The Strained Relationship between Artie and Vladek in Maus by Art Spiegelman

The entire synopsis of Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus, depicts a Holocaust survivor named Vladek who is telling his entire experience to his son Artie (who is actually Spiegelman himself). Throughout the entire novel, the relationship between the two is essential to the story and Maus constantly shifts between Vladek’s narration of his personal experience and An’s depiction of his interactions with his father, his own writing/thinking and the emotional process of writing the book. Because of this, there is a constant change between the past and the present, back and forth. It is quite clear they both use Holocaust storytelling to manipulate each other: Artie only talks to his father when he needs information about the Holocaust and Vladek only pancakes in the Holocaust discussions because it is the only time that Artie actually speaks to him, so he uses that to spend more time with him. It can be said that family issues surrounded by traumatic memories can cause a dysfunctional and strained relationship.

To begin with, Artie does not have a proper relationship with his father. At one point. Artie reveals to Francoise, his wife, that he "can‘t even make any sense out of [hisI relationship with [his] father” and even said that if he were to save one parent from the Nazis, he would usually choose his mother. At the beginning of Maus I, Artie states that he and his father “weren‘t that close.” The way his father acts, along with his behavior, is because of what he went through during the Holocaust, so this obviously put some strain on the relationship. The first volume of Maus opens with a scene from Anie's childhood, which illustrates Artie crying after he fell and his friends did not help him. Instead of comforting his son, Vladek basically brushed him off.

The way Vladek reacts shows how his experiences made him doubtful of this human aspect. Vladek. He is referring to his past during the Holocaust and how it shaped Vladek into the person he is now. Because of what happened in the Holocaust, Vladek knows what real friends are. He encountered many different “friends” who ended up not helping him and he knows one should not rely on so-called “friends." Moreover, the two constantly argue over almost everything and there is always a dispute. Mala states, “You should know it‘s impossible to argue with your father“ Vladek seems to always yell at Artie for the littlest things. This is shown when Artie goes to light a cigarette and Vladek immediately stops talking to Francoise to yell at his son for his action and when Anie is smoking a cigarette and accidentally drops ash on the floors. The constant yelling of Vladek makes a connection to how the Nazis used to yell at Vladek for doing things wrong, so Vladek does nearly the same thing to his son.

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In one scene, Artie states that “he never learned how to relax” to which Francoise replies with, “Maybe Auschwitz made him like that." The Nazis made an impact on Vladek's behaviour and it is clearly shown whenever Vladek yells at Artie. Looking at Artie‘s perspective and how he acts. Artie only uses his time with his father to gain information about the Holocaust. He does not visit his father unless Vladek needs help with health-related issues or when Artie needs more information for his book. Whenever he got the chance, he only asked his father about what happened, but he made sure to ask discreetly. Before he ever asked his father about his experiences, he sparked up some conversation to get Vladek talking about that subject and then persuaded him to explain what happened next.

It was like the only thing on his mind was the book. Sometimes, it felt like the book was the only thing Artie cared about. He only cared about getting all of the right information and made sure his father did not leave out any important detail. He wanted to know everything and his obsession with knowing everything about the Holocaust questioned his love for his father. For Artie, the Holocaust and the relationship with his father go hand-in-hand together, which indicates his desire to know more about what happened during the Holocaust. In order to understand one, he must understand the other as well. Artie is constantly getting upset with Vladek when he goes off-topic or does something unacceptable to him For instance, when Vladek mentioned to Artie that he burned Anja’s papers/journals, Artie is clearly upset about it and even berates him for the action. He yells to his father, “God damn you! You- You murderer!

How the hell could you do such a thing”  Anja, Vladek’s late ex-wife and ArLie's mother, was also a survivor of the Holocaust and had, unfortunately, committed suicide. Her suicide obviously caused part of the strain in the father-son relationship. Artie resents Vladek for destroying Anja‘s things because he never got to hear her side of the story, but it is a bit unfair for him to do so because Artie cannot relate to the things Vladek had gone through, and while they both share some kind of trauma, Artie personally cannot understand how it was like for Vladek. The fact that he fails to sympathize with his father causes the disconnect in the relationship Anja‘s journals brought painful memories to Vladek. It is difficult for a Holocaust survivor and a non-Holocaust survivor to understand each other, especially in this case.

As Artie explores his father‘s experiences, they grieve together, and he comes to understand his father a little better, which is especially shown towards the end of Maus ll.  While Art may never fully understand his father‘s choices, the creation of the graphic novel does help bring them back together and, at times, their discussions between each other. Although both men seem to manipulate each other, it is important to note that Vladek, at times. actually wants to build a working and stable relationship with his son. ln Maus II, Vladek asks Francoise and Artie to stay with him after his wife, Mala, leaves him, taking all of their money. Vladek wants Artie to stay because he felt close to him (in his eyes) and he knew that he could take care of him He would have the chance to be close to his son again.

Usually, when a family member asks another family member to stay with them, the common answer is yes (depending on the situation). Anje does accept the offer at first. This shows that he also has the chance to fix his relationship with his father. Later, Artie declines the offer and, as he normally does, changes the topic to ask about Vladek’s experience in the Holocaust. Vladek even says that would not have to pay rent, but Artie still declines This could indicate that Artie does not want to be that close to his father and does not want to build that personal relationship. Additionally, Artie is the only person Vladek has to talk about his problems with. He cannot rely on Malar He is the only person he can rant to but is always pushed away because the story is the only thing Artie actually cares about Vladek almost never gets to talk to Artie about anything besides the Holocaust.

In one scene, Artie is listening to previous recordings of them talking. Vladek begins by ranting to Artie about Mala and the will and he just goes and on. which begins to irritate AnieI to which he screams, “Enough! Tell me about Auschwitz" Vladek is obviously just trying to gain a more personal relationship with Anier In another scene. Vladek throws out Artje‘s coat and then offers him a new jacket. Spiegelman added this scene to either show the kind gesture of his father, attempting to build that new relationship or to detail the differences between him and his father. Maus ll seems to derive deeper into the relationship between the father and son and it is shown more. As Spiegelman writes Maus ll, the reader gets another insight into the trauma that he endured from having Holocaust survivors as parents.

His childhood was greatly impacted by having two Holocaust survivors as his parents and the trauma stayed with him from when he was younger to his adult years. At the beginning of Maus II, Spiegelman is shown to struggle with writing the second pan of his graphic novel and is overwhelmed with the attention he was getting. He states that “[his] father’s ghost still hangs over. After everything his father had told him, it was all finally catching up with him and in turn, he is expressing much guilt from his graphic novel. His father‘s trauma from the Holocaust had seeped its way into his own life, as he now has a general idea on what went on during those horrific and bnttal years. Spiegelman does his best to incorporate his relationship with his father and the fact that he includes scenes that depict his relationship shows that he wants readers to get a better understanding on what it was like having a Holocaust survivor as a parent and the trials that come along with it.

In almost every scene that they are in, they are bickering with one another about a certain topic and it is really interesting to see that Spiegelman always included those scenes. The two never really saw eye-to-eye, which always caused a conflict. What happened to Vladek stayed with him and he had to deal with the aftermath and the memories, which lead to his unfortunate behavior. His behavior, in turn affected his son, who had to deal with all of the trauma Both father and son are dealing with such trauma that it is a bit too much to handle for each other which is causing the strain and downfall of the relationship.

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