1. Try to come up with examples and/or
definitions with a partner.
1. Allegory
2. Metaphor
3. Allusion
4. Personification
5. Symbolism
6. Theme
7. Irony
8. Foreshadowing
9. Flashback
10. Simile
2. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Overview
Title: Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Author: Art Spiegelman
Published: 1973 through 1991
Category: Fiction—
Graphic Novel
Memoir
Biography
Historical
3. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
About the Author
Art Spiegelman is co-founder/editor of Raw, the
acclaimed magazine of comics and graphics.
His work has been published in the New York
Times, Playboy, the Village Voice, and many
other periodicals, and his drawings have been
exhibited in museums and
galleries here and abroad. Mr.
Spiegelman lives in New York
City with his wife, Francoise
Mouly, and their daughter, Nadja.
4. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Summary
Maus is a story within a story: Art Spiegelman,
the son of two survivors of the Holocaust, tells
how he interviewed his father Vladek about his
Holocaust experience, and it tells the story of the
father's persecution and survival. It is written in a
comic book format, with various types of animals
representing the various nationalities and
religions (however, Jews are mice, no matter
what nationality they are).
5. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
General Characters
Maus I
• The Jews are represented by mice.
• The Germans are represented by cats.
• The Americans are represented by dogs.
• The Poles are represented by pigs.
Maus II
• The Roma (Gypsies) are represented as gypsy
moths.
• The British are represented by fish.
• The child of a Jew and a German is shown as a
mouse with cat stripes.
10. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Major Characters
Mr./Ms.
Zylberberg
Lucia
Greenberg
Vladek
Spiegelman
Anja
Spiegelman
Mala
Spiegelman
Richieu
Spiegelman
Art
Spiegelman
Francoise
Spiegelman
11. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Universal Themes
Family Guilt
Survivor’s Guilt
Past vs. Present
Survival
Luck
Race and Class
Holocaust
Death
Relationships
