Maus By Art Spiegelman, Help!!!?

Question

I Have a Presentation due on Maus II by Art Spiegleman, The first question is How does the text state and or resist oppressive ideologies (i.e. cultural assumptions that deny privlilege to certain groups?) What Is This Asking Me To Do?

Answer 1

I studied Maus in Eng 1A, but that was almost 10 years ago. Here's what I remember of the second half:

Maus 1 of course deals with the Holocaust, and the story of Spiegelman's parents during that time.

When you get into the second half, the story shifts to the present day (which was more like the 1980's, I think), and it deals largely with the relationship between Spiegelman and his father. Spiegelman also broaches the topic of his relationships to other people, essentially how he protrays them (like his French girlfriend/wife, who is drawn in a few forms: frog, poodle, mouse, etc.).

Your topic prompt asks you to look at oppressive ideologies. In Maus 1, it's obviously the conflict between the Nazis and Jews. But in the second half, you have to critically analyze how Spiegelman potrays conflict between Nazis and Jews, generation gaps, Jews and Gentiles and even men and women.

I'm not like a fire-breathing Hannity O'Reilly Coulter-type, but wow, your presentation topic just reeks of ivory tower liberal ideology.