JenniferPrex

"Pssh. Why always you want to buy when you can find!?"
~Vladek from Maus by Art Spiegelman, page 116.

In class the other day, we had a discussion about the importance of back stories. I still stick to what I said that they are important but not always completely necessary. I think this comic, however, is a good example of a case in which the back story is necessary in order to fully understand the significance of the vivid details.

Vladek is cheap. In the scene that the above quote is from he picked a wire up from the ground fully intending to use it. Artie doesn't fully understand why he doesn't just buy a wire, but he does figure that it has to do with his past--as he says later to Mala when she complains about how stingy he is. Though Artie doesn't bring this up in the same scene as the one this quote came from, the reader can, by this point, make this connection. Artie's defense to Mala merely reinforces what we already guessed. Vladek's need to find things and make the most of his money when in hiding is what conditioned him to be this way. Mala's argument is that she went through the same thing Vladek did, but she wasn't stingy. If Vladek's analysis of Mala is accurate and not an exaggeration, Mala would be his exact opposite. She doesn't want to have any financial restraint. She wants all of the luxuries that she was deprived of during the war.

These are two people who went through the same thing, yet they reacted to it in two completely different ways. I guess it goes to show that when dealing with situations like this, it is best not to try and fit everything into one nice little neat box. It simply doesn't work that way. Everyone reacts differently. Each case, therefore, must be handled and understood differently. It is best to simply be open minded, understanding, and supportive. Maybe this was one of the author's points in writing this story--in addition to the overall idea of making sure the story is told.