How does it, eh, work?

Each post on this site corresponds to a chapter in Art Spiegelman's book, Maus.

In each of these posts there are links that will direct you to pages that have portions of each chapter on display.  You can click on each page of the book to enlarge and read it.

Beneath the links to the various parts of each chapter are the reading questions that go along with the chapter.

Maus I - Chapter Six

Click here to read chapter six, part one

Click here to read chapter six, part two

Click here to read chapter six, part three

Reading Questions:

Chapter Six: Mouse Trap

1. Why does Art worry about the way he’s portraying his father, Vladek in the book? Should Art worry about this? Explain.

2. Is Vladek happy about Art’s book? Explain. Why would Vladek compare Art to Walt Disney?

3. How does Janina, the governess react when Vladek and Anja come to her for help? Why?

4. Why does Vladek ride in the official streetcar with the Germans, rather than in the second car with the Poles?

5. Do you think Mrs. Motonowa is justified in throwing out Vladek and Anja? Explain.

6. Why does Vladek consider going to Hungary with Anja?

7. How does Vladek escape from the children who were playing on the street and screaming, “A Jew!!!”

8. Why do the Jews speak in Yiddish in front of the Polish smugglers? Was this a good idea? Explain.

9. What do you think happened to Abraham? Why do you think he sent a letter from Hungary in Yiddish telling Vladek and Mandelbaum that everything was okay and that they should come to Hungary?

10. What happens to Anja’s diaries? Why does this upset Art? Why does Art call his father a “murderer”? Explain his response.

Maus I - Chapter Five

Click here to read chapter five, part one

Click here to read chapter five, part two

Click here to read chapter five, part three

Reading Questions:

Chapter Five: Mouse Holes

1. How does Art respond to his father when Vladek calls to ask for help with fixing the drainpipe?

2. What is “Prisoner on the Hell Planet”? How is this comic different from Maus? How is it similar?


3. What happens to Richieu in the Ghetto in Zawiercie? Why?

4. Why does Vladek build a bunker? Does this bunker help the family survive? Explain.

5. Vladek lets his cousin know that he can pay him for his help. Why? Does it matter?

6. On page 116, Vladek refers to Haskel as a “kombinator.” What is a “kombinator”? Why does Vladek call Haskel a “kombinator”? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

7. Why does Anja’s nephew Luke refuse to go to the hidden bunker? Does he make a smart decision? Why or why not?

8. Why does Art Spiegelman portray the paths in the image as a swastika? How does this image express Vladek and Anja’s situation?

9. Why does Vladek keep the 14 karat gold cigarette case and lady’s powder case from Srodula, Poland?

10. Vladek questions why he ever remarried after Anja’s death. Why do you think he married Mala? Do you think Vladek and Mala have a good marriage? Explain.

Maus I - Chapter Four

Click here to read chapter four, part one

Click here to read chapter four, part two

The Reading Questions:

Chapter Four: The Noose Tightens

1. By the time Vladek returns to Sosnowiec from the prisoner of war camp, what has happened to the food supply?

2. What happens to the Jewish businesses? How do Jewish people earn enough money to live at this time?

3. How does Vladek’s friend, Ilzecki save his son during the war? How does Vladek try to save his son Richieu? What happened?

4. Why do the Germans hang Nahum Cohn and his son? What effect does this hanging have on other people?

5. How does Vladek feel about the hangings? Why does he feel this way?

6. Who are the Jewish police? Why is Art surprised to hear about the Jewish police?

7. Do Anja’s grandparents go to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia? What happens? How does Vladek find out?

8. What happens to Vladek’s sister Fela? Why does Vladek’s father join her? Explain his thinking.

9. On page 93, Mala says that Vladek is more attached to things than people. Why might Mala say this? Do you believe this is true?

Maus I - Chapter Three

Click here to read chapter three, part one

Click here to read chapter three, part two

Click here to read chapter three, part three

The reading questions: Chapter Three: Prisoner of War

1. On page 43, Vladek tells Art that he must finish the food on his plate during dinner. Why is Vladek so insistent?

2. How does Vladek’s father try to keep him out of the army? Was he successful? Do you think Vladek’s father made a smart decision? Explain.

3. What does Vladek mean on page 50, when he says, “Well at least I did something.” Do you believe that he is justified in feeling this way? Explain.

4. How are the Jewish prisoners of war treated? Do they live under the same conditions as the other prisoners? Explain.

5. The image to the right portrays a sign saying , “Workers
Needed.” Why is this sign posted? What does Vladek decide to do? Does he plan to work? Explain.

6. How does Vladek survive the work camp? What motivated him?

7. Why doesn’t Vladek get off the train in Sosnowiec? How does he end up in the city of Lublin? How does he eventually get to Sosnowiec?

8. What happens to Vladek’s father while Vladek was away? How does Vladek’s father feel?

9. Why does Vladek throw away Art’s coat? What would you have done if you were Art?

Maus I - Chapter Two

Click here to read chapter two, part one

Click here to read chapter two, part two

The reading questions:

Chapter Two: The Honeymoon

1. Why does Ms. Stefanska go to jail? What role did Anja play in Ms. Stefanska’s going to jail?

2. On page 31, Vladek says that he left Anja and their new baby to go to Bielsko to run his new factory and find an apartment for them to live in. How does Anja respond? Have you or members of your family ever had to separate in order to start a new job or new life? How did it feel for the people who moved on? How did it feel for the people who were left behind?

3. When do Vladek and Anja realize that the war is coming? How do they know? Use specific pictures and text to support your answer.

4. What happens after Vladek and Anja return from Czechoslovakia? What are they afraid of?

5. Why does Vladek consider taking Anja and Richieu to the town of Sosnowiec? Do they eventually go to Sosnowiec? Where does Vladek go?

6. Why doesn’t Vladek tell the doctor in the hospital about his glass eye? What does this say about Vladek’s character?