Vladek

In both Nightfather and MAUS II, readers get a glimpse into the ways that both Carl Friedman's father and Spiegelman's father are impacted by the Holocaust. In the case of Nightfather, Ephraim relates his daily life to his life during the Holocaust, even singing the songs of those who had not survived, which he "learned from every corner of Europe, people who shared barracks or bunks with him, or perhaps a piece of bread." (28). In the middle of the night, Friedman's father is once again captured by his memories of the Holocaust as he begins to dream of roll call. However, while Friedman's father often offers his stories of his Holocaust past, Vladek mostly tells only when Spiegelman has bothered him enough. Thus, it surprised me that in this reading, we got to see the true impact of the Holocaust on his father. Most of the time, Spiegelman's father seems fairly composed as he is retelling the horrors of the Holocaust. However, in 74.4, Vladek cries out in his sleep in the same fashion that his Belgian friend from the barracks had after he realized his death was near. I found it interesting that Spiegelman would use the same exact cry in order to illustrate the intensity of his father's memories. Thus, I saw this parallel between Vladek and Ephraim's experience with the Holocaust in their subconscious. I found it most interesting because in MAUS, Vladek's frugality seems to be the greatest remains from the Holocaust. However, in this chapter, the readers are exposed to yet another impact of the Holocaust on Vladek. Even though Vladek had never given off much expression as he discussed the Holocaust, the fact that he is still suffering from dreams of it illustrates that he indeed does still feel the pain and grief that is absent from his story-telling.