Maus

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On the last page of Maus, there are many important imageries and details that suggest many possible endings that the book could have. The book ends with a very vague ending, not the epic ending that I was expecting because of the conflicts and tension that had built up throughout the book. On the last page of the book, Vladek finishes his Holocaust story with a happy ending and tells Artie that he is tired. He then calls Artie Richieu. This could have two meanings: first is that Vladek is hinting how he was telling the story to Richieu the whole time, therefore, telling Artie that he could never live up to Richieu. Many times in the book, Vladek asks Artie to do something for him. When Artie rejects him, Vladek usually just say "Whatever, I'll do it myself". This shows that Vladek doesn't have that deep bond with Artie and just let him do whatever he wants, unlike a close father and son. Another way to interpret this is that Vladek finally accepted Artie and now he shares the same place as Richieu. However, there is no evidence in the book that shows the relationship getting better; their relationship grew worse over time.
The book does not give us a clear explanation of the ending. The tombstone for Vladek and Anja’s grave interrupts the flow of the page by dividing the last 2 pictures. The insertion of the tombstone is a way that the author is hinting a deeper meaning to the abrupt ending. Vladek ends his story with the typical "lived happily ever after". This suggests that the story has a happy ending. But in reality, Anja committed suicide which is not a happy ending. Also, Vladek's modern life is also not happy. He is constantly complaining about Mala and also had multiple serious health conditions. This adds irony to the ending because the opposite of what Vladek said happened in real life. Perhaps Artie is suggesting that there cannot be a happy ending to a Holocaust story by opposing what his father said about their lives after the war. 

I think the author did a great job of leaving small clues here and there in the book to hint the readers about his deeper motives of writing the book. This is what really made the book so interesting to read. 

Comments

  1. Matthew ChenOctober 6, 2019 at 1:01 PM

    I have no idea why my blog look like this, I tried to fix it for a day now. I had to publish it because it's 4:00 pm sunday

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shreya RudagiOctober 8, 2019 at 4:10 PM

    I really like your different perspective and interpretation of the ending, its really nice to see how you analyzed the relationships and gave a new insight on what the so called 'happy ending' really meant and you made your claim even stronger by giving minor details from the text!!

    ReplyDelete

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