Post 12

In my opinion, the whole Maus collection exemplifies a great deal of pathos. Any story about the Holocaust would because it is such a traumatic event in history. One very good representation of pathos though is Art's comic that he wrote about his mother on page 102-106. Not only did Spiegelman talk about the comic in the book but also let the reader actually read the comic. The pictures were very different from the ones found in the Maus comic because they were people instead of mice. The faces are also very dreary and almost spooky looking.The topic of the comic is his mother's death and how he feels very alone after her passing. He feels in one way that he is to blame because of his last conversation with his mother when she asks him if he still loves her and he only replies simply saying "sure, Ma!" In another sense he feels anger towards his mother. In the last scenes he is shown to be in a prison cell saying that his mom murdered him by leaving him. This really gets to the emotions of the reader. This is the first time the reader really gets to see inside the head of Art and his true feelings about his relationship between his mother and father. Another part of this that gets at the reader is that his father, Vladek, actually read this comic. Art didn't want him to know about it because it may bring up some sad memories, and he didn't want his father to know these true feelings he had. Although Vladek seems to just blow it of like it wasn't a big deal, it still is kind of heartbreaking to the reader because at this moment you can't help but feel bad for Vladek and Art.