cwick27

       The ending of this book was odd. It was pretty sad...and I have to say I got even more annoyed with the characters in these last three chapters. Art continued to be unsupportive and not understanding of his father and what he went through. His father didn't want to waste any of his food and all Art had to do to make him happy was to take the food with him. He didn't even have to eat it, but he insisted on arguing with his father to the point where his father felt the need to return it to the grocery store. Even when the grocery store agreed to give Vladek more food, Art saw it as an embarassing experience. I just think it was ridiculous that Art couldn't find a way to help his father. All he ever wanted to talk about was the Holocaust. Maybe it was ultimately to get his father's "admirable" story out there, but he still showed such little respect for him. Vladek was equally annoying with his racism...except his derived from his only experience with black people. The Holocaust was genocide of the Jews and Vladek never let on that he thought it was from prior experiences that the Germans had with the Jews. It's almost like Vladek's racism was different than the German anti-semitism. That doesn't at all make it right by any means, and you would think that someone like him would be less prejudiced, but that's the way he acted and it was annoying.

        The way Vladek eventually got out of being a prisoner was very confusing. The Germans kept tricking Vladek and each time he was tricked, I felt like I was tricked too. Every time that they thought they were free, I was expecting them to be free, only to find out a few panels later that they were not free and were still being held by German guards. I also thought it was weird with the way the Americans "rescued" them too. They were friendly, and were glad that Vladek and his friend were not going to be harmed by the Jews anymore, but they continued to make them work for them just to stay at their newly made base. I mean, here are two prisoners that have been mistreated in concentration camps, and the American soldiers are saying "well you can stay here as long as you make our beds", which i think was ridiculous. I guess overall I wasn't really satisfied with the ending. The story was altogether interesting, but I just didnt like the way everything turned out.

The ending of this book is absolutely amazing. I was right in thinking that nothing would work out without something bad happening. While Jacob set off to murder August, which he in the end did not follow through with, Walter and Camel were both "redlighted" which means that they were thrown off of the train, and both of them died. Jacob was immensely angry and he was to be thrown off the show too because Uncle Al finally realized that nothing was going to happen between August and Marlena under the control of Jacob. Just as Jacob was going to be thrown out, there was a stampede that essentially ruined the circus, but ultimately helped Jacob. In the stampede, Rosie picked up a stake from the ground and used it to murder August, which was not surprising considering the way he had treated her.

Prior to the stampede though, Jacob found out that Marlena was pregnant which made the whole situation even more fragile. They both still planned to run away with each other even though they were in such a dangerous situation. But then the stampede happened. After the stampede, Al was arrested and Marlena gained possession of her beloved horses and Jacob took Rosie. They planned to join Ringling circus with their acts and we know that this happened due to Jacob's previous statement about how his firstborn spent his first seven years in that circus. Eventually the perspective flashes into the present again with the ninety year old Jacob. He decided to run away from the nursing home and go to the circus, at which he was offered a job selling tickets. The owner of the show hid him there so that he could stay. It was one of the happiest endings to a story that I have read in a long time and it fit so well. He knew that he could be happy at the circus because it was his home, as he said.

        I was right about the good performance by Rosie and everyone being a turning point. In chapter eighteen, after Marlena wanted to surprise August with Rosie and dress up and celebrate with champagne, August finally snaps and accused Jacob of sleeping with Marlena. At this point, Marlena and Jacob had only kissed, but still August flipped out and attacked Jacob, which finally led Marlena to her decision of leaving August.

        After this fight, the perspective jumped back to Jacob in his nineties in the nursing home, and this scene was one of disappointment. Jacob woke up and got ready for his much anticipated trip to the circus with his firstborn son, and after getting all dressed up he was called by his son only to be told that he would not be able to go to the circus that day. I'm not really sure yet why this scene was thrown in the midst of the new conflict but I'm sure there's an important reason for it being there.

        The story then shifted back into the conflict with the love triangle. Even though August was supposed to keep his distance from Marlena until she supposedly came back to him, he continued to pursue her. While Jacob had told Uncle Al, the leader of the circus, that he was trying to get the two back together to save the show, he was really planning to leave with Marlena when they dropped his hurt friend Camel off with his family. Jacob finally slept with Marlena, and both of their loves for each other were confessed afterwards. Even more of a twist was added when Walter's life was threatened if Jacob did not attempt to get Marlena and August back together. It's getting really complex and hard to imagine how any of this can possibly work out without something bad happening.

            In this reading, alcohol played an important role. Camel, who gave Jacob a shot at being with the circus, was diagnosed with paralysis caused by drinking too much Jamaican Ginger Extract. The makers of the extract put in a chemical that would paralyze anyone who tried to use the stuff as alcohol. This is an important sign of the times though. The time period plays a huge role in the lives of these characters because it is during the Great Depression and prohibition.

            As the circus tried to use Rosie the elephant more, she continued to cause more trouble. Jacob knows that Rosie isn't stupid and definitely cares for her despite her inability to perform on command. However, Rosie was ultimately the cause of Marlena's injury and later the lack of pay for the people working in the circus. August, being the volatile person that he is, took his anger out by relentlessly beating Rosie with a bull hook. This bothered Jacob so much to the point where he almost did something to August that he was probably going to regret. Later in the reading though, Jacob discovered that the reason Rosie did not perform on command was because she didn't understand English commands. She did understand Polish commands though, which was luckily a language that Jacob knew how to speak. After making this discovery, Jacob taught August how to work with Rosie using the Polish commands, and a successful show with the elephant seems to be a huge change in fortune for everyone and a turning point in the novel.

            A LOT happened in this reading. First off, Jacob went out to breakfast with Marlena and August, who face another small fight in his presence supporting my theory of the messed up love triangle. Also, the Elephant finally appeared. Jacob has an affinity towards animals so obviously I would predict that this elephant will play a major role in this story. Apparently she's supposed to be stupid and doesn't listen to any commands, but she must have some importance in the novel I'm sure. Jacob's love for animals shows up in a few was in this reading though. First he was thanked by an orangutan that he gave a fruit to, and also he finally started to get along with his roommate, Kinko (or Walter) because he was able to help his beloved dog Queenie when she was sick. Animals are a huge part of Jacob's life, which I should have guessed because he's a veterinarian, and I'm sure they will continue to be throughout the rest of the book.

            Jacob also had a strange drunken encounter with a whore and the stripper that he saw in the beginning of the book. He mentioned that he was a virgin, and this encounter supports also the theme of growing up in this environment of the circus, or growing up in general. He woke up later with a massive hangover after vomiting all over the whore because he was so drunk. It was not by any means a good encounter, but growing up and learning lessons are not always about having positive experiences. At the end of the reading though was one of the most important events. Jacob went out to a night club with August and Marlena which was supposed to be underground because of their distribution of alcohol, which was illegal at the time. After August got up to go to the restroom, he came back to find Marlena and Jacob dancing together. At that moment the club was raided and Marlena and Jacob were separated from August. When they were alone, Jacob kissed Marlena and she kissed him back. Realizing what she had done though, she ran off and they all found separate ways home. The next morning began the conflict with Jacob and August over Marlena. August didn't know that Jacob had kissed Marlena, but he certainly was unhappy with the way they had been dancing together.  Forbidden love has occurred in American literature a number of times...Hemmingway does it in A Farewell to Arms and Hawthorne did it in The Scarlet Letter. It creates conflict...and a good story...and room for interesting resolutions.

            This section of reading began and ended with the “Jacob in his nineties” character. Chapter five supports my theory of a theme being appreciation for the elderly, or really a lack of it. In this chapter Jacob became angry because he didn’t want to eat the food that he was given. He had to be isolated and questioned by a doctor after the incident where he shoved his plate off a table and broke it. He said, “…I’m so tired of being treated as though I am unreasonable,” which shows how he realizes that these people are treating him a certain way. Of course he never should have shoved the plate off the table, but in his opinion they were trying to force him to eat food that he did not like as if he were a child and not a grown man. After this chapter though, the story of Jacob in the Benzini Bros. Circus continued. The fact that Gruen has used point of view as a writing tool follows trends in American writing.

            In the story of the circus Jacob has begun to get his feet under him and has learned some things about how to survive. In this reading there was an event in which he had to put down a horse because of its condition, and this is significant because I think that the horse, Silver Star, is an important symbol. Silver Star is the leader of an act that another main character, Marlena, is part of. Marlena’s husband, August, is in charge of the horses and this act as well. When Jacob joins the circus and has to put the horse down, the act is no longer the same. I think the horse is representative of Marlena’s and August’s relationship because from the time Jacob even saw Marlena there was foreshadowing of a romantic relationship between the two of them. When Jacob met Marlena she had recognized him from a captivating glance that they had exchanged at an earlier time. Jacob didn’t want to admit this though because he knew that August, who was standing right there, would not approve. It would be silly for August to feel strongly about recognition between the two of them, but the fact that Jacob did not even want to acknowledge it shows some sort of conflict emerging. I’m eager to see what unfolds with this love triangle…I’m already rooting for Jacob though (Protagonist!).

    The art work in this book seems to be a lot more captivating as well. I thought it was interesting how in the very beginning Art's wife was shown wearing stripes and a scarf. This seemed to be what was demonstrating her French heritage, but it was interesting to see just a few pages later stripes had a whole different connotation. There were a few panels where stripes were just everywhere because of the uniforms that the Holocaust prisoners were wearing. The repetition of the stripes made the panels that much more powerful as far as demonstrating numbers. Also it was weird to see in the beginning of the second chapter how Art drew himself working on top of a pile of dead bodies, presumably dead Holocaust victims. The first two chapters of Maus II were fascinating as far as the art goes, and the story as well.

    The first four chapters seem to be mostly setting up the novel. The main character is Jacob Jankowski, and he is portrayed in the novel in two ways: one is from the present perspective where he is an old man in his nineties in assisted living and the other is in the past perspective as a 23 year old man living with a circus during the Great Depression. All of the aspects of the setting are very important though. Most of the book so far has taken place in the "past" setting where Jacob is living during the depression. Prohibition has been mentioned at least once as a sign of the times and how people felt about it, and alcohol has been used in many different scenes.

    It's too early in the book I think to make any real assumptions about themes, but I predict that a theme will be growing up and maturing from adolescence because of the way Jacob describes some of the scenes. He is unexposed to a lot of things and his innocence is slowly going away as he becomes more a part of this circus. A lot of weird social issues went on with the Depression and it seems magnified in a circus life. Freaks are a spectacle that people pay to see, Jacob has his first encounter with a stripper, and the illegal consumption of alcohol becomes regular practice for him. Also, since the story of the circus is being told by an old man, maybe a lot of this will have to do with appreciation of history, or for the elderly. It's told from the perspective of the old man himself rather than from someone who did not experience all of this first hand, which is why I think that appreciation of history might be a theme.

    The comic continues to be interesting. The story altogether is interesting and aside from being in a completely new style of literature, it's told from a different perspective. There is a lot of background story about the Holocausts victim's personal life, which is different. Usually stories about the Holocaust victims are ALL about the Holocaust itself. I like the way that this comic incorporates personal life and personal feelings. It's also interesting to see the way the relationship between Artie and his father develops. It's like a completely separate story. Even his father seems to be a different person when he's in the present than when he was in the past. Of course he was different and he probably grew up a lot, but it's still cool to see the contrast between the two.

            A lot of the time I felt really sad for Vladek because of the way Artie talks to him. Vladek is telling him a really difficult story and it's pretty hard for him. Artie doesn't seem to have a lot of respect for Vladek. Of course theres some degree of respect and appreciation because he's interviewing him and drawing a comic about him. But somehow he just seems condescending sometimes and it makes me sad. The comic that he drew about his mother's suicide was really sad too. It was cool to get some insight into the way Artie felt about anything at all. I was sad though that Vladek had to find it. It's a way for them to connect and relate though, even if it is depressing. I think it's an important part of their character development as a father & son.