Time to Get My Nerdiness On
Before I go into Maus I, I'd like to point out another thing comic related that talks about the Holocaust (although very briefly), and that would be the Marvel comic book character Magneto. Now I'm sure you're probably thinking, "Why does this girl always reference random things?" My answer is that I'm a nerd, geek, whatever.
Anyhoo, if you've seen the first live action X-Men movie, there's a scene in the beginning with a young Magneto walking with his parents about to go in the concentration camps. The fact that writers gave him a history of being a victim of the Holocaust is in part why he views humanity the way he does in present comics. He already saw one race almost be exterminated and the fact the the same thing is happening with mutants terrifies him. Okay, I'm done being a nerd now. If I sparked your interest, magnetowasright.com is a good site to check out for more info.
Now on to the actual assignment.
"The Gestapo never even came to my house. I just panicked for nothing. Please come back again" (146 panel 8(?)).
This is said by Mrs. Motonowa after she sees Vladek. When I read it, I was completely surprised that she said this and that she felt guilty for driving them out. She was willing to take on the risk of hiding them again, even though she knew that her husband would through her out if he ever found out she was hiding Jews. Despite this, Vladek still pays her, but to me, it didn't seem that outrageous since she seems to have good intentions.
I thought the reason Vladek continued to pay her despite her feeling guilty about forcing them out of her house had a lot to do with Vladek not completely trusting her. If she threw them out once, what was there to say that she wouldn't do it again? Or she may even turn them in to the Nazis if he didn't pay her. I felt that Vladek and Anja didn't exactly have a choice to go back with her though since their circumstances weren't exctly good. I wasn't even sure if her intentions were very good considering she had kicked them out in the first place, but I suppose these were unusual circumstances that she couldn't exactly control and terror was around everyone.