MAUS Character Summaries Art Spiegelman | Art Spiegelman is the author and narrator of Maus, and also one of the story's main characters. Born in Stockholm after the Holocaust, he is the only surviving child of Vladek and Anja Spiegelman. His brother, Richieu, died as a child during the war, and his mother committed suicide in 1968 when he was twenty years old. He has a history of mental illness and is married to Francoise, a French woman who converted to Judaism upon their engagement. Maus centers around two primary narratives: Vladek's experiences as a Jew in World War II Poland, and Art's relationship with his aging father. This second narrative follows a period of time in Art's life beginning around 1978 and ending sometime shortly before Vladek's death in 1982.When the story opens, Art lives in New York and does not see his father very often, though he lives only a short distance away in Queens. But as Art begins to draw this story about Vladek's Holocaust experiences, he begins to visit his father more and more frequently. Their relationship is strained, as Vladek's gruff demeanour and unwillingness to spend money routinely infuriate his son. Art is filled with complex feelings towards his father ranging from admiration for his survival in Auschwitz, to frustration towards his aggravating tendencies, and guilt for his own neglect of a father who has lived through so many difficult times.Art also has complex emotions towards the Holocaust. Though he did not live through it personally, he feels that he is constantly affected by it. His father's personality was largely formed from his experiences in Auschwitz, and this personality in turn directly affected the way in which Art was raised. Art is consumed by varied feelings of guilt, especially regarding the fact that his life has been so much easier than his parents'. He sometimes wishes that he had been in Auschwitz, so that he would know what they went through. | Vladek Spiegelman | Vladek is Art Spiegelman's father. He grew up in pre-war Poland, and much of Maus traces his experiences in the Holocaust, as told in his own words to his son. As the story opens in 1978, he is married to his second wife, Mala. The couple does not get along, and they are briefly separated in Maus's second volume. Mala is furious about the fact that he does not give her any money, even for things that she needs. Vladek, on the other hand, views Mala with a suspicion that borders on spite, and is constantly afraid that she is trying to steal the money that he has spent a lifetime saving.Vladek marries Art's mother, Anja, in Poland in 1937, only two years before the Nazi invasion. Anja's father is a wealthy manufacturer, and he provides Vladek with his own textile factory upon their marriage. Shortly thereafter, they have their first child, a boy named Richieu, who will die a few years later as a victim of the Holocaust. Vladek and Anja ultimately survive the war, and afterwards they move to Sweden for two years before settling in America. While living in Stockholm, they have their second child, Art. Anja kills herself in 1968, and Vladek mourns her until his death in 1982.Vladek's personality is largely dominated by his Holocaust experiences. During the Holocaust, he exhibited a spectacular resourcefulness, work ethic, and presence of mind that often enabled him to secure food, shelter, and safety for himself and his family. He was a shrewd businessman, and in the most troubling times he saved everything of use. In 1978, he still saves everything and tries to exchange those things that he no longer needs. Once so resourceful and competent, he is still constantly working on small projects, some of which he is incapable of completing. His last words of the story, in which he accidentally calls Art by the name of his son who died in the war, provide a final testament to the continuing relevance of the Holocaust in Vladek's life. | Anja Spiegelman | Anja is Art's mother and Vladek's first wife. The couple meets in Poland while Vladek is in a long-term relationship with another woman, Lucia Greenberg. They marry in 1937. Shortly after, they have their first child, a boy named Richieu, who will die during the war. Always an anxious woman, she suffers an acute depression shortly after the birth of her son and spends three months recovering in a sanatorium. Her father is a wealthy manufacturer who provides Vladek with his own textile factory, and the two live in comfort for a short while, until the German invasion in 1939. She survives the Holocaust with her husband, and they immigrate to the United States a few years after the war.Anja commits suicide in 1968, leaving both Art and Vladek in emotional turmoil. Art's last memory of his mother is recorded in a comic called "Prisoner on the Hell Planet," in which she enters Art's room and asks him if he still loves her. His response, a terse and dismissive "sure," haunts him for years. |