop weird mannerisms and behaviors such as being stingy with his money, collecting weird items, and never throwing items away. Vladek‘s past and Arties' hunger for knowledge could transmit unintentional intergenerational trauma to Artie.

First-generation genocide survivors such as Vladek, transmitted intergenerational trauma to his son Artie in the graphic novel Maus. Intergenerational trauma or second-hand trauma is when someone doesn't experience a traumatizing situation firsthand, but it affects them from different sources, such as family members who have experienced it (Austin 1) The trauma presented in Maus is known as the Holocaust, a mass genocide of Jews. So forth, Art writes about the experiences his dad had while first hand experiencing the Holocaust in the graphic novel Maus. His dad experienced a great ordeal of trauma from not only surviving this inhumane tragedy, but also outliving his wife Anja, and his first son Richieu. In 1968 when Artie was twenty, his mother killed herself from the traumatic events of the Holocaust “My father found her when he got home from work“ her wrists slashed and an empty bottle of pills nearby”.

Artie and his father were so scared, confused, and traumatized that they slept on the floor that night, Vladek was completely fallen apart and expected Artie to comfort him, even though Artie was just as mortified. A comic was then displayed of Artie and his mother before she died. His morn asks “Artie you still love me, don‘t you?" Artie responds angrily “Sure Ma! She walked out and the door clicked shut. Artie is then displayed in a jail cell and says "Well Mom if your listening. Congratulations You have committed the perfect crime you put me here. Cut all my circuits cut all my nerve endings and crossed my wires! You murdered me Mommy! You left me here to take all the rap!"  Both of these examples show how utterly traumatized Vladek and Artie are at the site of Anjas death. Vladek went through many horrific scenarios and did not want to share them with Artie.

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Spiegelman wrote Maus because he felt guilty for not knowing what went on during his dad‘s Holocaust experience. He wanted to write this novel to better understand what went on during this abominable period, and many elements of trauma are present in the story. Vladek is not only traumatized by the incidents of his past, but the stories he tells to his son makes him traumatized as well. For example, In the article “Narrative and Time in Art Spiegelman's Maus” written by Erin McGlothlin, the author explains how his past will never be dead and buried. but will always be alive in his everyday life, and ultimately be a pan of Artie's life even though he didn't experience it firsthand, Vladek makes statements such as “Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week.

Then you could see what it is, friends!". This gives an example of an experience that Vladek went through that was traumatic. A normal person that did not experience the Holocaust could not have given this example to their children. Artie feels the weight on his shoulders for not understanding his dad's agony of the Holocaust. This creates intergenerational trauma in Artie through the experiences his dad did firsthand. lntergeneration trauma is set up through the relationship between Vladek and his son Artie. For example, in the novel Maus, Germans hung four innocent Jews for a week to show how ruthless they were. Vladek was traumatized by this and was scared to go outside.

Spiegelman uses a technique that displays the past and present throughout the book. It shows Vladek's life in the past, then switches to the present day which sets up the idea that first and second-generation trauma could be equally as agonizing. For example, "Ach. When I think of them now, it still makes me cry. Look even from my dead eyes tears are coming out!" Vladek shows through this statement that he is still traumatized to this day, and Spiegelman uses the past and present technique to show how traumatizing this was to his father.

Spiegelman wanted to write this graphic novel to understand the past of his father, and also share this tragedy with people around the world because he felt guilty for not understanding his father‘s past in the Holocaust. Even though Artie did not experience this trauma first hand such as finding his mother dead, experiencing the Holocaust, seeing people hang, and working under harsh conditions in order to stay alive, it still could be brought up, and he will be reminded of his father's past and that he does not fully understand intergenerational trauma in the graphic novel Maus portrays that it is real, and a certain lifestyle based around a father that was a survivor of this horrible event affected Artie as well. First-generation genocide survivors such as Vladek, transmitted intergenerational trauma to his son Artie in the graphic novel Maus.

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