Telling a story set in a time where in a time where one of the world's greatest tragedy's has transpired, the graphic novel "Maus" by art Spigelian, details his father, Vladek's survival through the horrors of the holocaust. Deeply scarred from everything that has happened, what remains of his personality is now a pitiable product of all that he is been through. Vladek survival of the holocaust has a lot to do with his own resourcefulness and actions, these helped him through the horrors of the war and now are part of him, his reluctance to waste anything is a testament to this. Vladek's constant insistence of having Art staying with may be due to a fear of losing more people close to him. Not all of Valdek's personality arose from the holocaust. We can see glimpses if his former self from what he does.

Vladek's personality is heavily influenced by his sufferings in the holocaust, carrying much of what it took to survive in the holocaust into a peaceful society where such skill were no longer needed. Suffering much more than most people he feels that suffering of others do not compare to his as his, such as the time where he scoffed at Art's friends. During the holocaust food was scarce, to survive one must save everything he has and waste nothing, Vladek did so during the holocaust but also seems to do just as much "Ever since Hitler [he] [doesn't] want to waste a crumb", much to the annoyance of everyone around him. Much of the survival of Vladek and Anja was due to his own actions and skill. He had trust in his own ability which helped him and Anja survive the war. After the war he continued to have faith in his own ability and wants to do most of the maintenance of the house by himself, such as fixing the roof, as well as counting his money and pills. "such things [he could] do [himself]" Vladek has been through a lot during the holocaust, he has lost a lot of people during the holocaust, these deaths still weigh down on him.

A lot of the people around Vladek did not survive the holocaust, these deaths have weighed down on him. He feels a lot of guilt for surviving. People close to him died because of the war. Notably the anja and richieu 2 closest people to him have died during the war. Anja's death pushed him to burn all her diaries."[those] papers had too many memories" despite her wish to for art to see it. Vladek destroyed them in his depression s Anja died but now he deeply regrets it, thinking "it’s a shame". This may be part of the reason why Vladek is so willing to tell his story in the first place, to do as much as he can to honour Anja's wish.[insert evidence here] The loss of Richieu was "a tragedy among tragedies" to Vladek, his death is the death that affects him the most visibly through, it one of the only deaths that he actually grieved about doing his story highlighting just how much Richieu meant to him. All that was left of Richieu was a photo. “The photo [of Richieu] never … got in any kind of trouble...It was an ideal kid." So ideal that Vladek till his death was unable to move past the death Richieu. His final words to Art was "it is enough stories for now Richieu", making it seem as if Art was just a replacement for richieu to him, Richieu was always in his mind. As much as the Holocaust may have effected Vladek, Not everything was determined by it.

Some of Vladek's personaality traits did survive the holocaust. Vladek was a strong person that like to have control over his life. Before the holocaust especially during his romantic relationships, Vladek, had control and would manipulate others to his will. Anja was one of a victim to this early on, when Vladek discovered her involvement in communist messages, he threatened to break marriage thelling her that "if [she] wants [him] to stay [she] [has] to go [his] way". During the war Vladek would use his money and character to gain the upper hand. Now in the present day of the novel Vladek continues to seek dominance over the people around him. He shouts at Mala for small mistakes, constantly telling art how to do things and even what jacket Art would wear. Vladek's want to control is still one of his personality traits, a very prevalent one as well. This is illustrated by his constant need to control his environment as well. Before the Holocaust, Vladek was a very neat and organised person. In his apartment "everything's so clean" because "[he] likes to keep things in order". Now in the present day his obsession of keeping everything clean infuriates the people around him. Once a great man, now has been eroded to the pitiful state he is by the holocaust.

The Holocaust was a very traumatic experience for valdek, much of his personality traits are a pitable product from it. Traits that was useful the holocaust longer are. People that was lost in the holocaust weigh deeply on Vladek, it is difficult for him to move on. These traits didn't just appear out of no where no they are twisted versions of what existed already befote the holocaust.