Driving Theoretical Assertions for 3 page papers-

Using 12 pt Times New Roman font, single spaced, with 1 inch margins, start off by concisely stating what your sign is- i.e.:

Sign for Analysis:

In the novel Maus, the author’s father, Vladek, repeatedly reveals his racism, in both hidden and overt ways. In one scene, Vladek claims that a black hitchhiker will most assuredly steal their groceries. In a less overt scene, the reader will notice that his memory of the race of minor individuals in his past is so keen, that he recalls that his son’s midwife was Polish. Vladek’s hypersensitivity to race seems especially disconcerting, given that he lived through the Holocaust, one of the largest and bureaucratic instances of racial genocide in modern history.

Then, follow up with some theoretical questions, the questions you want to solve in your paper- i.e.:

DTQ(s):

If Vladek, a survivor of the Holocaust, holds on to his racist beliefs, what does this suggest about an individual’s agency in determining their individual philosophies? What does this suggest about the role of environment in fixing an individual’s biases? Why does Art Spiegelman hide Vladek’s memory of the race of minor individuals within the narrative?

Now, you begin the hard work of building interpretations! Start off with the more obvious explanations- what might you begin to say about the sign? How did you react to the sign initially? Why did you pick this particular moment as your sign? When I first considered this sign, I was struck by how people become biased, and by the debate whether we do things because they’re learned or part of our nature. Consider psychological motivations-- what makes people do what they do? In my interpretations, it's my job to come up with some focused interpretations, or answers, to that issue. With a bit of luck, hard work, and time spent editing, you'll have your paper, before your realize it! I'm communicating with you in italics, but don't do that in your own work. Make sure that you underline your claim.

1. Vladek’s racist beliefs undermine the concept that an individual has the power to determine their own personal beliefs, as Vladek’s experiences in the Holocaust are the foundation of his racism. This is my claim. It relates directly to both my sign and my DTQ. It is significant because it takes a situation in the text and links it to a larger issue, that being the philosophical problem of free will. Now I have to illustrate the claim. As the target of extreme racism, the reader might expect Vladek to respond to racism with revulsion, yet, as Art Spiegelman relates in the text, while picking up a black hitchhiker, Vladek declares that the man will likely steal their groceries (Spiegelman I:99). He believes that Artie’s wife has “lost her head” (99). Vladek holds on to racist biases against, significantly, an oppressed minority; his remarks undermine the classic notion of an individual learning a moral lesson from an experience. If this is the case, then Vladeck’s virulent disapproval revises the master narrative of moral progress. He notes that “it’s not even to compare the Shvartsers and the Jews!” (99). If anything, Vladek’s experiences in the Holocaust are directly tied to his racist anxieties. Throughout the text, Vladek experiences not only the racism of the Germans, but also that of the Poles, who are often complicit in the Nazi’s plans for Jewish extermination. He experiences their betrayal firsthand, as he attempts to escape to Hungary, when his Polish contacts sell him to the Nazis, and he enters Auschwitz. Often Polish prisoners run the prison’s barracks, only further reinforcing Vladek’s racial anxieties towards non-Jews. Interestingly, Vladek’s betrayal at the hand of other Jews does not alter his sensibilities, indeed, he conveniently ignores these betrayals in his racial construct. He perceives Jews as superior to other minority races, which reveals his desire to secure his own racial identity.

2. Moreover, it seems that Vladek’s subconscious construction of his own race as superior protects him from the racist propaganda spread by the Germans during the Holocaust; his racial construct offers him a defense mechanism against his own racial insecurities. The Nazis repeatedly expose Vladek to racist propaganda, enforcing the concept that Vladek, as a Jew, is a parasite, is naturally disposed to do business, and to cheat others out of their wealth. That Vladek repeatedly makes extremely lucrative business deals, even choosing Anja over Lucia, suggests that in at least some ways, Vladek fits into these bigoted ideals. Therefore, Vladek fits into many of the racial stereotypes the Germans use to undermine the Jews, and his expression of racial hatred towards the “Shvartser” in his midst reveals Vladek’s own racial anxieties. This assertion needs to be expanded more, and to have more illustration of his anxieties—at this point, you would go back to the text and look for a strong illustration. Or, I could use these concepts in a different interpretation, either way, I’m working towards fleshing out my paper. Since I came up with this theoretical claim while working on the previous assertion, I might use this idea within the previous paragraph, or take this idea and build two paragraphs using material from the first.  

3. Indeed, Art Spiegelman disguises the depth of Vladek’s racial awareness during the Holocaust in his narrative. Since the entire narrative of Vladek’s youth comes from his recollections, it seems particularly interesting that the race of both minor and major individuals are represented. When his son, Richieu is born, the nurse is most clearly defined as a portly pig, signifying a Polish midwife. The only source of this data being Vladek, during his interviews with his son, he must have made sure to state that she was a Polish woman. Remembering such a detail, to the contemporary reader, suggests that Vladek is, in his youth, hyperaware of race, to the extent that forty years later, he can recall the race of the nurse who attended to his son’s birth. Indeed, he finds it so significant, that he is sure to inform Art Spiegelman. Vladek’s hyperawareness of race, his long memory of the race of individuals in his past, suggests that even before Vladek goes through the trauma of the Holocaust, he finds race significant enough to mark indelibly on his memory. In some ways, Vladek’s racial awareness makes him a man of his time; however, the text does not seem to suggest that his learned biases make his racism morally acceptable, as evidenced by Artie’s response to Vladek’s remarks as they pick up the hitchhiker. Instead, the text seems to offer an explanation; it revels in the reality of Vladek’s life, and shows to the reader that the Holocaust survivor’s narrative is far more complicated than “us” versus “them.” Spiegelman undermines the simplified history of the morally righteous Holocaust victim by revealing Vladek’s humanness, even as he shows the reader his father’s racism.