Discussion Questions

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

1. What is one theme that might be important in this book? How do you know?
2. What is the father/son relationship like? Why do you think it is this way?
3. What do you think Spiegelman means by “My Father Bleeds History?”

Chapter 1

1. What kind of a man is Vladek Spiegelman? (Use evidence)
2. Choose your favorite picture from this section. What does it add to the story? How does it help you understand?
3. So far… What do you like about this book? What would you change?

Chapter 2

1. Choose one picture that was powerful from chapter 2. Explain how it adds to the story.
2. Why do you think people were so anti-Semitic?
3. What would you have done if you lived in Poland at that time and saw the Nazi flags and heard the rumors?
4. 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

1. How did the Nazi’s treatment of Polish soldiers differ from their treatment of Jews? Why?
2. What is one image that helped you understand much more than the words alone? Give the page # and explain.

Chapter 4

1. 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?
2. 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?
3. What were the three most compelling images from Chapter 4? Why? Give page numbers and descriptions of the pictures.

Chapter 5

1. What is under the shoes? If you had to make something like this in your house, where would you put it?
2. 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"

1. Why do you think Art Spiegelman used pictures of real people instead of animals for this section?
2. Why would Spiegelman include this story in the book?
3. How does this story show the impact of death?

Chapter 6

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

Reflection Questions

1. Why do you think Anja kills herself?
2. What will happen with Vladek and Art’s relationship? Why?
3. In Maus, Art interviews Vladek about the Holocaust. How reliable do you think Vladek’s memory is? Why?
4. Why do you think the author uses animals instead of humans when describing the Holocaust?