Maus I: Beg, Borrow, & Deal

The most powerful theme that I detected in Maus I was Vladek and his family's way of negotiating bribes and business arrangements as their most effective means of survival, and the gradual eroding of their power to do so. In that sense, Maus I is a humbling story of one family's fall from high prestige to the death chambers of the Nazi Holocaust.

The most haunting line in all the story occurs at the very end of page 115. It's Vladek's recounting of the last time that he saw his father in-law. As the two are separated, father in-law's fate left in no doubt, Vladek recalls that, "He was a millionairre, but even this didn't save him his life."

Lines like this carry tremendous power becuase they contibute to the sense of tragic inevitibility throughout the story. Vladek and the others slowly, one-by-one, begin to sense the reality that regardless of their high place in society, their lives are coming under attack from the German regime.

The members of Vladek's family have several ways of dealing wth this realization. Some use denial, some use the wait-and-see method. Some are proactive and try to compromise, others are defensive and try maintain their lifestyle.