Character Analysis for Maus by Art Speigleman

Character List- round or flat guile Spiegelmilitary personnel- r * Art Spiegelman is the author and gradeteller of Maus, and also one of the storys main characters. * Born in Stockholm after the Holocaust, he is the only surviving child of Vladek and Anja Spiegelman. * He is married to Francoise, a French woman who converted to Judaism upon their engagement. * Maus centers around two primary narratives Vladeks experiences as a Jew in World War II Poland, and Arts birth with his aging father. * When the story opens, Art lives in New York and does not see his father very often, though he lives only a short distance a look in Queens. scarce as Art begins to draw this story about Vladeks Holocaust experiences, he begins to visit his father more and more frequently. * Their descent is strained, as Vladeks gruff doings and unwillingness to spend money routinely infuriate his give-and-take. * Art is filled with complex feelings towards his father ranging from admiration for his survi val in Auschwitz, to frustration towards his aggravating tendencies, and wickedness for his own neglect of a father who has lived by means of 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 fathers personality was largely formed from his experiences in Auschwitz, and this personality in turn directly affected the way in which Art was raised. Vladek Spiegelman- r * Vladek is Art Spiegelmans 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 take a crap along * Vladeks personality is largely dominated by his Holocaust experiences. During the Holocaust, he exhibited a spectacular resourcefulness, work ethic, and presence of mind that often encapabled him to secure food, shelter, and s afety for himself and his family. * He was a shrewd business sectorman, 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 workings on small projects, some of which he is incapable of completing. Anja Spiegelman- r * Anja is Arts set out and Vladeks first wife.The couple meets in Poland while Vladek is in a long-term relationship with another woman, Lucia Greenberg. * Always an anxious woman, she suffers an acute depression shortly after the birth of her son and spends three months recovering in a sanitarium. * 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. * Arts last memory of his mother is recorded in a comic called Prisoner on the Hell Planet, in which she enters Arts room and asks him if he still loves her.His response, a terse and dismissive sure, haunts him for years. Lolek- f * Vladeks nephew and Uncle Hermans son. * Lolek lives with Anjas family for much of the initial German occupation, first at Anjas fathers house and then in the Srodula ghetto. * When the situation deteriorates and Vladek makes preparations to hide in a shelter until the Nazis have evacuated the town, * Lolek tells his uncle that he is tired of hiding, and he is soon transported to Auschwitz. He survives the camps and eventually becomes a college professor. Richieu Spiegelman- f Richieu is Vladek and Anjas first child, born in Poland in 1937. * In 1943, Vladek and Anja send him to live downstairs the protection of Uncle Persis, where they think he will be safer. * Richieu travels with Anjas sister, Tosha * But soon after, Zawiercie is liquidated by the Nazis. Rather than be taken to the foul up chamber, Tosha poisons herself and the children under her lot, including Ri chieu. * After his death, Vladek and Anja agree a photograph of their first child hanging on the wall of their bedroom. Mala Spiegelman- f * Mala is Vladeks second wife, and a friend of his family from before the war. The couple does not get along. * Mala is consumed with frustration towards Vladeks inability to part with money, while Vladek views his wife with considerable distrust and accuses her of trying to steal his money. Francoise- f * Arts wife. * She is French and converted to Judaism in preparation for their spousal relationship to please Vladek. * She is intelligent, kind, and opinionated, and their relationship is strong. * She plays a relatively minor role in the story, serving mostly as a means for Art to discuss his relationship with his father and the Holocaust. Mr. Zylberberg- f Anjas father. * Before the war, he is a wealthy manufacturer who owns a factory. * When Vladek and Anja are married, he provides Vladek with a factory of his own. * He survives with his fa mily in German-occupied Poland, until the family is captured and send to a calculate transport to Auschwitz. * By bribing his cousin, Haskel, Vladek is able to arrange for the release of himself and Anja. Orbach- f * A friend of Vladeks family in Poland. * When Vladek is a prisoner of war, Orbach claims him as a cousin, so that Vladek is released into his custody and eventually returns scale to Sosnowiec.Vladeks father- f * Vladeks father is a tough and deeply religious man. * His wife dies of cancer before the worst of the Holocaust. * Before the war, Vladeks father intentionally starves his son so that he will be declared unfit for the army. * Later, the Nazi grip tightens, and all Jews are made to register in a nearby stadium. Those who are fit to work are sent to one side, while the elderly and women with many children are sent to their deaths at the denseness camps. By registering at a table manned by his cousin, Mordecai, Vladeks father is spared. Before he leaves the tadium , however, he sees his daughter, Fela (Vladeks sister) and her four small children standing with those destined for Auschwitz. He crosses over to be with her, and all die in the camps. Uncle Herman- f * Anjas brother. * Along with his wife, Hela, he is visiting the New York Worlds Fair when the war begins, and they remain in the United States to escape the horrors abroad. Tosha- f * Tosha is Anjas older sister. * At the beginning of the German occupation of Poland, she lives with Anjas family in her fathers house, along with her husband, Wolfe, and their small daughter, Bibbi. As the situation deteriorates Uncle Persis offers to keep her safely in nearby Zawiercie ghetto, where he is a prominent member of the Jewish Council. * She agrees, and leaves with Wolfe, Bibbi, and Vladeks son Richieu. Soon, though, the Germans slaughter the Jewish Council and begin to evacuate the Jews of Zawiercie to the camps. Rather than be sent to the gas chambers, Tosha poisons herself, her daughter, He rmans daughter Lonia, and Vladeks son Richieu. Mr. Ilzecki- f * A former customer of Vladeks from before the war. The two meet again after the German occupation and begin conducting business on the Sosnowiec black market * Mr. Ilzecki has a son about the same age as Vladeks, and he offers to send Richieu along with his own son to a culture friend to hide until things get better. Nahum Cohn- f * A friend and business partner of Vladeks during his black market days in Sosnowiec. * Nahum is arrested along with his son for selling goods without coupons. * The Nazis decide to make an example of them and they are hanged in a well-know black market center and left there for a full week. Anjas Grandparents- f During the initial period of the German occupation, they live in Anjas fathers house with the rest of the family. * Later, they are told to relocate to a community better prepared to take care of the elderly. * The family hides them for over a month, until the authorities arrest Anja s father and threaten to arrest more of his family if the grandparents are not given over to the Germans. * Anjas grandparents are taken apart to Auschwitz, where they are killed. Haskel Spiegelman- f * Haskel is Vladeks cousin, and chief of the Jewish Police in the Srodula ghetto. He is the brother of Miloch and Pesach. He is what Vladek calls a kombinacya, or schemer. * While he is a sort of unsavory character, he is a good person to know in the ghetto. * When Vladeks family is discovered in the chandelier bunker and sent to a compound to wait for transport to Auschwitz, Haskel arranges for Vladek, Anja, and Lolek to be released in exchange for valuables. Miloch Spiegelman- f * Miloch is Vladeks cousin, and brother to Haskel and Pesach. * He is Vladeks supervisor at the shoe repair shop in the Srodula ghetto, and an honorable man compared to the scheming Haskel. When the Germans make plans to eliminate all Jews in the ghetto, he prepares a hidden shelter behind a pile of shoes at the shop, where Vladek, Anja, and 15 other people hide for days. Pesach Spiegelman- f * Pesach is Vladeks cousin, and brother to Miloch and Haskel. * Like Haskel, he is a schemer and a rather unsavory character. * His most significant interlocking centers on a scheme to sell cake to the inhabitants of the ghetto. * He makes a fortune, but everyone who eats it becomes sick the cake was accidentally made with laundry goo in addition to flour. Mr. Lukowski- f The janitor at Anjas fathers house. * When Vladek and Anja escape from the Srodula ghetto, they knock on his door and he allows them to stay in a shed behind his house. Mrs. Kawka- f * Mrs. Kawka is the owner of a small farm on the outskirts of Sosnowiec, and for a price she allows Vladek and Anja to hide in her barn. * Mrs. Kawka is the person who tells Vladek about the smugglers who can take him to Hungary. Mrs. Motonowa- f * Vladek befriends Mrs. Motonowa at the Sosnowiec black market after the liquidation of Srodula, and she offers to hide him and Anja at her farm, with her seven-year-old son. She is a kind woman, and the house is comfortable, except for a ten-day period in which Mrs. Motonowas husband returns home from Germany on vacation, and they are forced to stay in the basement. * After Vladek and Anja attempt to escape to Hungary, she shelters Miloch and his family for the remainder of the war. Mandelbaum- f * Before the war, Mandelbaum owned a pastry broth in Sosnowiec where Vladek and Anja often shopped. Abraham- f * Abraham is Mandelbaums cousin. * He agrees to accompany the smugglers, and promises to write Mandelbaum and Vladek if he arrives safely in Hungary. He is betrayed, however, and forced at gunpoint to write the earn anyway. The Karps- f * The Karps are Vladeks neighbors at his Catskills bungalow. * When Art visits his father there, they take him aside and tell him that Vladek cannot possibly take care of himself. Vladeks Kapo- f * A kapo is a Polish supervisor at a concentrati on camp. * Soon after Vladek arrives at Auschwitz, Vladeks kapo asks the Jews in the barracks if anyone there can speak English. Pavel- f * Pavel is Arts psychiatrist. * Like Arts father, Pavel is a subsister of the Holocaust. Art sees him once a week, and the sessions always seem to make him feel better. Mancie- f * Mancie is a female Hungarian Jew at Birkenau with Anja, * has higher status as a result of an affair with S. S. guard. * She acts as a go-between for Vladek and his wife, carrying notes and food. The Frenchman- f * After Vladek is transferred from Auschwitz to Dachau, he befriends a Frenchman with whom he converses in English. * Because he is not Jewish, the Frenchman is able to receive packages of food through the Red Cross, which he shares with Vladek, probably saving his life. http//www. gradesaver. com/maus/study-guide/character-list/