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MAUS Summary

Note: Maus jumps back and forth often between the past and the present. To facilitate these transitions in this summary, the Holocaust narrative is written in normal font, while all other narratives are written in italics.

Book I: My Father Bleeds History

As the book opens, it is 1978, and Art Spiegelman arrives in Rego Park, NY, to dine with his father, Vladek, a Holocaust survivor. It is immediately apparent that the two men are not particularly close. Art's mother, Anja, killed herself in 1968, and Vladek is now remarried to a woman named Mala, herself a survivor. The couple does not get along, and there does not appear to be much love in their relationship. Vladek, constantly fearful that Mala will steal his money, is intensely stingy and…

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Recent Questions for MAUS

Posted By kris t #323629 at May 16, 2013 4:54 PM

Why does Artie's father object when Mala gives Artie a wire hanger on which to hang his coat?

chapter 1

MAUS | Answers: 1

Posted By nang hnin hnin a #323399 at May 15, 2013 10:33 PM

What does the narrator mean by calling Mala "a survivor?" What do you think she survived?(in mause comic)

in the maus comic.

MAUS | Answers: 1

Posted By tykeara b #322739 at May 14, 2013 7:37 AM

why does artie claim that he became an artist

in chapter 5

MAUS | Answers: 1