Reflecting on Maus I

I am mostly interested in talking about the narrative circles, as I'm calling them, in Maus I. Here's what I mean. There are so many different stories that are being told in this book, some of which intersect and some of which do not. Some of these stories are complete, finished stories while others are left with me as a reader wanting to know more. So maybe calling them narrative circles isn't an accurate term. Maybe it should be something like narrative layers?  I'm not sure what, exactly, to call these different stories. I just know that they are interesting to me

What I'd like to do in my post is write about the different stories that I notice and see if any other Maus readers find these interesting as well and worthy of a comment.

1.  The Art-Vladek relationship story. This runs through the whole book, of course. They love/hate each other. Art is the LSD-taking crazy son who draws comics for a living and Vladek is his nagging and controlling father. It's easy to see why these two clash.   But why can't Art be more understanding of Vladek's annoying ways, given his life experiences as a survivor?

2.  The Sibling Rivalry. The specter of Richieu hangs over Art consistently. And clearly has been there his whole life. Richieu, the little brother who died tragically during the Holocaust, is the perfect child who never disappoints, whereas Art . . . . Vladek, though, takes a lot of the blame for keeping this going. Stop it, Vladek. Richieu is dead.

3.  Vladek & Anja's Idealized Love. This relationship is really tragic, to me. I wonder how they ever got together. She is so needy and really needs to be taken care of. And Valdek clearly wants to take care of her . . . it's a big part of their relationship all throughout, including the time in the concentration camps, and after. I wonder why he burns her journals? She is always writing in them . . .he talks about that. I don't think he likes her to write, because he can't control her thoughts or what she writes down. I think V. likes to control things. So that's kind of weird. I think he burns those journals so that no one can really know who Anja was. It's the cruelest, most controlling thing in the world to do.  It makes me really angry. I hate that he does that.
4. Vladek & Mala's Bad Marriage.

5. Mice vs Cats (the Jews and the Nazis). Cats are always chasing and killing mice. The Nazis are always chasing and killing the Jews. I don't know what else needs to be said. It's the entire story about which everything else revolves.

6. Mice vs Pigs (the Jews and the Poles). This is interesting, because the Poles, who are disliked by the Nazis, also hate the Jews. An example of how oppression breeds oppression.

7. The relationships between Vladek and Anja and the various relatives and other people who helped them by either hiding them or aiding them in other ways (conspiring against the Nazis). One thing that Vladek is rich in is his many relationships. Time and time again he is able to find ways to save himself and Anja by hiding in someone's barn or elsewhere. He also gets numerous jobs, he is able to barter for more food, etc.  He's pretty savvy.  So it's ironic that the way he's so good with relationships all through wartime and even into the camps seems not to work for him later on, after the war is over. He seems to have a pretty shitty relationship with others, once he is a survivor.

8. Vladek's relationship with Mala.  This is the story of the bitter second marriage.  They both seem to hate each other and even get energy from their mutual dislike.  So why stay married to each other? They clearly enjoy their misery.

9. Art's story of telling the story of Maus.  Some of the book is about Art talking about trying to put the story together. So that's part of the many "stories" of Maus too. He is aware of how hard it is going to be to figure out a way to tell this rambling story that covers so much time and so many incidents.

OK.  That's it for me for now.

Maus I, chapters 1 and 2

I love the relationship between Vladek and Artie--it's so complicated, so rich, so real.  I mean, I don't know many people who have flawless relationships with their parents--and fathers and sons can be so tricky.  So this just rings true to me, from the start.

There are things that I immediately wonder about, though, as I began to read these early chapters.  First, I wonder why Artie hasn't seen his dad in awhile?  What is the nature of this relationship and why don't they visit more often?  I wonder about Artie's mother's suicide, and what happened to her that she lost all hope?  Of course, I automatically assume that is is residual depression related to being a Holocaust survivor.  I think it's not as uncommon as it might seem for survivors to commit suicide.

I'm also trying to figure out the animals and who they represent.  I get it that the mice are Jews.  On pg. 15, when Vladek is on the train, he's sitting with pigs.  Are they Poles who are not Jewish? I guess I will figure this out as I read . . . are they Nazis? They can't be yet, though, because this part of the story is before Hitler is in power, right?

I like at the end of chapter 1, after Vladek tells his whole story of the love affair with the clingy and stalkerish Lucia and ultimate meeting of Anja and marriage to her ... after ALL of that, Vladek tells Artie not to put this part in the book because, "It has nothing to do with Hitler, with the Holocaust." To which Artie replies, "I want to tell your story, the way it really happened." (p 23). This is really interesting to me because it seems to set up a tension between what Vladek thinks is worthwhile for his "story" versus what Artie hears and wants to include in the story.  It is a comment, I think, on how we are often not very good judges of our own stories--of what other people want to know. It reminds me of how rich our lives are . . . how many stories we have, and how we sometimes negate those stories because we think they are not interesting or, in the case of Vladek, not "proper" or "respectful."  Those are quite often the best stories . . . those improper and disrespectful ones.  Our character, our values, often come through in such storytelling.  And in any case, a story has to be told inside and out--good things and bad things--in order for it to be real and valid.  So maybe this ending to the first chapter is meant to set this up for us as readers?  I'm pretty sure that there is nothing left to chance in Spiegelman's writing...he's quite intentional.  The trick for me as a reader is to catch it all--to notice what he is doing as a storyteller.  Of course, I won't catch it all, but I can try.              

7/18 Reflecting on Summer Institute aka 3 Weeks of Bliss!

An Homage to my Daybooks

For my last “assigned” blog post for Summer Institute—but not my final blog post—I decided to go on a dig through my Daybooks.  Yeah, that’s right.  Daybooks.  Plural.  I have two of them, having filled one up on July 15^th—with four days still to go in SI.  Before I go on my dig, I think a word of reverence for my Daybooks, as well as visual aids, is in order.  I lovelovelovelovelovelove my Daybooks.  I have used them before, but not with such purpose and diligence.  I’m hooked.  

Daybook I (filled July 15th)

A happy writer with Daybooks I and II (Yeah, that's right.

 You see John, Paul, George, & Ringo.  A girl needs some inspiration.)  

Daybooks Dig or, What I Want to be Sure to Do, Learn, Implement, 

Practice, etc., etc.

Following is a list of (a) ideas I want to remember to incorporate this fall, and (b)other totally cool things I learned during SI.  

Inquiry: Revision/Re-seeing.

Opening up how I see Revision!!! 

Revision is forgiveness (Bomer).

Use Daybooks Intentionally: personalize them.

Get Glue Sticks!

Lots of Post Its.

Writer's Timeline or Literacy Timeline. 

Murray Cards!!! (oh YEAH!!!)

Blog and keep bloggggggggggginggggggggg.

Crowd sourcing as a brainstorming/development activity.

Elbow's Writing without Teachers.

"What's the movie in your head?"

Adiche's Danger of a Single Story (TED Talk)*** rocked my world***

Digital Project: My Writing Autobiography (which is so good, may I just say???)

Practices I'll keep and practices I'll let go (bye bye.  y'all don't come back, now, y'hear?)

"Using Literature to Uncover Memories for Memoir Writing" with Jashonai.

"What is Good Writing?" with Kendra.

"Exploring the Role of Creativity and Visuals in the Writing and Revising Process" with Mary Ellen.

Infographics!! Pictochart.com. 

Digital Gallery Crawl.

All the lovely post-it note comments I received on my digital project (Thank you!!)

My 6-word Memoir: Read. Write. Love. Learn. Laugh. Always.

Find Five.

A Day in the Life (and it's not the Beatles' song, either!)

Improvs!!!!!

Google Plus.

Google Docs/Sharing/Circles.

Body Biography with Lil. 

Socratic Seminar with Sally and Sir Francis Bacon.

Not Your Mama's Grammar Lesson with Lacy.

"Marks" by Linda Pastan.

"Is Technology a Good Thing?" with Ashley.

"Story Writing" with Jenny, Jenny, Jenny.

"Ben's Awesome Demo," with Ben, of course.

One Sentence Stories (thanks, Ben!)

"Exploring Big Ideas: Exposing Students to More Than One Story," with Kim.

#clmooc meetups at the Wine Vault 

Mapping an essay.

Creative Reading from Ron Padgett.

Blogger.

Twitter.

Photos.

Facebook.

Texting.

Skype.

"Back Channeling." 

"Drop It Like It's Hot," with Wendy.

"Journal Day: Creating Your Pot of Gold," with Tiffany.

Sacred Writing Time.

MY WRITING GROUP: Naked Writers (shout out to Tiffany, Jashonai, Meredith, and SallyG!!)

Flocking.

Jung is Retrograde??? #RethinkingwhatIlearned30yearsago.

New Holocaust poems I wrote or began drafting: "Twenty Minutes," "Up and Down Friedrichstrasse," "The Linden Tree," and "Red Sandals."

"Exploring Writing through the Use of Multi-Genre Papers," with Erika.

"Pictures, Persuasion, and Purpose: Thinking about Audience in Writing," with Sarah D.

"Where Good Ideas Come From," by Steve Johnson (video).

Inquiry Revision Map.

Revision + Response.

Artifacts of my Inquiry Learning.

Collaborative Inquiry Documentary with the Naked Writers! 

"Music Inspiration in Playwriting," with Meredith.

"School Writing vs. Free Writing," with Sarah S.

"Revolution for the Tested," by Kate Messner.

Writing 3 Opening Scenes for Plays!

Wobbling!

Robin's Wonderful Demo (with Robin, of course!)

"Patty's Charcoal Drive-In," by Barbara Crooker.

Two-Voiced poems. 

"Grrrrrrrammar with Jessica," (with Jessica, of course!)

"Figured Worlds and the Self: What Comprises Your Identity as an Educator?" with Nick. 

justice by w.r. rodriguez. . . .

. . . . what have I left out????

7/17 Tonya's Demo Day: Revision

The day is finally here!! My Demo on Revision.  In this photo, Kim holds a taped-together draft that her partner worked on for her.  My assignment asks writing partners to organize or arrange a piece of writing that has been cut apart, paragraph by paragraph.  It also invites readers to add three things that they want to know more about, based on this current draft.  It's a great strategy for reseeing one's own work.

I think my colleagues enjoyed this demo -- at least, I hope that they did!! My own students love doing this because they have difficulty shifting around paragraphs or even deleting sections of their papers that don't really belong or are woefully off track once they are written and embedded in the body of the paper.  This exercise helps students see their writing in a new way . . . and isn't that what we want them to do?

 

7 16 Rethinking Revision (my inquiry topic)

Wow, has my thinking shifted about revision since beginning my inquiry work at SI.  Originally I wondered about whether or not revision was "good" for student writers.  (I won't even clutter the blogesphere with how/why I now see this as a silly statement. It doesn't matter anyway-- it's inquiry, and it's my initial thinking on the way to somewhere else.)

What I have come to now, over these past 3 weeks of thinking and writing and sharing with The Naked Writers (my Writing Group) is that I want to investigate different ways of thinking about -- and teaching -- revision. It is not a linear process-- so we don't revise when we are nearly "done" with the paper.  We are writing and adding to and refiguring our ideas all along, all through the writing of a piece.

My challenge now is to figure out a way to help my students re-see revision: what it means for us as writers, how it works in a very real sense as we are doing our writing work.

Thoughts?  Ideas?

7/11 Heroes aren't Hard to Find in SI

I am loving SI.  May I just pause a moment and state this publically?  As my friend Jan often says, "My brain is full."  My brain is full . . . and it does not stop working.  Even when I go to sleep at night.  I really liked what Kim Keith did with the Heroes Demo: and her emphasis on exposing students to more than one story.  I did want to see some heroes, though, who were women.  So I was a wee bit disappointed that there were no Power Puff Girls or no Wonder Woman.  Hey---even the highly sexualized Charlie's Angels from the 70s!  (Well, maybe not them.)

Ben's demo with the one-sentence story was great.  I really loved some of my sentences. Here are some favorites: 

"Mushrooms aren't just for eating," exclaimed Wanda.
Feeling clammy, Clem the oyster burped up a pearl.
Sexting was how Anna got through the night.
The spider coursed down the drain, spinning and twirling in the rushing water. 

I also loved the "Bad Writing" exercise!