Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions for MAUS, book 1: My Father Bleeds History
Discussion Questions for MAUS, book 1: My Father Bleeds History
Anchor Standard CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
Prologue
- What is one theme that might be important in this book? How do you know?
- What is the father/son relationship like? Why do you think it is this way?
- What do you think Spiegelman means by “My Father Bleeds History?”
Chapter 1
- What kind of a man is Vladek Spiegelman? (Use evidence)
- Choose your favorite picture from this section. What does it add to the story? How does it help you understand?
- So far… What do you like about this book? What would you change?
Chapter 2
- Choose one picture that was powerful from chapter 2. Explain how it adds to the story.
- Why do you think people were so anti-Semitic?
- What would you have done if you lived in Poland at that time and saw the Nazi flags and heard the rumors?
- Re-read page 37. How did the Polish feel about the Jews? Do you think their Polish nanny really loves them like family?
Chapter 3
- How did the Nazi’s treatment of Polish soldiers differ from their treatment of Jews? Why?
- What is one image that helped you understand much more than the words alone? Give the page # and explain.
Chapter 4
- Re-read the last frames on the bottom of page 81 and 91. Why does Spiegelman show his father on the exercise bike? What might this represent?
- On page 93, Mala says that Vladek is "more attached to things than people." Why might this be? What about his past might have made him this way?
- What were the three most compelling images from Chapter 4? Why? Give page numbers and descriptions of the pictures.
Chapter 5
- What is under the shoes? If you had to make something like this in your house, where would you put it?
- Look at the sidewalk on the bottom of page 125. Why does it look the way it does? What is the author trying to show?
"Prisoner on Hell Planet"
- Why do you think Art Spiegelman used pictures of real people instead of animals for this section?
- Why would Spiegelman include this story in the book?
- How does this story show the impact of death?
Chapter 6
- What happens to Anja’s diaries? Why does this upset Art? Why does Art call his father a “murderer”? Explain his response.
Reflection Questions
- Why do you think Anja kills herself?
- What will happen with Vladek and Art’s relationship? Why?
- In Maus, Art interviews Vladek about the Holocaust. How reliable do you think Vladek’s memory is? Why?
- Why do you think the author uses animals instead of humans when describing the Holocaust?