Maus Chapter Review

Chapter Summary: Book 2 Chapter 5

1. Give a general overview (description) of what happens in this chapter.

In this chapter everything is resolved and the end of both stories resolved. You find out what happened at the end of the war and Vladek and Anja finally found each other again. You also find out what happened to Vladek at the end of his life and what Artie does.

2. Identify which main themes are seen in this chapter.

The main themes within this chapter are love, survival, family and journey.

3. Tell us what we learn about the main characters in this chapter.

There is not many new things that we learn about the main characters as it is the final chapter of the book. However we do learn that Vladek is in fact getting a lot sicker and eventually his body can’t take it anymore and he dies. We learn that Artie starts to care a lot more about his dad and is there a lot to be with him through his final days. We learn that it took a long time for Anja and Vladek to find each other again, and we learnt how happy they were.

4. Explain what Art Speigelman is trying to tell us about the main themes in this chapter (what is his message?)

Love: The theme of love is giving us the message of the love that Anja and Vladek feel for each other. The love powerful enough to get them both through being separated for that long with the horrible situation going on around them. It is also giving us the message of how much Artie actually loves his father even though he doesn't always show it.

Survival: The theme of survival is conveying the message of that feeling of accomplishment and happiness that they made it through the war and all the violence that they were lucky enough to survive when so many didn’t.

Family: The feeling of family that comes when you get through an experience like the holocaust and you want to be with people and your family. Also the way that family looks after each other and supports one another.

Journey: The journey that Vadek and Anya had to go through and the summing up of the whole traumatic experience that they had to go through, was like the end of the journey that the book portrayed.

5. Identify the various techniques that Art Speigelman uses in this chapter to help us understand the themes and the characters.

·      Relationships/interactions between characters

·      Sequencing of events

6. Explain why/how these techniques are effective.

Speigelman uses the technique of relationships and the interaction between characters to help us understand the themes and characters in the book. The interaction between Anja and Vladek help us understand the themes of love and family and help us understand how much Vladek and Anja really love each other. Speigelman also uses the technique of sequencing of events as the constant flipping and changing of time periods helps sum up the journeys taken by the character and finishes both stories at once creating the sense of resolution.