Book Review #4

 
  In the intriguing novel, "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelman, Art uses the medium of a graphic text-a comic book-to relate the biographical memoir of Vladek and Anja Spiengelman, his parents. The Spiegelmans are Jews, originally from Poland, who survived the Nazi Holocaust and internment at Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birkenua, Gross-Rosen Dachau, Ravensbruck, and other concentration camps. After the war the Spiegelmans lived briefly in Stockholm before emigrating to the United States of America and settling in Rego Park, New York. The graphic text uses the extended allegory of anthropomorphized mice-Maus in German- to represent Jews, cats to represent Germans, and other suitable animals to represent other nationalities.
   Vladek Spiegelman, born in 1906, meets Anja Zylberberg, born in 1912, in the town of Sosnowiec, Poland. They court and wed in 1937 and live in various small Polish towns in the Sownowiec area. Their first son, Richieu, is born in 1937 as Vladek becomes commercially successful establishing a textile factory which is initially largely funded by Anja's affluent father. After the couple have their first child. Richieu, Anja suffers a nervous collapse. During this experience, they hear news of Nazism and are then warned of what is to come. They go through many brutal and horrific accidents, for example, Vladek being drafted in 1939. He becomes a prisoner of war in difficult circumstances and performs manual labor for the Nazis. This worries Anja but luckily, he returns home to his family. Over the next months the Nazi Holocaust begins to unfold and the couple are forced to move into various ghettos. Due to these many experiences, the couple hone their genius qualities. In many ways, the always try to demonstrate the genius quality of joy and wisdom. They try to look for the light at the end of every tunnel; the light referring to freedom and the tunnel would be their problems due to their nationality. Wisdom is also a major part of this story because without it, they wouldn't have been survivors of the Holocaust. To clarify such statement, they had to take the best options or paths available in order to have lived through the perilous actions. Vladek is mainly about wonder and inventiveness, which are two other genius qualities, He displays such by having and running a factory. Before any of the hurtful events, he was getting big due to him thinking things out and trying to make himself big. He would try anything to become an even bigger-in-rank guy. On the other hand, Anja consistently shows sensitivity, either emotionally or physically. She was very fragile and many things got to her internally, meaning mentally. She would over think various things such that she took her own life due to her being traumatized of the Holocaust. 
  In conclusion, Vladek and Anja's life had inflicted Art's feelings. Art's parents are very relevant to him and so he describes and illustrates many of the horrific experiences. Personally, I can't connect to Art's parents or himself, but all I can say is that I am positive till' the end of the tunnel, such as Art's parents. They demonstrate this quality throughout most of the scenes and it reminds me a lot of myself since I'm a determined person. Overall, I learned many qualities from Art's parents and made me have a better insight on other perspectives. 

Book Review #3

   In the emotionally overwhelming novel, "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" by: Anne Frank, a young girl's perspective of hiding and luckily living during a perilous time details approximately two years of experiences during World War II. It begins on her thirteenth birthday, June 12, 1942, and ends shortly after her fifteenth. At the start of the diary, Anne describes fairly typical girlhood experiences, writing about her friendships with other girls, her crushes on boys, and her academic performance at school. Because anti-Semitic laws forced Jews into separate schools, Anne and her older sister, Margot, attended the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam. The Franks had moved to the Netherlands in the years leading to the World War II to escape persecution in Germany. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, the Franks were forced in hiding. With another family, the van Daans, and an acquaintance, Mr. Dussel, they moved into a small secret annex above Otto Frank's office where they stockpiled food and supplies. The employees from Otto's firm help hide the Franks and kept them supplied with food, medicine, and information about the outside world. The residents of the annex pay close attention to every development of the war by listening to the radio. Some bits of the news catch Anne's attention and make their way into her diary. Anne had initially written about her friends, but as she matures, she starts detailing the news she gets about the war and the way the war is affecting them. She tells what they eat and what they talk about during their days in hiding, leading to profound thoughts of humanity and her own personal nature.
   Although Anne is strongly criticized by the adults in the annex, particularly her mother, who lacks love and affection, she builds relationships with everyone there. Especially Peter van Daan, the teenage boy in the annex who she slowly falls in love with. Mr. Frank doesn't approve of their relationship so it becomes difficult for Anne to establish an actual and real relationship with anyone. During the two years recorded in her diary, Anne deals with deprivation and many emotional obstacles, as well as the complicated issues growing up in the brutal circumstances of the Holocaust. Anne's diary ends without comment on August 1, 1944, the end of a seemingly normal day which becomes a page turner. However, the Frank family is betrayed to the Nazis and arrested on August 4, 1944. Anne's diary, the observations of an imaginative, friendly and somewhat normal teenage girl, comes to an abrupt and silent end. Genius qualities such as wisdom & joy is displayed through Anne's dialouge & actions by interacting with other characters. Anne's father also shows wisdom & an example of it is his business.
   Anne's diary entries are written to a fictitious girl named "Kitty" whom Anne treats as her best friend. I can somehow personally connect with the experiences Anne goes through because I know how it feels like to mature emotionally and mentally because of harsh times. To be apprehensive and valiant at the same time is something both Anne and I went through. Due to such events, we both gained virtues and became gallant. This novel or diary made me have a great insight on what struggles actually are and how I should be appreciative with the things I have in front of me and in my life.