More Maus

  I decided to write about Maus again because there was so much going on in part II and because it was my favorite reading of the week.  I talked a while ago about the name issue brought forth in Krakow and I'm further intrigued with the case as it's brought forward by Spiegelman.  "They took from us our names.  And here they put me my number" (Pg 26).  This panel was not only saddening it was also a flash of lost identity.  Becoming a number and no longer being a name or even a person was a very real plight.  I can't imagine the feeling of having everything (including your name) ripped away from you.  I noticed that even though the number was mentioned and even commented on by the priest it was not pictured very often in the book (two or three times).  I felt like Spiegelman was trying to convey lost identity while at the same time giving dignity to Vladek by restoring his identity in name (in the fact that he used the number sparingly in panel drawings).  The meaning of teh numbers was very interesting too.  It had a bit of a superstition feel to it however I think that above all hope was the most crucial thing a person had to have to survive such an experience.  The priest gave the hope to Vladek but I have to say a man of God (as he would be) seemed to have such little faith.  Was he sacrificing his own hope to give to Vladek or was he just so overcome that he had long given up hope? 
  I found the racism at the end of the book to be so ironic.  Given the discrimination that he and so many other Jews faced how could he be so full of hate against another person just because of their skin color.  This perhaps was not only truly the case but I think it was also an attempt (by Spiegelman) to remind readers of the Jewishness of the Holocaust.  What we see is Vladek having an issue with race not with religion.  This outwardly reminds us that the Holocaust was a Jewish experience.  While some scholars have tried to lump in other groups killed at the time (soviets, romanians, etc...) Spiegelman is directly refutting the claims and asserting its affect on Jews.  The Holocaust was truly a Jewish experience however many others were killed and I think Spiegelman is again trying to assert Jewishness as well as identity.