A Memoir of the holocaust

ON READING

MAUS

Contents
Introduction/Classroom Management ................................................................. iva
Focus on the Book ........................................................................................ vi

Focus Your Knowledge .....................................................................................................................................1

 Focus Your Reading.................................20–21
I. Chapter 1
Focus Your Reading.................................... 2–3 Build Your Vocabulary
Build Your Vocabulary ...................................... .....................................22 Check Your
4 Check Your Understanding: Understanding:
Multiple Choice........................................... 5 Multiple Choice......................................... 23
Check Your Understanding: Check Your Understanding:
Short Answer............................................... 6 Short Answer............................................. 24
Deepen Your Understanding ...........................7 Deepen Your Understanding .........................
25
II. Chapter 2
Focus Your Reading.................................... 8–9 V. Chapter 5

Build Your Vocabulary .................................... Focus Your Reading.................................26–27

10 Build Your Vocabulary
Check Your Understanding: .....................................28
Multiple Choice......................................... 11 Check Your Understanding:
Check Your Understanding: Multiple Choice......................................... 29
Short Answer............................................. 12 Check Your Understanding:
Deepen Your Understanding ......................... Short Answer............................................. 30
13 Deepen Your Understanding .........................
31
III. Chapters 3
Focus Your Reading................................ 14–15 VI. Chapters 6
Build Your Vocabulary .................................... Focus Your Reading.................................32–33
16 Build Your Vocabulary
.....................................34
Check Your Understanding:
Multiple Choice......................................... 17 Check Your Understanding:
Check Your Understanding: Multiple Choice......................................... 35
Short Answer............................................. 18 Check Your Understanding:
Deepen Your Understanding ......................... Short Answer............................................. 36
19 Deepen Your Understanding .........................
37
IV. Chapter 4

End-of-Book Test .................................................................................................38

iii
 sentimentalizing, MAUS raises the comic book to a higher art
form: the graphic novel.

Focus on the Book

INTRODUCTION
Historical record, memoir or graphic novel? MAUS defies
easy definition. The two volume, Pulitzer Prize winning book
by acclaimed graphic artist Art Spiegelman functions on three
distinct yet seamless levels. It shares an eyewitness account of
the Holocaust through the eyes of the artist’s father, Vladek;
speaks to the tortured relationship between a son and his
father; and finally, illuminates the relationship between an
artist and his art.
Spiegelman uses a unique cartoon style — the visual portrayal
of humans as animals — to reach many ends. His art
illustrates his parents’ survival during the Holocaust; his
father’s residual pain and its impact on family relationships;
and his own artistic struggle. As a character in his own work,
Spiegelman juxtaposes the minutiæ of daily life with the
magnitude of events surrounding the Holocaust. Beneath the
apparent simplicity of MAUS’ graphic novel format lies a
harrowing and complex narrative derived from hours of
personal interviews between father and
son, and historical research that included visits to Auschwitz
and other Polish sites.
MAUS first appeared in in Art Spiegelman’s avant garde
magazine Raw in 1980. MAUS, A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father
Bleeds History was published in 1986; MAUS, A Survivor’s
Tale II: And Here My
Troubles Began followed 1991.
The two volumes were awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 with
the creation of a special category to honour the originality of
Spiegelman’s work. Some early critics contend that the comic
book format is inappropriate for the subject matter and
demeans the enormity of the Holocaust experience. Others
argue that the cartoon medium opens up the history to a new
readership and that by neither trivializing nor
 vi
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman was born in 1948 in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Andzi (Anja) and Vladek Spiegelman.
The family moved to Rego Park, New York in 1951. Spiegelman demonstrated an early interest in comic
books. Popular horror comics, Mad, underground comics, television, as well as pop and high art were all
formative influences. By adolescence, Spiegelman was seriously involved in comic making. As Spiegelman
tells us, the underground comic movement developed in the 1960s while he was in junior high school:

"I met some people who later became, like myself, that first generation of underground cartoonists – like Jay
Lynch, Skip Williamson. We were all working for the same little magazines. They were amateur self-produced
magazines." (Dreifus, 36)

Chapters of Maus were first serialized in 1980 in Art Spiegelman's avant-garde magazine Raw. Maus, a
survivor's tale i: my father bleeds history was published in 1986 and Maus, a survivor's tale ii: and here my
troubles began in 1991. The two volumes won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 with the creation of a special category
to honour the originality of the work. The acclaim and public attention that followed the publication of Maus
came as a surprise to Spiegelman.

"One of the reasons I wasn't ready for the response to maus is that I was living in a world where comics were
being made seriously and taken seriously. So, to me, it was very natural."
(Dreifus, 36)

"There's a kind of shock in people's minds when they hear that this story is a comic
strip – 'Somebody did a comic strip about the Holocaust.’
Actually, that invests it with a certain lack of hubris. It's not an opera about the Holocaust; it's something
modest, it's a comic strip – a medium that has a history of being without pretensions or aspirations to art. And
perhaps if there can be no art about the Holocaust, then there may at least be comic strips." (Dreifus, 35)

Despite the acclaim, Spiegelman experienced angst and misgivings about his work. This self-doubt is
expressed both in the text (I.16) and images of maus, where he is diminished in size (II.2, II.46).

Today Spiegelman is acknowledged as one of this generation's foremost comic artists. Co-founder and
co-editor of Raw with his wife Françoise Mouly, the acclaimed magazine of avant-garde comix and graphics,
Spiegelman has become widely known for Maus and his current work as a cover artist, contributor and
consulting editor for the New Yorker magazine.
Check infographic for better introduction

https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Maus/infographic/

vi
i

Focus YourKnowledge

Overview
Author
Art Spiegelman
Years Published
1980–91
Type
Nonfiction
Genre
Memoir
Perspective and Narrator
Maus tells two stories at the same time. The first is
about author Art Spiegelman's relationship with his
father, Vladek. Artie narrates those sections in the
first person, conveying the conflicts associated with
being the son of Holocaust survivors. The
flashbacks to the past about Vladek's experiences
 during World War II are narrated in the first person
by Vladek himself, conveying the anxiety and fear
of his experiences.

Tense
Maus by Art Spiegelman is told in the past and present tenses.
About the Title
Maus is the German word for "mouse." Author Art Spiegelman depicts the main characters
in the book, almost all of whom are Jewish, as mice, alluding to the stereotyping of Jews as
pests, being hunted and captured by cats, who represent the German Nazis. The subtitle, A
Survivor's Tale, emphasizes the various ways in which characters survive the Holocaust
throughout generations.
Maus | Context

Most of the events of Maus take place before and during World War II in Poland. The main
character, Vladek Spiegelman, is a Polish Jew who survived both battle on the front lines as
a soldier and eventually the Holocaust in Poland and Germany.

The Division of Poland and Start of World War II

By 1939 Adolf Hitler, the Führer of Germany and the leader of the National Socialist
German Workers' (Nazi) Party, wanted two things as part of his plan for world domination:
more German territory and fewer Jewish people in that territory. Famously anti-Semitic
since his youth, Hitler believed Jews were a subhuman race intent on taking over the world
as enemies of Germany. His message spread like wildfire when he became Chancellor of
Germany in January 1933, and it became the official party line when he obtained dictatorial
control that spring. Jews were harassed, discriminated against, and chased out of Germany
throughout the rest of the 1930s, fleeing to nearby countries for safety.
This safe zone rapidly shrank as the German army mobilized and began taking over central
and eastern Europe, starting with Austria in 1938, followed by present-day Czechoslovakia.
Hitler had his eye on Poland next. He didn't want its neighbor, Russia, to stand in his way,
so he made a deal with the communist country to divide Poland in two. Germany got the
western third and Russia would get the rest. But Poland, which had only recently become
an independent nation after 100 years of foreign rule, obtained an agreement of promised
protection from Great Britain and France should Germany invade. Hitler was infuriated by
this countermove and hastened plans for an attack. German forces entered Poland on
September 1, 1939; Great Britain and France declared war two days later. World War II had
begun, and the Nazi armies soon conquered the outnumbered Poles.

Nazi Germany Attempts Eradication of Jewish Race

The Nazi Party championed an "Aryan," or so-called pure-blood German race, and in their
minds the only way to ensure its growth and purity was to destroy competing ethnicities,
first and foremost the Jews. While they tried to figure out how to solve the "problem" of the
Jews, Nazi officials across German territory began forcing Jewish families out of their
homes and herding them into ghettos, all of them much too small for the number of people
 living there. In Warsaw, Poland, for example, with the largest Jewish population in Europe,
30 percent of the city's population were housed in just 2.4 percent of the city's area after
the rapid German military victory over Poland. Food was scarce, work was either
nonexistent or nonpaying, and disease spread rapidly. Thousands of people died from the
poor living conditions alone.
The Jewish ghettos were a stopover point on the way to the Nazi's final solution: mass
murder. For years the Nazis had executed criminals and opponents of the party, but in 1941
they began orchestrating mass shootings of hundreds of Jews at a time. The process became
more efficient in 1942, when Nazi leadership agreed to establish not just concentration
facilities but extermination camps. These "death factories" were constructed for the express
purpose of killing thousands of Jews in one place. Entire ghettos were emptied onto freight
train cars which took them to one of the six extermination camps in Poland. Prisoners were
herded into large gas chambers, which were then filled with carbon monoxide or Zyklon-B,
a pesticide. Their bodies were then destroyed in massive crematoriums.
The largest extermination camp was Auschwitz, near the city of Oswiecim in southern
Poland. Auschwitz was actually three separate camps. The first, built in 1940, was a
concentration, or prison, camp. The second, Birkenau, was built in 1941 as an
extermination camp. The third, Buna-Monowitz, was a slave labor camp opened in 1942
and heavily funded by German industrial companies. Of the estimated 1.5 million people
who died at Auschwitz between 1941 and 1945, approximately 90 percent were Jewish
brought there from

everywhere in Europe the Germans had conquered.

There are no firm counts of how many people died during the Holocaust, but historians
estimate six million Jewish men, women, and children lost their lives to the Nazi ideology
of racial purity. An estimated 34 to 46 million more people of all nationalities and races
died on the battlefields or at home between 1939 and 1945, making World War II the
largest and deadliest war in history.
CHECK THE FOLLOWING LINK FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTENT
http://maus.happykidsschool.com.tw/lesson1
Things to know
Cartoonist Art Spiegelman began serializing the graphic novel Maus in 1980 and concluded it in 1991.
Subtitled A Survivor's Tale, the graphic novel was put out in two volumes, with the first appearing in
1986. Using the frame story of Spiegelman interviewing his father, Vladek, the graphic novel depicts
the elder Spiegelmans' experiences in World War II, through their incarceration and eventual release
from Auschwitz concentration camp. The work also treats Spiegelman's tortured relationships with his
parents; his father was difficult and distant, and his mother committed suicide. Maus was the first
graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer committee had trouble classifying it and decided to
give it a prize in their "special awards and citations" category. The novel is drawn mostly in black and
white, and the artwork is relatively simple. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive; the Independent
called it a "book of a lifetime," and the New Yorkernamed it a "masterpiece." Maus has helped to
change the concept of the comic genre from entertainment for children to serious work for adults.
1. Spiegelman's depiction of Jews as mice in Maus is based on Nazi propaganda. Spiegelman
explained that when he first began to do research for Maus, he found that the Nazis had frequently
depicted Jewsas "dirty and filth-covered vermin." A Nazi propaganda piece showed Jews as rats,
and numerous cartoons did so as well. As essayist Richard de Angelis points out, the term vermin
is not scientific but "socially constructed." Choosing to label "animals as vermin is the first step in
justifying their eradication."
De Angelis continues by explaining how Spiegelman uses animal drawings to show how similar
humans really are: "Spiegelman's visual mouse metaphor serves to expose the lie behind the artificial
genetic hierarchy that Aryan anti-Semitism sought to establish within the human race." Spiegelman
decided to invert Nazi propaganda and use it to tell his own family's story in Maus. 2. Spiegelman
claimed Adolf Hitler was his "collaborator" on Maus.
The concept of Jews as rats or mice was extolled by Hitler as an attempt to dehumanize Jews and
make it easier to carry out his plans to eradicate them. Spiegelman referred to Hitler as his
"collaborator" because, as he explained, "Hitler used [the image] of the Jews as the vermin of mankind
that had to be exterminated."
3. Maus was rejected by several big-name American publishers.
When Spiegelman's agent began sending Maus to publishers, they didn't quite know what to make of
it. An editor at Henry Holt responded, "The idea behind it is brilliant, but it never, for me, quite gets
on track." Penguin's editor called Maus not "completely successful," stating, "My passing has to do
with the natural nervousness one has in publishing something so very new and possibly (to some
people) off-putting." At St. Martin's Press, the editor wasn't sure "how to advance the thing into
bookstores," while Knopf thought it was "clever and funny" but noted, "we are publishing several
comic strip/cartoon type books and I think it is too soon to take on another one." Spiegelman didn't
really blame them, saying he might have passed on it too: "It's a comic book! About the Holocaust!
Oh, great. And there are mice in it!" Pantheon finally agreed to publish the graphic novel. 4. Laws
forbidding the use of Nazi symbols complicated the publication of Maus in Germany. Maus was
offered to a German publisher that wanted to publish it, but because the cover shows a swastika, there
was a problem. It was against the law to have swastikas on book covers in Germany. However, the
head of the publishing house found a way around this: in the law there was an exception made for
works of serious scholarly import. The publisher convinced the government to allow publication
under this exception.
In Russia a law was passed in 2015 preventing Nazi propaganda from being displayed in retail shops,
and booksellers began taking Maus out of their stores. In response, Spiegelman said: "I don't think
Maus was the intended target for this." He cautioned against erasing memory by enforcing the law and
said, "I think [the law] had an intentional effect of squelching freedom of expression in Russia."

1
5. A Polish journalist set up a publication company for the sole purpose of publishing Maus.
Much of Maus takes place in Poland, and the Poles in the graphic novel are depicted as pigs. The
Polish government was disturbed by this; calling someone a pig is a strong insult in Poland. As a
result, it was difficult to find a Polish publisher for Maus. A Polish journalist, Piotr Bikont, was
so enthralled by the book that he established his own publishing house simply to publish it. After
publication, Poles demonstrated and burned the book; Bikont responded by wearing a pig mask
and waving to the protesters.
6. The Museum of Modern Art in New York held an exhibit dedicated to the making of Maus.
In late 1991 the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) held an exhibition of Spiegelman's work that
was planned to coincide with the publication of the second volume of Maus. The exhibit
included all the original artwork for both volumes, layouts, and source materials. According to
Spiegelman, the exhibition came about because Spiegelman had criticized MoMA's exhibition
"High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture" the year before.
7. Spiegelman convinced the New York Times to classify Maus as nonfiction rather than
fiction. After Maus II (the second volume) was published in 1991, it quickly made its way onto
the New York Times best-seller list. However, it was listed in the fiction category. Spiegelman
wrote a letter to the Times protesting its placement because it is factual: "As an author I believe I
might have lopped several years off the 13 I devoted to my two-volume project if I could only
have taken a novelist's license."
Spiegelman went on to acknowledge that "delineating people with animal heads" can cause
problems for someone trying to categorize the work. He asked, "Could you consider adding a
special 'nonfiction/mice' category to your list?" The Timesresponded by saying that because both
the publisher and the Library of Congress classified Maus as nonfiction, they would as well. 8.
Spiegelman's aunt poisoned his older brother to keep him from the Nazis. Spiegelman was
born in Sweden after World War II, but his brother Richieu was born in Poland several years
earlier. When Richieu was five or six years old, Spiegelman's Polish Jewish parents were
imprisoned at Auschwitz. His aunt took care of Richieu, but when they were hiding in a bunker,
she poisoned herself, Richieu, and two other children to keep them from being taken to one of
the Nazis' death camps.
9. In 1972 Spiegelman created a comic about his mother's suicide, which appears in Maus.
Spiegelman's mother, Anja, killed herself just as Spiegelman was recovering from a nervous
breakdown. His comic Prisoner on the Hell Planet is a raw, painful attempt to process his anger
at his mother and his own feelings of guilt and responsibility for her death. After publishing it in
a small underground comic book in 1972, Spiegelman ended up including Prisoner on the Hell
Planet as a comic within Maus. It ends, "You murdered me, Mommy, and you left me here to
take the rap!" 10. In 2011 Spiegelman published Metamaus, which includes new information,
interviews, and artwork.
In 2011, on the 25th anniversary of the publication of Maus, Spiegelman published MetaMaus, a
new edition of his 2-volume work that includes a long interview between Spiegelman and
Hillary Chute, a professor at the University of Chicago. It also included additional art, a DVD,
and essays. The additional details helped to make Maus more accessible for readers and to
explain the process Spiegelman used to create the graphic novel.

2
MAUS CHAPTER 1

Vocabulary Words to Know

Study the following words and definitions. You will meet these words in your reading. Be sure to jot
down in your word journal any other unknown words from the reading.
cataract – an abnormality of the eye, characterized by opacity of the lens
sheik – (slang) a man held to be masterful and irresistibly charming to women.
Communism – a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is
controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single political party
tenant – someone who rents an apartment or a room from a landlord
anti-Semitic – being prejudiced against Jews
sanitarium – an institution for rest and recuperation or a mental hospital pogrom – an organized
massacre, especially of Jews.

DEEP THINKING QUESTIONS. PROVIDE EXTENDED ANSWER:

1. This is a graphic memoir. A graphic memoir tells a person’s life through text and drawings. Why
does Art Spiegelman use mice instead of people to portray the characters in the story? What do the
mice represent?

2. On page 11, Spiegelman tells us that his father’s second wife Mala was a survivor too, like most
of his parents’ friends. Why does Spiegelman call Mala a survivor? What does he mean?

3. What kind of relationship does Art Spiegelman and his father, Vladek have? Use specific pictures
and text to support your answer.

4. Why is the chapter called “The Sheik”?

5. Why does Vladek choose Anja over Lucia? What do you think of his choice?

6. Why does Vladek ask Art not to write about Lucia in his book? Why doesn’t Art listen to his
father? Do you think it is right for Art to break his promise?

2
 STUDENT NAME DATE Focus
YourReading

MAUS
CHAPTER 1 QUESTIONS. PROVIDE A SHORT ANSWER
1What is your first impression of Vladek Spiegelman?

2 What has happened to Artie's mother?

3 How does Vladek get along with Mala, his second wife? What kind of things do they argue about?

4 On page 12 we see a close-up of Vladek as he pedals his exercise bicycle. What is the meaning of
the numbers tattooed on his wrist? How does this single image manage to convey information that
might occupy paragraphs of text?

5 Describe Vladek's relationship with Lucia Greenberg. How was he introduced to Anja
Zylberberg? Why do you think he chose her over Lucia?

6What sort of drawings does Vladek think Artie should spend his time doing?

7 Why did Vladek take English lessons in his youth?

8 Briefly describe the Zyblerbergs' economic status.

9.Artie argues that covering the incident with Lucia will make Vladek's story more human.
 10 How does Vladek get along with Mala? What do they argue about?

STUDENT NAME DATE Focus Your

Reading (continued)

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Why is Chapter 1 of "Maus" titled "The Sheik"?

A. Vladek seems to be irresistible to women, like a Sheik.
B. Vladek is aggressive and angry, like a Sheik.
C. Vladek is desperate to get married, like a Sheik.
D. All of these.

2. What reason does Vladek give for not wanting to marry Lucia? (pg. 15)
A. She is too desperate to get married.
B. Lucia's family had no money and no dowry
C. He is already in love with another woman.
D. Vladek wants to stay single forever.
3. What do we learn about Artie's character at the end of Chapter 1? (pg. 23)
A. He no longer loves his wife.
B. He is upset with his father for telling him the stories.
C. He has broken a promise to his father.
D. None of these.

4. Based on his facial expressions and actions, how does Vladek feel about Anja?
A. He is in love with Anja
B. He likes Lucia more than Anja
C. He is upset that Anja sent him photos
D. He doesn't care that Anja writes him letters

5. What is a "dowry"?
A. Property or money that a wife brings to a husband when they get married
B. The patriarch/leader of a tribe or family
C. The money that a husband gives to a woman for her to marry him
D. A facial expression of surprise

STUDENT NAME DATESTUDENT NAME DATE I. Chapters 1

During Reading Check Your Understanding

Build Your Vocabulary
 Vocabulary Questions
On the line, write definition of the word in bold type. Then, on another sheet of paper, use that word
in a new sentence of your own.
1. Anti-Semitism
2. Aryan
3. Dowry
4. Gefilte Fish
5. Sheik
6. Yiddish
7. textiles
8. bachelor
9. hosiery

FOCUS ON CRITICAL THINKING. HIGH LEVEL UNDERSTANDING Write various complex sentences
using the words provided on the previous page. Explain the type of the sentence that you have
chosen:
1____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
4____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
5____________________________________________________________________________

Provide at least three examples of quotes from the MAUS Chapter 1 and give explanation:

1___________________________________________________________________________
_ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:

4
 STUDENT NAME DATE Deepen Your
Understanding

The events that together make up a story are the plot of the story. One important part of any plot is
conflict, or a problem that the characters face.

Find at least two specific examples of the conflict, and explain why you think this conflict exists.
Then compare and contrast your example with modern issues.
7
 STUDENT NAME DATE Focus
YourReading

Vocabulary Words to Know

Study the following words and definitions. You will meet these words in your reading. Be sure to jot
down in your word journal any other unknown words from the reading.
Conspiracy: committing an unlawful crime
Hysterical: uncontrollable emotion
Depressed: sad, gloomy, dejected, downcast
Sanitarium: medically supervised recuperation
Governess: a woman who is employed to take care
of a child’s upbringing, education, etc.
Riot: violent or wild disorder
Frontier: boundary, border of countries
Cataract: cloudiness of the eye that causes
impairment of the vision or blindness

DEEP THINKING QUESTIONS. PROVIDE EXTENDED ANSWER:

Chapter Two The Honeymoon

1. On page 31, Vladek says that he left Anja and their new baby to go to Bielsko to run his new
factory and find an apartment for them to live in. How does Anja respond? Have you or members of
your family ever had to separate in order to start a new job or new life? How did it feel for the
people who moved on? How did it feel for the people who were left behind?

2. When do Vladek and Anja realize that the war is coming? How do they know? Use specific
pictures and text to support your answer.

3. Why doesn’t Vladek tell the doctor in the hospital about his glass eye? What does this say
about Vladek’s character?
 8

STUDENT NAME DATE Focus Your

Reading (continued)

SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. What almost gets Anja in trouble with the law?

2. How does Vladek react to Anja's relationship with communists?

3. How are Vladek and Anja able to get out of trouble with the police?

4. What happens to Anja shortly after the birth of their son, Richieu?

5. What do they see when they go to Czechoslovalia in 1938?

6. What did they hear about what is happening in Germany?

7. What happens to Vladek shortly after they return?

7. Why do you think Artie concludes Chapter 2 in the way he does, just as Vladek goes to

war? 8. What do we learn about Vladek by this brief return to the present at the end of the

chapter? 9. What do the words and images on the title page of this chapter seem to
 foreshadow?

STUDENT NAME DATE Build Your

Vocabulary

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. I was very left-wing, but I was never a ______________.

A. communist
B. seamstress

C. textile

2.The store had a fascinating range of pottery, jewelry, and ________.

A. communist

B. seamstress

C. textiles

3. Some believe there is a __________around the assassination of JFK (John Kennedy).

A.conspiracy

B. sanitarium

C. Nazi

4. Long ago many people in _______________died of tuberculosis and influenza.

A. conspiracy

B. sanitariums

C. Nazi

5. The Jews filled into the _____________on Sunday for worship.

A. Synagogues

B. Unhitched

C. Looted

10
 STUDENT NAME DATE I I. C hap ter 2 During Reading Check Your

Understanding

VOCABULARY QUESTIONS
5. Capitalist
1. Cathartic
6. Barrack 7.
Munitions 8.
2. Louse up
Hermetic
3. Remorse
4. Notary

FOCUS ON CRITICAL THINKING. HIGH LEVEL UNDERSTANDING

Write various complex sentences using the words provided on the previous page. Explain the type of
the sentence that you have chosen:
1____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
4____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
5____________________________________________________________________________

Provide at least three examples of quotes from the MAUS Chapter 1 and give explanation:

1___________________________________________________________________________
_ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
 11

STUDENT NAME DATE I. Chapters 2 During Reading Check Your

Understanding

Mood refers to the climate of feeling, or atmosphere, created by the author. In Chapter 2, there is an
abrupt change in mood partway through the chapter. Explain the mood of the chapter at the
beginning and how it changes as the chapter continues. What event causes the mood of the chapter
to change? Which of these two moods will become more prominent as the story continues?
12

13
STUDENT NAME DATE I I. Chapter 2 After Reading Deepen Your

Understanding
14
 STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. Chapter 3 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading

Vocabulary Words to Know

Study the following words and definitions. You will meet these words in your reading. Be sure to jot
down in your word journal any other unknown words from the reading.
annexed – attached to; incorporated into a larger body
Gestapo – an abbreviation of “Geheime Staatspolizei,” the Secret State Police, the SS protectorate –
land controlled by German government
reich – land annexed to Germany, later meaning the Nazi regime Wehrmacht – the German Armed
Forces
Bar Mitzvah – a ceremony to admit as an adult member of the Jewish community a Jewish boy 13
years old schlepped – Yiddish for “carried or moved in a trudging fashion”

DEEP THINKING QUESTIONS. PROVIDE EXTENDED ANSWER:

Chapter Three Prisoner of War
1. On page 43, Vladek tells Art that he must finish the food on his plate during dinner. Why is
Vladek so insistent?

2. How does Vladek’s father try to keep him out of the army? Was he successful? Do you think
Vladek’s father made a smart decision? Explain.

3. What does Vladek mean on page 50, when he says, “Well at least I did something.” Do you
believe that he is justified in feeling this way? Explain.

4. This image portrays a sign saying, “Workers Needed.” Why is this sign posted? What does
Vladek decide to do? Does he plan to work? Explain. (Page 54, bottom left.)

5. How does Vladek survive the work camp? What motivated him?
6. What happens to Vladek’s father while Vladek was away? How does Vladek’s father feel? 7.

Why does Vladek throw away Art’s coat? What would you have done if you were Art?

15

STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. Chapter 3 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading

CHAPTER 3 CONTENT QUESTIONS

i. How is Mala and Vladek's relationship?

ii. Why did Vladek's father starve him?

iii. Why did Vladek say "at least I did something" after he shot a German soldier?

iv. Why did the German soldiers get mad at Vladek?

v. What is Parshas Truma? What is the significance of Parshas Truma to Vladek?

 16

STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. Chapter 3 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading

CHAPTER 3 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS. MEDIOCRE LEVEL

1.What does the following quote from Vladek reveal about his character:
“Finish at least what’s on your plate!”?
A. Anja was a lenient mother.
B. Anja did not cook well, and she gave large servings.
C. Vladek was a strict father who does not like to waste.
D. Vladek is traumatized from his experiences during the Holocaust.

2. Which of the following methods did Vladek’s father not do to keep him and his brother from the army?
A. starvation
B. sleep deprivation
C. dehydration
D. teeth pulling

3. What is an example of internal conflict Vladek faces?

A. Deciding whether or not to kill soldiers during the war
B. Arguing with Mala over quality of meals
C. Arguing with Artie over finishing food
D. Avoiding the draft due to his father’s pressure

4. How does the German officer know that Vladek is not used to physical labor?
A. Vladek had more money than the rest of the prisoners.
B. Vladek had dainty and unmarked hands.
C. Vladek told him he had no experience in German.
D. Vladek struggled with cleaning the stable in the short amount of time.

5. Which of the following does not show evidence of a survival skill Vladek utilized?
A. “I answered in German and his partner stopped him from beating me” (49).
B. I’ll be clean! And I’ll feel warm all day by comparison” (53).
C. “I had cigarettes to trade for food” (54).
D. “The next day we were given shovels and picks” (55).

6. What is the meaning of the word recuperating on page 63?

A. reflect B. relax
C. D.
recover refuse

17
STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. Chapter 3 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading

7. What is the most likely reason Vladek threw away Artie’s coat?
A. He always hated the coat.
B. The coat brings negative memories.
C. He wants the best for his son.
D. He knew Artie would not do it himself.

8. Which of the following statements from page 63 provides evidence of foreshadowing

and character traits to how Vladek survived the war?
A. “These I saved from a Red Cross Pacakage. Always I saved…just in case!”
B. “We were for a while a little better off, and they wrote back very happy how it helped.”
C. “Then they stopped to write. Finished.”
D. “I was restless. How could I manage to sneak across the border to my family?”

9. Which of the following from page 65 was not one of the measures the Nazis took over the Jews?
A. “I must bring Vladek home before curfew.”
B. “They made us sing prayer while they laughed and beat us.”
C. “They cut off our beards.”
D. “She was sick with cancer.”
 18

STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. C hap ter 3

Build Your Vocabulary

PROVIDE DEFINITIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING WORDS:

1.Nazi secret police
2.Nazi armed forces
3.a small, salted fish
4.Jewish rite of passage
when a boy is considered a
man
5.1 week in a year when
Jews read the Torah
6.Jewish religious leader 12. synthetic leather
made from plastic
7.Prisoner of War 13. done in a fixed way
8.forced into the armed according to plan
forces 14. angry; bad attitude
9.frail; breakable
10. long pits dug to hide 15. worn out; faded 16.
in during battle The Nazi reign 17. a
11. getting well after an Jewis religious book
illness

16

STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. C hap ter 3 During Reading Check Your

 Understanding

CHAPTER 3. FOCUS ON CRITICAL THINKING. HIGH LEVEL UNDERSTANDING Write various

complex sentences using the words provided on the previous page. Explain the type of the sentence
that you have chosen:
1____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
4____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
5____________________________________________________________________________

Provide at least three examples of quotes from the MAUS Chapter 1 and give explanation:

1___________________________________________________________________________
_ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:

17
 STUDENT NAME DATE I I I. C hap ter 3 After Reading Deepen Your

Understanding

Important characters in stories are often dynamic. That is, they change and grow in response to
what happens in the story.
Give examples and explanations of any characters from the MAUS being dynamic
 18

STUDENT NAME DATE

 IV. C hap ter 4 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading

Vocabulary Words to Know

Study the following words and definitions. You will meet these words in your reading. Be sure to jot
down in your word journal any other unknown words from the reading.
a type of knot tied at the end of a rope used to hang someone - noose
a person in charge of seeing that work is done - overseer
a Jew in favor of making a Jewish homeland in Palestine - Zionist
a nursing home – Convelescent Home
a bargain - proposition
underground market place where goods are sold illegally - Black Market
a German concentration camp where many Jews died - Auschwitz
sent out of a country - deported
to do quickly without thinking - hasty
unable to breathe which causes death - suffocate
a Nazi term for a "master race" of people - Aryan
unclear - vague

Deep thinking Questions

Chapter Four The Noose Tightens
1. What happens to the Jewish businesses? How do Jewish people earn enough money
to live at this time?

2. On page 80, Vladek says, “Will I walk slowly, they will take me… Will I run they can shoot me!”
What does he mean? Who is he talking about? Do you think his feelings are justified? Explain.

3. How does Vladek’s friend, Ilzecki save his son during the war? How does Vladek try to save his son Richieu?
What happened?

4. Why do the Germans hang Nahum Cohn and his son? What effect does this hanging
have on other people?

5. How does Vladek feel about the hangings? Why does he feel this way?
6. On page 93, Mala says that Vladek is more attached to things than people.
Why might Mala say this? Do you believe this is true?
 19

STUDENT NAME DATE IV. C hap ter 4 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading
20
STUDENT NAME DATE IV. C hap ter 4 Bef ore Reading Focus YourReading

Questions to Think About

The following questions will help you understand the meaning of what you read, look at them before
you begin reading, and think about them while you are reading. Provide reasonable answers:

1. Although jews were allowed only lilmited rations under the Nazi occupations, vladek managers to
circumvent these restrictions for a while. how does he support himself and his family?

2. At the start of the chapter, what two things do art and his father, vladek arugue about? what does
this reveal about vladek's character and their father-son relatonship?

3. On page 79, vladek describes anja's father " so unhappy" he has already been cheated out of his
factories. why would a bit of furniture upset him so much?

4. What is happening page 80? on this page, vladek is framed by a panel shaped like a jewish star.
How does this device express his situation at that moment?

5. Describe the ghetto vladek's family moves into. What did it look like, what was diffcult about
living there, and how did they survive?

6. Analyze the "reward" poster on page 82 in the 3rd strip. What does this suggest about the
resources in Poland and what happened to many jews as a result?

7. Explain the events on page 83. why are they punished and left there for one week?
 21

STUDENT NAME DATE Build your

knowledge

CHAPTER 3 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS. MEDIOCRE LEVEL

1. When Vladek came back from the war prison, how many people were still living in the house?
6 12
18 0

2. When the Nazis came to take the furniture from Vladek, what was wrong with Anjas mother?
A. Gallstones C. D. Stomach
Kidney Stones Flu
B. Migraines

3. Who gave Vladek the idea to give his son to a polish man to keep safe until after the war?
A. Vladek's Father in Law C. Anja D. Anja's Mother
B. Ilzeki
4. What did the Nazis do to the men that Vladek's father-in-law worked with?
A. They were shot died. A. In the attic
C. They hung them B. In the den

5. On May 10, 1942, all Jews over what age were to

be transferred to Czechoslovakia? Q. What happened when Anja's grandparents were
A. 40 years old sent to Auschwitz?
B. 80 years old
B. They moved them to a different city D. Nothing C. She didn't register so she was asked to leave
happened D. The kids were being loud so she was asked to
leave

C. 6 months old C. She didn't have a journal D. The journals were

D. 70 years old destroyed in the ghetto

6. At the registration why did Fela get sent to the left

and not the right? A. Four kids was too many A. They were given a very nice room
B. She was not healthy enough B. They were sent to work
C. They were sent to the gas chambers
D. They were never found by the Nazi's

7. Where did Vladek keep Anja's journals after she

22

STUDENT NAME DATE IV. C hap ter 4 During Reading Check Your

Understanding

VOCABULARY
Write a DEFINITION for each word.
 1. Aryan
2. Textiles
3. Overseer
4. Ghetto
5. Zionist

CHAPTER 3. FOCUS ON CRITICAL THINKING. HIGH LEVEL UNDERSTANDING

Write various complex sentences using the words provided on the previous page. Explain the type of
the sentence that you have chosen:
1____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
4____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
5____________________________________________________________________________

Provide at least three examples of quotes from the MAUS Chapter 1 and give explanation:

1___________________________________________________________________________
_ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:

23

STUDENT NAME DATE IV. C hapters 4 After Reading Deepen Your

 Understanding

In these chapter, several characters have experiences that lead them to defend themselves and their
values. Find at least two such instances. Explain how and why the characters defend their values or
manage to survive. How does race play a role in each character’s effort? Connect your answer with
specific theme

24
 STUDENT NAME DATE V. C hapter 5 Before Reading Focus YourReading

Vocabulary Words to Know

Study the following words and definitions. You will meet these words in your reading. Be sure to jot
down in your word journal any other unknown words from the reading.

i. full of anxiety or obsessions - neurotic

ii. not clear or well-known - obscure
iii. showing sympathy - condolences
iv. a sacred place - shrine
v. a group of advisors - council
vi. A harsh German concentration camp - Auschwitz
vii. power to affect others - influence
viii. to clear out - evacuate
ix. a place to hide - bunker
x. to end or dissolve - liquidate
xi. a drug used to quickly stop chest pain for people with heart conditions - Nitrostat
xii. plans; ideas - schemes
xiii. oust; to send away - deport

Questions to think about

Chapter Five Mouse Holes

1. How does Art respond to his father when Vladek calls to ask for help with fixing the drainpipe? 2.

What is “Prisoner on the Hell Planet”? How is this comic different from Maus? How is it similar? 3.
What happens to Richieu in the Ghetto in Zawiercie? Why?

4. Why does Vladek build a bunker? Does this bunker help the family survive? Explain. 5.

Vladek lets his cousin know that he can pay him for his help. Why? Does it matter?

6. On page 116, Vladek refers to Haskel as a “kombinator.” What is a “kombinator”? Why does Vladek call
Haskel a “kombinator”? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
25

STUDENT NAME DATE V. C hapter 5 Before Reading Focus YourReading

7. Why does Anja’s nephew Luke refuse to go to the hidden bunker?

Does he make a smart decision? Why or why not?

8. Why does Art Spiegelman portray the paths as a swastika? How does this image
express Vladek and Anja’s situation? [Include image on bottom left, p. 125]

9. Why does Vladek keep the 14 karat gold cigarette case and lady’s powder case
from Srodula, Poland?

10. Vladek questions why he ever remarried after Anja’s death. Why do you think he
married Mala? Do you think Vladek and Mala have a good marriage? Explain.
 26

Short
Answer

Questions. Mediocre level

STUDENT NAME DATEThe following questions will help you understand the meaning of what you
read. You do not have to write complete answers to these
questions.

Build Your knowledge

1. What dies the drain pipe incident show us about Artie's relationship with his father? 2. How does

Mala and Vladek react to the strip Artie created called "Prisoner on the Hell Planet?" 3. After

they are relocated from Sosnowiec to Srodula, what happens to the family?

4. What later happens in Zawiercie(where Tosha and the children have gone)?

5. How do they get arrested by the Gestapo and how are they able to get out of detention? 6. What

kind of person is Haskel Spiegleman? What is his fate? How does Vladek feel about him? 7.

What happens to the people who decide to bribe the Germans and leave the bunker? 8. How do

Anja and Vladek eventually get out of the ghetto?

9. What does Vladek have in his safe deposit box at the bank?

10 How does Artie feel about Mala? Do you think his characterization of her is correct? Why?
 © 28
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS. CHAPTER 5

1. Why does Artie decide to become an artist? (pg. 97)

A. Because his father always wanted him to be
B. Because it was an area where he didn't have to compete with his father
C. Because he didn't care about making money
D. Because he felt guilty about not using his talents

2. How does Artie's family treat him after his mother's suicide?
A. They blame Vladek for her death
B. They know that Artie did everything he possibly could for his mother, and treat him kindly
C. They blame him for his mother's death
D. They seem to not care that his mother is dead

3. What new thing do we learn about Artie from the "Prisoner on the Hell Planet"
comic? A. That he was in the state mental hospital
B. That he was married to a woman that his parents liked
C. That he discovered his mother's dead body
D. None of these

4. How does Vladek react to reading Artie's "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" comic? (pg. 104)
A. Accepting and understanding
B. Angry and upset
C. Confused and puzzled
D. None of these
 © 29

STUDENT NAME DATE V. C hap ter 5 During Reading Check Your

Vocabulary

Write a suitable definition for each word

i. Genocide
xiii. Deplorable
 ii. Sheik
xiv. Dissidents
iii. Dowry
xv. Communist
iv. Tyranny
xvi. Anti-Semitic
v. Euthanasia
xvii. Sanitarium
vi. Concentration Camp
xviii. Pogrom
vii. Shoah
xix. Gestapo
viii. Yad Vashem
xx. Kombinator
ix. Systematic
xxi. Protectorate
x. Bureaucratic
xxii. Annexed
xi. Persecution
xxiii. Pragmatic
xii. Holocaust

© 30
 STUDENT NAME DATE V. C hap ter 5 During Reading Check Your

Vocabulary

CHAPTER 5. FOCUS ON CRITICAL THINKING. HIGH LEVEL UNDERSTANDING

Write various complex sentences using the words provided on the previous page. Explain the type of
the sentence that you have chosen:
1____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
4____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
5____________________________________________________________________________

Provide at least three examples of quotes from the MAUS Chapter 5 and give explanation:

1___________________________________________________________________________
_ Explanation:
2____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
3____________________________________________________________________________ Explanation:
 © 31

STUDENT NAME DATE V. C hapters 5 After Reading Deepen Your

Understanding

In Chapter 5, Prisoner on the Hell Planet, which is included in the text of Maus, was originally
published in 1972 in Short Order, a short-run underground comic. Spiegelman never intended his
father to see it because he assumed Vladek would be angry with him for portraying Anja's suicide in
such a crude, unsympathetic way. In the last three cells, Spiegelman shows himself as an inmate in a
large prison as he blames his mother for his own depressive nature. "You murdered me, Mommy,
and you left me here to take the rap!!!" he yells after accusing Anja of "short[ing] all [his] circuits,"
"cut[ting] [his] nerve endings," and "cross[ing] his wires." This is a reference to Spiegelman's
diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia when he was 20, which resulted in a month-long stay at a state
mental institution just prior to his mother's death.
 Explain how illness can affect the write. Explore schizophrenia in the frame of the covered author
and make a research about any other author that was also affected by any health disorders

© 32

STUDENT NAME DATE VI. C hapter 6 Before Reading Focus YourReading

Vocabulary Words to Know
Study the following words and definitions. You will meet these words in your reading. Be sure to jot
down in your word journal any other unknown words from the reading.
Practical - pragmatic protect them - escort
a distorted image - caricature a very poor rotting - decomposing
person - pauper a gesture which means fate - destiny
"Come here". - beck a very sad event - tragedy
weak in body and mind - senile to be disloyal turmoil; noise - commotion
- to betray a person who sneaks goods - smuggle
someone who goes along with another to

© 33
 STUDENT NAME DATE VI. C hapter 6 Before Reading Focus YourReading

Questions to think and analyze

1. Why does Art worry about the way he’s portraying his father, Vladek in the
book? Should Art worry about this? Explain.

2. Is Vladek happy about Art’s book? Explain. Why would Vladek compare Art
to Walt Disney?

3. How does Janina, the governess react when Vladek and Anja come to her for
help? Why?

4. Do you think Mrs. Motonowa is justified in throwing out Vladek and Anja?
Explain.

5. How does Vladek escape from the children who were playing on the street and
screaming, “A Jew!!!”

6. Why do the Jews speak in Yiddish in front of the Polish smugglers?

Was this a good idea? Explain.

7. What do you think happened to Abraham? Why do you think he sent a letter
from Hungary in Yiddish telling Vladek and Mandelbaum that everything
was okay and that they should come to Hungary?

8. What happens to Anja’s diaries? Why does this upset Art? Why does Art call
his father a “murderer”? Explain his response.
 © 34

STUDENT NAME DATE VI. C hapter 6 Before Reading Focus YourReading

Short answers questions

The following questions will help you understand the meaning of what you read. You do not have to
write the detailed answers to these questions.

EXPLAIN MEANING OF FOLLOWING QUOTES

"All our friends went through the camps. Nobody is like him!" -

"In some ways he's just like the racist caricature of the miserly old Jew." –

"These notebooks, and other really nice things of mother ... one time I had
a very bad day ... and all of these things I destroyed."-

"The mothers always told so: 'Be careful! A Jew will catch you to a bag and eat you!'
 – "******** you! You - you murderer! How the hell could you do such a thing?" -

ANSWER OPEN QUESTIONS

1. Artie's wife –
2. Why does Mala call Art early in the morning –
3. Who ended up helping fix the roof –
4. Name of the comic about Anja's suicide –
5. Art's girlfriend when his mom committed suicide
6. Where did they sleep after Anja's suicide- on the floor- Jewish custom?
7. Why does Vladek walk –
8. Name of city the first ghetto was in
9. City they were taken to each day to work in from the first ghetto
10. Where did Anja and Tosha work
11. Where did Vladek and nephew, Lolek work
12. What did Wolfe's uncle, Persis do for some of them?
13. What did Tosha do when she found out the gestapo was clearing
the ghetto they were in
14. Where was the first bunker Vladek and others hid in
15. Where was the second bunker Vladek and others hid in
16. How was their hiding place found out?
17. How did they escape
18. Why did Haskel have influence
19. Who didn't Haskel help escape
20. Where did they work when they were back into the normal ghetto?
21. How did Haskel get the Gestapo to like him more?

© 35

STUDENT NAME DATE VI. C hapter 6 Before Reading Focus YourReading

22. Name of the man who almost shot Vladek but didn't bc he was Haskel's cousin
23. What was Haskel's brother, Pesach selling
24. How did Pesach get ingredients for cake?
25. What happened to everyone who ate the cake
26. Where did Vladek, Anja, and cousins hide when they were clearing the ghetto
27. Why was Lolek taken to Auschwitz
28. Why happened to the people who tried escaping by bribing a guard?
29. How did Vladek, Anja, and others finally escape
30. Why is Mala upset at the beginning of chapter 6
31. Who is the only cartoonist Vladek knows?
32. Where did Vladek and Anja go when escaped ffrom Srodula ghetto
33. Who refused to help them?
34. Who first helped them hid for a short time
35. What number on Dekerta Street does Vladek go to to get black market
goods 36. Name of a boy Vladek know before the war who he saw at the black
market 37. Who did Vladek and Anja stay with next
38. What does Vladek always do so he doesn't get caught while traveling to town
39. Name of women who did Vladek met at the black market who took them in
next 40. How old is Monotowa's son
41. How did they get to Monotowa's house without being suspicious?
42. Why did Monotowa make them leave
43. Where did they hide after Monotowa made them leave?
44. Where did they go next?
45. What did Kawka tell them
46. Why did Monotowa take them in again
47. What did Vladek and Anja need to do when Monotowa's husband came
back 48. What was in the cellar
49. What did they decide after meeting with the smugglers?
50. Who was living under a garbage container
51. What did Vladek do for Miloch
52. How did they get caught traveling to Hungary?
53. What city were they taken to when they were arrested?
54. How did Vladek get some rare goods-?
55.Where were they taken-

© 36
STUDENT NAME DATE Build Your
Vocabulary

Vocabulary questions

i. condolences
ii. objective
iii. shrine
iv. deport
v. smuggle
vi. cellar
vii. liquidate
viii. nitrostat
ix. illustrous
x. scheme
xi. pragmatic
xii. caricature
xiii. miserly
xiv. pauper
xv. senile
xvi. yiddish
 34

STUDENT NAME DATE VI. C hapters 6 During Reading Check Your

Understanding

Multiple choice questions

1. How could you describe Mala and Vladek's relationship in the end of the story?
A. Loving and devoted
B. Caring and trusting
C. Angry and frustrated
D. Bored and forgetful

2. At the end of Chapter 6, why does Artie call Vladek a "murderer"?

A. Vladek murdered Anja
B. Vladek killed someone Artie knew
C. Vladek burnt memories of Anna
D. Vladek turned to the Nazis
 3. How do Vladek and Anja get captured?
A. A child sees them.
B. They get caught with Jewish valuables.
C. A family member tells the Germans about them.
D. The smuggler calls the Gestapo and alerts them.

4. On page 149, Vladek passes some children playing, and they all recognize
that he is a Jew and run away in terror. This is an example of...
A. normal behavior
B. the influence of German propaganda
C. a childish fear of mice
D. Post-traumatic stress disorder

5. Why is Mala crying when Artie walks in the room at the beginning of ch. 6 (p. 130)?
A. She doesn't feel good.
B. She feels like Vladek doesn't treat her well.
C. She is scared.
D. She hurt her knee.

6. On page 132 Mala said that Vladek uses paper towels from restrooms so he won't
have to buy napkins or tissues. Why does Vladek do this?
A. Vladek thinks Artie should buy his paper towels, napkins, and tissues for him.
B. Vladek is too poor to buy paper products.
C. When hiding during the war, Vladek eats and uses whatever he could find or
was given. Vladek continues to act like this (in survival mode) way after the war into old age.
The war changed Vladek's personality.
D. Vladek won't buy items he thinks Mala wants to use - just to be mean to her

35

STUDENT NAME DATE VI. C hapters 6 During Reading Check Your

Understanding
7. Why does Artie say Vladek is "like a racist caricature of the miserly old Jew"?

A. He makes Mala wear Anja's clothes

B. He saves napkins from restaurants so he doesn't have to buy
C. He doesn't like giving Mala money
D. All of the above

8. When Vladek took the streetcar, why did he ride in the official car, and not
with the Polish people?
A. The Germans paid no attention to Vladek
B. He didn't like Poles
C. It was cheaper
D. It was more comfortable

9. Why does Mrs. Motonowa kick the Spiegelmans out of her house?
A. They were unable to pay her
B. They were too noisy
C. She fears the Gestapo will raid her house
D. They ate too much

10. How does Vladek get out of trouble when the children point at him
and scream "A JEW!"?
A. He runs away.
B. He begs for their sympathy.
C. He stays and pretends he's not a Jew.
D. He confesses but the let him go anyway.

36
STUDENT NAME DATE Deepen Your
Understanding

Poems can tell a lot about time and space. Poems can carry deep meaning and essential information.
Acquaint with the poem IF by Rudyard Kipling and conduct analysis of the poem. Find capturing
poem. Why did Rudyard Kipling write this poem? How can it be connected with the main character
of the book? What does this poem—mean to you?
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

37 \
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If
neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all
men count with you, but none too much; If you can
fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours
is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
38
 STUDENT NAME DATE End-of-Book Test
(continued)

After Reading

1. How do you think Vladek and Anja survive Auschwitz?

2. Why do you think Anja kills herself?

3. Explain what you believe will happen to Vladek and Mala’s marriage?

4. What will happen with Vladek and Art’s relationship? Why?

5. Why did Spiegelman write this book? Why did he call it Maus?

6. Why did Spiegelman portray his father’s story as a comic strip?

7. Maus portrays the Holocaust or a genocide. A genocide is a deliberate

and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. Do you
know of any recent genocides? How are these genocides similar to the Holocaust?
How are they different?

8. What would you have done if you were a Jew living in Poland during
the Second World War? What would you have done if you were a Pole? A German? Why?

9. How did people survive in Poland during the Second World War? How do you
think these survivors felt after the war? Why?

10. In Maus, Art interviews Vladek about the Holocaust. How reliable do you think
Vladek’s memory is? Why?

11. What happens to people who live under a terror regime for a long period of time? Should
people adapt to a terror regime? Explain.
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