Instruction
Choose one of the following topics on Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History to base your thesis and essay on.
Our questions are concerned mainly with the imbedded short piece, “Prisoner on the Hell Planet,”
reprinted on pages 100-103 in that graphic novel, after Mala reveals that Artie’s father Vladek has
seen the old comic about Anja’s suicide and funeral. Pages 104-105 and 158-159 are also related,
dealing with Anja’s lost journals (her last chance for a direct voice in the story). “Prisoner on the Hell
Planet” (1972), is illustrated in a German Expressionist manner, juxtaposed as an insert in his larger
work Maus, Vol. I, which uses animals as its main form of characters. Consider why each story is
illustrated as it is. Spiegelman began Maus in 1978, and serialized it from 1980 until 1991 as an insert
in Raw, an avant-garde comics and graphics magazine published by Spiegelman and his wife,
Françoise Mouly, who also appears in Maus. The volume of the first six chapters appeared in 1986
Please answer ONE of the following questions in a well-constructed essay, including a brief
introduction/thesis statement and conclusion. Remember that your opinion and arguments
should be backed up by references to the texts, and that you must make also use of at least
one academic peer-reviewed secondary source. Papers without proper in-text citations and a
Works Cited page will automatically fail. You must use a minimum of one scholarly critical secondary
source in your essay in order to pass this assignment. Remember that a Works Cited is not simply a
bibliography: at least one in-text citation must appear for each source. If you are unsure whether a
given secondary source is scholarly, ask me by email. You may use as many other sources as you
wish, of any type, as long as they are all properly documented and cited. Identify images carefully
(page and panel number), and caption and cite any reproductions you include in your paper.
1. How does the experience of seeing “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” change the reader’s perception
of the absent Spiegelman mother and wife? How is Anja portrayed by father and son elsewhere in
the story? How important is she to Maus?
2. The common term for those who lived through the Holocaust is “survivor.” How does this term’s
meaning shift when applied to Vladek, Anja, and Art? How do the depictions in “Prisoner on the
Hell Planet” influence your interpretation? Is the weakness and vulnerability seen there unexpected?
3. Does “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” reveal new possibilities concerning why Spiegelman wrote
Maus? Consider how the themes of memory and guilt guide the work. How would our understanding
of Art be changed if it had been left out?
Although you should choose only one topic to write on, you can use all of these topics as a guide to help you read the text
more attentively. Once you have selected your topic, mark all the passages where you encounter relevant evidence. Some
topics are broader than others, but all of them will require you to provide further focus through your final selection of
evidence. The questions posed in each topic are meant to provoke you to think more deeply, but are not intended as
simple blueprints for your paper. Essays should be organized around close readings of at least 3-4 significant and/or
representative passages or frames (including text and images), and must follow MLA 8 format. Papers that are not
proofread for spelling and stylistic errors may be returned. Don’t forget to give your paper a title.
Papers without both an MLA Works Cited page and in-text citations will automatically fail.