Maus Comparison

One of the things I found extremely interesting in Maus, was the section of the books towards the end where Vladek and Artie picked up a black man and gave him a ride. You would think that after all Vladek went through and saw in the Holocaust, he would be one of the few people to not have prejudices, but he does. I find it incredible that he could be prejudiced against black people when he spent most of his life seeing his friends and family get tortured and be killed because of discrimination against Jewish people. I think it makes no sense at all, and it almost makes me wonder if anyone learned anything from the Holocaust at all. Thousands and thousands of people died in the Holocaust, and yet after if was over there were still strong amounts of discrimination and prejudices against other races. Obviously I didn't expect everyone to love each other right away because of this tragedy, but I thought that at least the survivors of the Holocaust wouldn't have any prejudices or discriminate against others after all their suffering (besides maybe the Germans, which is understandable).

Vladek wasn't nearly as bad as the Germans, but his comment said that "it's not even to compare the shvarsters and the Jews." By this I think he was simply saying "well our situation was different," meaning the situation with the Jews isn't the same as it is with black people. Maybe that Jews shouldn't have had to go through that but blacks should? Additionally, I think this part of the book was a scary thought. It is scary to think that something like the Holocaust could happen and not affect the behaviors or beliefs of one group towards others. But I also noticed how other things affected Vladek after the Holocaust, like how despite what kind of food it is or how old the food was, he constantly had to save everything just in case the Germans came back or there was another war. The Holocaust changed the ways people lived their lives, but apparently it still didn't get rid of the stereotypes and prejudices we still find today in our society.

Another thing I found really interesting was how Vladek was able to manipulate some of the things going on during the Holocaust. My impression of this war and genocide was that all of the Jewish people were brutally beaten, tortured, and killed with very few people who tried to fight back. But it never actually occurred to me that some people tried to cheat the system and succeeded. Yes I knew that people would try to hide our in bunkers or attics, but Vladek's cleverness was what I personally think saved his life. The fact that he used the people he knew to stay alive, get himself a job in the tin shop, then fixing shoes, both of which he knew very little or nothing about, shows that it was possible to use the resources around you. Then from there he tried to suck up to the German overseeing his duties by bribing him with food. And Vladek also used his skills in English to teach one of the Germans the language in exchange for better clothes and food. It was almost impossible to stay alive at one of these concentration camps but Vladek did. Vladek had a drive to live and he wouldn't give up, using whatever he could to find ways to save himself. I don't think this tactic could have saved all the Jewish people or even most of them, but it is sad to think that some could have some the same as Vladek and possibly survived through the Holocaust.