Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the impact of an individual’s ambition on self and others
In your life have you been motivated to succeed or accomplish a goal because you have seen an individual who has demonstrated ingenuity and knowhow and accomplished the goal? For myself there have been numerous times when I have been motivated to accomplish a goal because I have seen a friend achieve the goal such as learning to do a trick skiing or get the latest iPhone. Seeing them grasp my goals or aspirations makes me more focused and determined to carrying out the objective. Much like myself, in the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegalman we can learn that if and individual has ambition and motivation in their life to accomplish the goal at hand they can be positively radiated or passed to other individuals which leads to success in accomplishing the goal for both parties.
Once Anja and Vladek and many other Jewish people who once occupied many European countries such as Germany, Poland, France and Austria, they were evicted and where all shipped in cattle cars to Auschwitz close to the end of the war. Once Anja and Vladek arrived they were split up from each other and placed in their own gender camps. While separated both had to adapt to living and working in dreadful conditions both of them never could adjust to being away from each other. Even though they both were apart from each other for most of their stay at Auschwitz they still had minute contact with each other from passing notes to each other and bribing guards so Anja would get a work position in the local prisoner factory where she would be near him. Although Vladek was in good spirits during his occupation at Auschwitz and mostly throughout the whole war on the hand Anja had a negative outlook and had lost the will to survive and someday be set free from the gates of Auschwitz. Through Anja’s state of depression with the little contact Vladek had to his wife tried to keep her in good spirits by writing letters to her, saving up luxuries such as chocolate, bread and other foods to send to her which made her ordeal as an imprisoned Jewish women to a slight extent more tolerable. With this sense of communicating and interaction between Vladek and Anja, Vladek’s strong and powerful sense of hope and optimistic thinking was passed onto Anja which made her drive to survive and return back to Vladek and Anja’s regular life in Sosnowiec with Richieu in their arms.
Throughout both volumes of Maus it can be see that Vladek haves a positive impact on Art by encouraging him to continue writing the book even though Art faced many problems both mentally and physically. Since Art was writing the story about Vladek’s experience in the holocaust he relied on his father for most of the details and insight, which the book needed to be an accurate biography about Vladek Spiegelman. These details ranged from what the many camps looked like, to the names of people Vladek had met and what sort of tools where in a shoe repair shop during the war. While Art and his father spend many hours conversing about Vladek’s experience, Art took a lot of stress and pressure both from the public criticizing his book to himself doubting if it was wrong to be making a profit out of telling his fathers story and coming to grips that he should even publish the book. When these thoughts of questioning his intentions and morals came into play, Vladek supported him in writing and trying to publish the book by talking to him and explaining that he wanted people to hear his story and to learn from it. This moral support from Vladek was surely comforting for Art because he found help and
