@Garret: I think the first few pages of this chapter are incredibly crucial to how the reader will later perceive the rest of the book. In these pages we see the struggle that Art has faced since publishing the first book in the Maus series. He has become overwhelmed by many events in his life from his fathers death, to the birth of his first child, and the media frenzy over his graphic novel. He shows the haunting nature that Maus has caused through its publication and fame. He shows his own image growing smaller and smaller throughout these pages as if he is becoming less significant or less influential in his own life. Others have caused him to become a shadow of what he thought he was so now he must relearn who he is a person. @Taryn P: I did notice that there were flies around Art during his interviews and questioned the same thing about their symbolism. I believe he connected the flies into the interviews in order to show the hovering effects of the deaths he has written about in his graphic novel. Flies often times are associated with death because they are drawn to the decaying meat causing a cloud of insects as a sign of death and destruction. I believe that by adding these flies around his head also we see the tangible signs that haunt Art as a result of his story and the stories of his father. @Matthew C: Compared to other books about the Holocaust I think that Maus does a better job of making the information really sick with its readers. He walks a fine line between having it be too personal for the reader and then also too separated from the reader. In so doing he creates a haunting feeling that only drives the audience to want to learn more about the characters and the end of their stories. It is the first book about the Holocaust that I have actually desired to keep reading even though I have been saddened by its material. Do you see any connections between Maus and real life? Where and how? Do you think that the prisoners will be more likely or less likely to help each other when they have been in the camps for long periods of time? Will the rest of the book be more disturbing to read? How do you think the writing style will change as the events become more intense?
@Garret: I think the first few pages of this chapter are incredibly crucial to how the reader will later perceive the rest of the book. In these pages we see the struggle that Art has faced since publishing the first book in the Maus series. He has become overwhelmed by many events in his life from his fathers death, to the birth of his first child, and the media frenzy over his graphic novel. He shows the haunting nature that Maus has caused through its publication and fame. He shows his own image growing smaller and smaller throughout these pages as if he is becoming less significant or less influential in his own life. Others have caused him to become a shadow of what he thought he was so now he must relearn who he is a person.
ReplyDelete@Taryn P: I did notice that there were flies around Art during his interviews and questioned the same thing about their symbolism. I believe he connected the flies into the interviews in order to show the hovering effects of the deaths he has written about in his graphic novel. Flies often times are associated with death because they are drawn to the decaying meat causing a cloud of insects as a sign of death and destruction. I believe that by adding these flies around his head also we see the tangible signs that haunt Art as a result of his story and the stories of his father.
@Matthew C: Compared to other books about the Holocaust I think that Maus does a better job of making the information really sick with its readers. He walks a fine line between having it be too personal for the reader and then also too separated from the reader. In so doing he creates a haunting feeling that only drives the audience to want to learn more about the characters and the end of their stories. It is the first book about the Holocaust that I have actually desired to keep reading even though I have been saddened by its material.
Do you see any connections between Maus and real life? Where and how?
Do you think that the prisoners will be more likely or less likely to help each other when they have been in the camps for long periods of time?
Will the rest of the book be more disturbing to read? How do you think the writing style will change as the events become more intense?