Family Moments

I enjoyed how the author included family conversations outside of the narrative of the war and the concentration camps. For example, on page 23, the Artie is discussing with his father, Vladek about adding things that have “nothing to do with the holocaust or Hitler,” the son responds “But pop, its great material. It makes everything more real- more human.” I personally agree with how the son included narrations about himself telling the story. Because from a reader’s standpoint, we understand the struggles of the son trying to get an accurate story and how he goes about getting such terrible information from the father who may not want his story to be published. These scenes of when the son visits the father are important because it shows how the characters are after the events of the holocaust as the son tries to understand the father.  I also think that the father and son scenes where they are arguing over things such as going to fix the pipe on the roof or the father taking his medicine, is really relatable to people because for me personally it reminds me of when I am talking with my dad and I am asking him stories about his life how we will have father and daughter argues like that or how we will joke around. How he strays from the holocaust narration also brings humor to the story because I thought it was funny on how the Vladek is now old and he struggles with age in things like taking his vitamins and getting tired from physical exercise makes it relatable because anyone could go through this with their elderly parents. It does make the story seem more real because I can imagine me and my own father telling stories about him when he was young imagining him as an old man. I also like how the story drifts from the past narrative to the father and son in the present because it makes the readers feel as if they were there listening to the story as if we were in a flashback too. This is the first narrative that I have ever heard where the author chooses to include his quest of getting information from his father into part of the story. It is like a story within a story because the reader follows the son getting answers but also the father who is telling the story through flashbacks. It reminds me of listening to a story with from my grandmother and how I will ask her questions and she will answer I will listen and have flashbacks but something will suddenly jerk me back to the present weather us being at the bank or eating at the table. It is like we are in the story listening to the flashbacks along with the son.  I believe that Spiegelman did an excellent job of portraying the father and son bond that Artie and Vladek have because they act like a typical family would. The son sometimes does not understand why his father collects “useless things” and the father tries to tell the son of how it is useful or he criticizes his son’s generation.