Essay Analyzing Vladek in the Graphic Novel Maus

Emily Bougher

2nd

Emma Powers, AP Lit/Comp

1/16/15

In the graphic novel “Maus,” Holocaust survivor Vladek Speigelman consistently commits selfless acts to save others throughout his time in the war and camps.  At a time of pure desperation and self-preservation, Vladek maintains his moral compass and helps others whenever possible.  Be it his beloved wife Anja or a complete stranger like his fellow prisoner Felix, Vladek helps everyone he can, highlighting his moral values and the theme of determination to survive.  This determination to help not only himself but also everyone else gave Vladek the mental strength to carry on while so many others fell apart while enduring some of the worst treatment in human history.  The theme of self-sacrifice also gives insight into present day Vladek, who is always micromanaging his life and refusing to waste even a single piece of Special K cereal.  

Before Vladek entered the camps, he was in hiding with a few other families.  At this point, many Jews and Germans alike were selling people out and taking everything they had, all in the name of self-preservation.  However, Vladek did not follow this trend.  Instead, he offered advice and guidance to a young couple, and didn’t take all of their valuables as a payment, he only took a small watch.  Although Vladek knew that the severely they were offering him could potentially save his family, he knew that the jewelry could also be the key to survival for the young couple.  Instead of taking everything from them, Vladek sticks to his core values and helping others and offers them advice for a fraction of the payment. At a time when people were so desperate and so afraid of death, Vladek remains level headed and determined to help everyone he could to survive.  

After entering the camps, Vladek is very resourceful and uses his language skills and hard work ethic to get him in good favors with some of the guards.  He repairs shoes, builds tin roofs, teaches guards English, and anything else that could possibly earn him a favor.  He could have easily used this good favor to simply help himself, but instead risked losing that good favor by asking the guards to assist other prisoners. This was shown when he asked a guard for a spoon, belt, and shoes for his friend Mandelbaum, who was completely falling apart in the camps.  Vladek was called a dirty Jew and was almost beaten because of this request, but was able to achieve this miracle for Mandelbaum.  “My god. My god. My god… It’s a miracle, Vladek.  God sent shoes through you” (194).   This event gives readers insight into all of the personal sacrifices Vladek made, which continually molded his life even after the camps.  Even to the present day, Vladek is always repairing what he has instead of replacing it, a behavior carried over from the war.  

It is often said that a test of true character takes place in one’s darkest moments.  This test is placed upon Vladek while he is in Auschwitz.  One of the men in the camp, Felix, was sick and had been selected to die the next day.  All night Felix was crying, feeling the shadow of death slowly creep up behind him.  Unlike all the other prisoners, who deserted Felix as a means of self-preservation, Vladek comforted him and even offered him food.  Vladek knew that giving up this food would make him weaker, and therefore more likely to be selected for death, but still he shared with Felix.  Even in one of the lowest and darkest points of his life, Vladek remained level headed and strong, saving those who could no longer save themselves.  This event is mimicked in his behavior in the present day.  Even if it is an almost empty box of cereal, Vladek is always offering a portion of whatever he has to his son Art.