learntoquestion ltq discussions

Originally posted by pinkrose2 on February 03, 2026 21:44

LTQ #7

Generational Trauma profoundly impacts the children of the Holocaust like Spiegelman. The most direct way that Artie is affected is through his father’s story-telling recounting his experiences in the Holocaust. Author Stanislav Kolář mentions in Intergenerational transmission of trauma in Spiegelman's Maus that “ The main vehicle of this transmission is memory channeled from the father Vladek to his son Art in the form of taped testimony whereas the mother’s memory is silenced”. Due to his mother’s death, and the lack of stories from her perspective regarding her own experiences, Artie is left to only hear his father’s, Vladek, personal account of what happened during this tragedy. However, the analyst also states that “Although the narrator-protagonist Art was not exposed to the trauma of the Holocaust directly, his identity has been profoundly shaped by the tragedy of his parents, the direct witnesses of the Nazi genocide during World War II. Despite his resistance to the total identification with the past of his parents, he inevitably becomes the intergenerational recipient of their trauma”(Kolář). As an intergenerational recipient of his parents' trauma, he uses his parent’s stories to shape his own personal identity, and who he is in relation to the Holocaust.

Throughout the book, Vladek has been terribly traumatized through all that he endured which affected the way he formed relationships with others around him, specifically with Mala and Artie, who symbolically stand as a replace for Richieu and Anja, his “true” family that the war had ultimately taken away from him. Some of the behaviors that Vladek has acquired, attributed to his trauma, are control, frugality, and skepticism, traits that irritate Artie up mostly. For example, when Artie was looking for his jacket and Vladek tells him that he threw it out, Artie is heated, but Vladek reassures him that “I have for you a warmer one. I got at Alexander’s a new jacket, and I can give to you my old one; it’s still like new”(71). His father’s past encounters, nearly meeting death, has caused him to preserve, cling on to, and reuse materials. Artie may see this as a waste as he cherished and adored his old jacket, but Vladek sees this as a luxury for his son that he most definitely never had. This further divides Artie and Vladek, not only separated by age and generation, but also through different definitions of luxury. As Vladek’s frugality is considered obsessive by someone like Artie, whereas to Vladek, he must save anything that is worth saving, as we never know when ends won’t meet, and we will have to fight for scraps, like he once did.

On the other hand, for Artie the weight of the trauma has been something difficult for him to put into words, as he had revealed in a car ride with Francoise how hard it was for him to thoroughly grasp the story-telling. On top of that, his relationship with his father made it harder for him to feel connected to his past, expressing “I mean, I can even make any sense out of my relationship with my father…How am I supposed to make any sense out of Auschwitz? Of the Holocaust?” (174). This doubt demonstrates how inadequate and unworthy one can feel with the emotional and moral burden of telling a story so heavy and serious like the Holocaust. It’s not only Artie who can feel this inner inadequacy, but many who feel that they are failing to thoroughly tell a story that should be handled with emotional maturity.

In contrast, either approach, whether moving beyond generational trauma, or it being better to live and acknowledge it isn’t necessarily better than the other, it’s all about the person and what they may think is best for their life, even if that is the best decision on their part. For those like Artie, confronting and discussing the past regarding his father’s experience helped him to get closure in a way, and strengthen his relationship with his father slightly, as his distance from his father often hindered his understanding of what occurred. Furthermore, the trauma is still very much prominent in his present life, so they were unable to truly move forward from it. One can argue that this novel was partly written as a way to combat the trauma, as well as raise awareness to this tragedy. For someone else, it might be easier for them to move on, and forget that part of their life. Trauma is highly subjective, so it’s up to that one person and their own personal judgment to decide what approach is best for them. Everyone’s outlooks on life, degree of trauma, and coping mechanisms look differently amongst one another.

I like the point that pinkrose2 made about how Artie does actually make an effort to resist intergenerational trauma. Much of the story depicts Artie as unaware of the reason behind his struggles, however it is confronted on multiple occasions, such as when his brother's name comes up. In those points, specifically the very end of Maus II, Artie can clearly see that there is trauma and he will have to find a way around it. My peer also noticed that at times, Art seemed completely lost and unable to understand anyone around him, which is just one part of the impacts of generational trauma. I also appreciate how my peer acknowledged that by the end of the books, Artie has still not found a clear path to fight this trauma. I'd personally like to think that writing and documenting his father's story is his way to cope. Knowing his father's complete history, even if it means prying information from him, seems to be Artie's way to understand his father and have some compassion for him. At the same time, I fully agree with pinkrose2's point that everyone experiences trauma in different ways, so we can't really speak on Artie's perspective without hearing it from Spiegelman himself.

Originally posted by Hibiscus on February 03, 2026 21:36

Generational trauma can be passed down for children of Holocaust survivors and not only affect the lives of those whose parents experienced the trauma, but even generations after that. However, this kind of trauma is different between the recipients. For those whose parents went through the Holocaust, like Spiegelman, they may feel a more personal connection or effect. For him, it was that he was sometimes felt in a way a replacement for his parents’ child who died in the Holocaust. This happened towards the end of the Maus when his father accidentally called him “Richieu” - their son who had passed. For those who weren’t the next generation of trauma survivors, like communities or young people today, they can still feel the effects of generational trauma by stereotypes or external factors. The still prevalent antisemitism within some groups still affects Jewish people today, even if they don’t know or have family members who were in the Holocaust. For generations who are the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, their parents may have been affected in their upbringing, bringing down trauma onto them.

I think the only way to move forward from generational trauma is to acknowledge it. In Maus, writing this novel was a way for Spiegelman to connect with his father, hear about his stories and perhaps get some clarity on why he acts how he does. I think Vladek is able to move forward from his trauma a little more now that he has opened up and acknowledged it.

Intergenerational transmission of trauma in Spiegelman's Maus talks about how the novel is really a “postmemory” retelling, it “reflects the level of identification with the original recipients of trauma and is often characterized by the feeling of displacement, living in temporal and spatial exile, estrangement and the experience of a lack and absence which frequently leads to an identity crisis.” Spiegelman tells the story of Vladek, but it isn’t truly Vladek’s story, but it’s told through the lens of his son. It depicts the generational trauma that is exploring identity and the sometimes horrors of past events that come along with it.

The most compelling idea in this post is the idea that the only way to move forward from generational trauma is to acknowledge it. I agree with this idea and I also discussed it in my own post. It’s an interesting idea because oftentimes, people attempt to suppress their trauma and try to forget about it; however, that is not a long term solution. Opening up and acknowledging something traumatic that you have experienced is crucial to being able to live with it. The post from greywatch has a similar concept. They state that in order to prevent generational trauma from creating a repetitive cycle, people first must acknowledge their trauma. This trauma often works its way down through generations unknowingly which is a concept both posts discuss. My views overall align with this person’s post as I agree that generational trauma is not something that can be ignored or looked past. It needs to be faced head on. I would suggest integrating quotes from the text and analyzing them to deepen the points of the argument. I liked the point about Artie feeling like a replacement for his parent’s child who died. That is an important aspect of the story and a common feeling associated with generational trauma. It can be related to feelings of survivor’s guilt. Overall, this is a strong post with great points.

Originally posted by chicken on February 03, 2026 21:38

Generational trauma doesn’t go away when events like wars end, but instead it gets passed to the next generation of family members that never experienced the event themselves. In Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus 1 and 2, Artie experienced generational trauma from the Holocaust because of his dad even though he never experienced it himself. Based on Kolar Stanislav’s article about generational trauma on Maus 1 and 2, Stanislav claims that Art has something called postmemory. This is when even though someone’s thoughts or memories are different from someone that experienced a traumatic event like the Holocaust, they are still affected by the Holocaust regardless because of the actions their parents exhibit onto their children.

For Artie, the impact of the Holocaust is mainly about guilt. Kolar in his article says that Artie is a secondary witness, receiving history from his dad that he must reinterpret himself. Artie struggles with the thought that he is the replacement child of his ghost brother named Richieu, who died in the Holocaust. Artie believes that Richeau was the perfect child for his dad Vladek to have since Richieu never gave Vladek problems while Artie has a strained relationship with Vladek. Artie feels guilty that he lives a comfortable life post WW2 in New York while Richieu on the other hand lived a difficult life and died in the Holocaust. A piece of evidence from Maus 2 that backs his claim is when Artie shrinks in size when he talks to his therapist Pavel about the Holocaust and about his ghost brother Richeau.

Moving beyond generational trauma shouldn't happen and people should acknowledge it instead. An example of this is when Vladek burns Anja’s diaries to get rid of the memories of the Holocaust. Instead of this successfully working, it only deepens the trauma for Artie since he can no longer get to know more about his mom. In order to learn more about Artie’s family history he writes both Maus books about the Holocaust. He directly confronts the Holocaust instead of actively suppressing it and putting thoughts about Holocaust into his unconscious mind that would continue to nag him in the future. Lastly, by acknowledging events like the Holocaust, generational trauma has a harder time getting passed down to the next generation since people that do acknowledge the Holocaust aren't strongly as affected by it.

The most compelling idea in my peer’s post is that what impacts Artie the most about the Holocaust is guilt. As they write, he feels guilty that he gets to live a comfortable life in New York, when his parents had to survive the Holocaust. He also feels like he’ll never be good enough for them because he didn’t go through the same things they did and won’t understand, unlike his deceased brother Richieu. This is similar to what I wrote about, but they went even further with the inclusion of postmemory: how Art is affected by the Holocaust indirectly because his parents were affected by it and thus transmit it onto him in a way through their actions. I also agree with their idea that just moving past generational trauma is not helpful and in fact, by acknowledging events, it makes it harder to pass the trauma on to the next generation. I do think my peer could expand their thoughts on generational trauma and how, maybe, what Art’s parents could’ve done differently in raising him and how this would’ve affected his view on the Holocaust, himself, and how Maus would’ve been written, if it had even been written at all.

Originally posted by pink on January 30, 2026 10:10

Generational trauma plays a major role in Maus especially in how art spiegelman experiences the Holocaust despite not having lived through it himself. As a child of Holocaust Survivors art inherits that emotional trauma that his parents have had to go on through and it affects his identity, his relationships and sense of guilt. Throughout Maus I and Maus II Spiegel man shows that trauma doesn't end with just the survivors but really it is passed down shaping the lives of the next generation in painful complex ways

The most prominent example of generational teams is Art's relationship with his father Vladek. Vladek's obsessive behavior like hoarding food, being very frugal, and distrusting others are all because of his experience of living through the Holocaust. These habits once helped him survive at the time but now they lead to tension between him and Art. Art often feels frustrated but guilty for feeling that way because he knows what his father suffered. This guilt reflects what Stanislav describes as "integrational transmission of trauma" where children of survivors internalize their parents' pain and trauma even without suffering firsthand.

Artsguilt is connected to the shadow of his brother Richelieu who died during the Holocaust. In Maus II Art admits that he feels like he can never live up to the memory of the “perfect” son who did not survive. He includes a drawing of Richieus picture hanging in the house “watching over” which symbolizes how the past is constantly connecting to the present and isn't lost. This comparison shows how generational trauma can change how a child sees their self worth and identity.

Art also struggles with representing the Holocaust itself. In Maus II, he depicts himself overwhelmed by how successful Maus was by sitting on a pile of corpses while reporters surround him. This scene shows the burden of carrying this communal trauma that isn't just his family's but of an entire group of people. It suggests that young people today might inherit not only personal daily trauma but also historical trauma as a collective which shapes how they see the world.

While Maus suggests that it may be impossible to fully move beyond generational trauma it argues that acknowledging it is necessary. Art does not “heal” the trauma but by confronting it through storytelling and art he creates a place for understanding. Instead of ignoring the inherited pain, Maus shows that through recognizing and living with generational trauma and questioning it, is the most truthful way to move forward.

I agree with the idea that Vladek gained some of his obsessive behavior from the Holocaust and actually said a similar idea in my essay. It definitely did provide tension between him and Art, and even though Art tells his wife that some of the things that Vladek does, like being frugal, was done even before the Holocaust it is hard to believe that these practices were not amplified after he experienced such trauma.

I also agree that identity is definitely changed by trauma like the Holocaust and even though Art didn’t experience the Holocaust he constantly feels like he has the issue of his dead brother constantly watching him from that picture. Like he can never truly escape the past is a very good way to describe it.

I think a good way to describe this is also the burden of carrying on the requirement to memorialize the trauma. As the generations grow further and further away from the group that experienced trauma they may feel a sort of disconnect from the trauma even if they are still descendants of them or a part of the group. This might make it difficult for people like Art to both come to terms with their generational trauma and feel like they are doing justice to the people that experienced the trauma. Clearly Art was weighed down by the expectations that now he had to carry out the remembrance of all of these people.

Originally posted by kdj729 on February 03, 2026 18:52

Generational trauma is especially impactful when considering war or war-like environments. The scars of war, genocides, displacement, and more are deeply rooted psychologically and affect survivors for the rest of their lives. PTSD and more general survival-based living can be found in every single person that was in this type of environment previously, directly impacting their relationships with their family, especially their children. As a result, children of these survivors live their whole lives carrying the burdens of their parents’ traumatic experiences, making it difficult to live an optimistic and successful life.

Children of traumatic event survivors are often subjected to a lack of compassion from their parents and a constant feeling of not being enough. In the Holocaust specifically, survivors likely became numb to any strong emotions, and this can be clearly pointed out in Vladek. When Artie refers to his childhood, he expresses how his achievements and his pain were fully ignored by his father, who just could not find it in himself to care about his son’s life, or his own for that matter. This directly caused Artie to keep to himself and hold back from making further attempts to be closer to his father.

To make matters worse, familial loss was one of the largest impacts on survivors of the Holocaust and this can be seen again in the Maus series through Artie’s brother, Richieu. Artie lives his whole life in the shadow of his brother, believing him to be ‘perfect’ and seeing himself as unable to live up to that. This story is common for many children who live with unreasonable survivor’s guilt over other family that died, even though there was nothing that could be done about it.

The last piece to consider is whether it is possible to move beyond generational trauma and I would say it is not. This kind of trauma is instilled in survivors, children from the day they are born, so there is no way to reverse it or cut it out of your life. Instead, they must learn how to fight back against dark thoughts and persevere despite the fact that they may not feel welcome by anyone in their own home. It is impossible to live with trauma without acknowledging it. Trauma needs to be confronted in order to live as anyone else would.

LTQ #7 Peer Response

The most compelling idea in my peer’s post is located in the second paragraph, mentioning that “ children of traumatic event survivors are subjected to a lack of compassion from their parents and a constant feeling of inadequacy”. This idea was beautifully stated, and my peer used an excellent example to support their claim. Throughout the novel we see Artie’s distance from his father, which is directly caused by his father’s lack of acknowledgement surrounding Artie’s achievements in general due to Vladek’s emotional numbness.

On the other hand, I can’t help but think that my peers did a wonderful job with their arguments and analysis. Although we may have not brought up the same topic points, our views on generational trauma in Maus and for survivors are relatively similar. The first paragraph, however, brought up psychological damage and wounds, specifically PTSD stemming from war/genocidal environments, is a point that connects to my LTQ. I may have not explicitly mentioned PTSD, but I did mention how Vladek’s traumas from the war are still heavily prevalent in his life today, especially through his relationships with Mala and Artie.

Lastly, their final paragraph was logical, but I still don’t think it’s fair to comment on how someone deals with their trauma. Yes, I personally do think it’s better to acknowledge it, and not pretend like it’s non-existent, but people endure some very traumatic events in their lives that can cause them pain for the rest of their lives, so if they want to bury that trauma somewhere without trying to re-live a painful moment, I cannot blame them for doing so.

Originally posted by greywatch on February 03, 2026 21:13

I think that generational trauma manifests in many different ways. Adults who have gone through trauma carry themselves differently, based on the trauma that they went through. This may show up in the way they react to certain things that they perceive as threats or as reminders of what they endured. For example, in the book Vladeck has difficulty maintaining a relationship with his second wife. It’s because of the trauma that he probably had to endure in his life with his first wife and as a result of her suicide. This affects his son because he has to witness them arguing and their obvious disagreement, and it puts him in an uncomfortable situation. It’s never fun for a child to play referee between two of his seniors. For young people the weight of the trauma is still on the current generations' load to bear. Generational trauma has to be intentionally stopped or the cycle will repeat itself. For example, many people don’t realize that they’re traumatized or don’t observe their behavior because they haven’t reconciled with their traumatic past. The first step and change would be acknowledging that something has to change and without that initial acknowledgment, families will continue to pass down generational trauma without knowing because it weaves into their everyday life and their conversation and their interactions. Specifically with the Jewish community so many of their family members and loved ones went through a shared traumatic experience and they’re bound to have similar or even the same reaction. This common sense of reaction normalizes relaying traumatic behavior. I think that a lot of people don’t have it within themselves to address their generational trauma, even after acknowledging it. I see this in many different cultures where traumatic responses are normalized and even provide a sense of shared community. The first example that comes to mind is the shared first generation experience. A lot of first generation students and children of immigrants have certain childhood memories that are very similar but model the generational trauma passed down to them by their parents. And many times people don’t question why they are acting in response to what drama they haven’t experienced. I think that through that reflection it is possible to move beyond generational trauma.

The most compelling idea that greywatch expressed in their post was the idea that the negative impacts of generational trauma can only be prevented through acknowledging and addressing the root of that trauma. Ignorance and avoidance of recognizing that history can be detrimental, ultimately resulting in the passing down of the burden through several generations— not just the first generation. Although the first step towards facing familial trauma can prove more than difficult, according to greywatch, it is a step that is necessary for relieving the weight and healing.

I agree with the concept that moving past traumatic events is possible through reflection and remembrance. I would even go as far as to say that it’s rarely possible to recover from the burden of history if there’s a refusal of acknowledgement regarding the situation. It’s common to try and avoid certain situations that feel scary or complicated, and in some cases even recommended, but it’s my belief that this avoidance only adds to the weight and trauma of a situation, and by attempting to “forget about” traumatic events, in turn it is actually preventing those directly affected by it as well as those surrounding them from being able to move beyond the events.

Originally posted by Olympic on February 02, 2026 09:18

Holocaust survivors like Spiegelman may feel a sort of guilt towards their parents because they can not completely relate to their experiences or they could feel a guilt because they don’t want to remain detached from their parent’s stories of survival. Although it seems counterintuitive, later generations may feel a certain guilt past the fact that they were given a better life than their parents, because some of them may want to have experienced the trauma just to feel more connected with their parents. Spiegelman even talks about his resentment to Riecheu not only because he idealized in his parent’s eyes but also because Riecheu is connected to Vladek and Anja in a way that Art will never get to be.

Therefore, the weight of the trauma experienced can range in many different forms of guilt. There are reactions that communities have together after experiencing trauma like moving away from where the trauma occurred, finding new homes, or not talking about it, which was a common reaction in Jewish communities after the Holocaust. These decisions can impact the young people, the way they grow up and the ideals they develop, but there are so many things that are passed to children outside of the community, simply from experiencing time with a parent that experienced trauma.

These children with generational trauma can not avoid it and there is no way to actually move beyond the trauma, so they must acknowledge it. Everyone does this in a different way and as Stanislav tells in “Intergenerational transmission of trauma in Spiegelman's Maus” Art works through this trauma by trying “the distancing technique of using animal figures enables him to avoid a total identification with the Holocaust, and hence to forestall the ethically unacceptable appropriation of an event he has not lived through” (Stanislaw, 2013). The distancing only works to a certain extent and by creating a story like this Spiegelman is forced to face his trauma in some way. There is a comfort in finding a way to live with trauma and pushing it down doesn’t solve any problems that they hope it will. Spiegeleman centered his life and work around acknowledging and confronting his trauma and although not everyone is able to do that there are advantages that come to acknowledging trauma and hopefully moving past it.


The most compelling idea in this post is the impact of generational trauma on communities rather than focusing on individuals, like Speigelman. They noticed the movement of communities throughout and also out of Europe as a result of emotional ties to the places they had lived in, coupled with the impact of the Holocaust. I definitely noticed a lot of the same reactions, not only from Maus and The Sunflower but also from our studies and even looking at some of the memorials we looked at in class. A different idea that I noticed, one that I felt connected very closely with something that I talked about, was how children with generational trauma can't avoid it, and therefore can never truly move on from it. Even though it is hard to make the realization and really understand, it is the truth. Even when considering and understanding this, these same children can have a huge impact on their peers and the rest of the world, just like Spiegelman did with Maus. Taking all of this into consideration, this post seems to connect very closely with what I wrote, as well as what I believe in as I learn more from class. One thing that I wasn’t totally clear on was how the decisions to move out of communities as a Jewish person can impact a childs ideals. Maybe they meant ideas, but I was still not totally clear on it.

Originally posted by kdj729 on February 03, 2026 18:52

Generational trauma is especially impactful when considering war or war-like environments. The scars of war, genocides, displacement, and more are deeply rooted psychologically and affect survivors for the rest of their lives. PTSD and more general survival-based living can be found in every single person that was in this type of environment previously, directly impacting their relationships with their family, especially their children. As a result, children of these survivors live their whole lives carrying the burdens of their parents’ traumatic experiences, making it difficult to live an optimistic and successful life.

Children of traumatic event survivors are often subjected to a lack of compassion from their parents and a constant feeling of not being enough. In the Holocaust specifically, survivors likely became numb to any strong emotions, and this can be clearly pointed out in Vladek. When Artie refers to his childhood, he expresses how his achievements and his pain were fully ignored by his father, who just could not find it in himself to care about his son’s life, or his own for that matter. This directly caused Artie to keep to himself and hold back from making further attempts to be closer to his father.

To make matters worse, familial loss was one of the largest impacts on survivors of the Holocaust and this can be seen again in the Maus series through Artie’s brother, Richieu. Artie lives his whole life in the shadow of his brother, believing him to be ‘perfect’ and seeing himself as unable to live up to that. This story is common for many children who live with unreasonable survivor’s guilt over other family that died, even though there was nothing that could be done about it.

The last piece to consider is whether it is possible to move beyond generational trauma and I would say it is not. This kind of trauma is instilled in survivors, children from the day they are born, so there is no way to reverse it or cut it out of your life. Instead, they must learn how to fight back against dark thoughts and persevere despite the fact that they may not feel welcome by anyone in their own home. It is impossible to live with trauma without acknowledging it. Trauma needs to be confronted in order to live as anyone else would.

What is the most compelling idea in your peer's post? Do you agree with the idea? Do you disagree? Why is the idea interesting?

The most compelling idea in my peer's post is that generational trauma is instilled in survivor's children from the day they are born. I understand this idea and I believe that it can be true but I also think that just because this may be a part of someone from birth it doesn't mean that it is impossible to overcome it or move beyond it. The idea is interesting because many people know that generational trauma is going to be in a survivor's child's life but hearing that it begins at birth just really puts into perspective the scope of it and how it develops and affects people's lives. My own views of fighting back and overcoming generational trauma is similar to my peers in the way that I think it is very important that people find skills or learn ways to acknowledge and be able to understand their trauma and overcome it. I also agree that trauma needs to be confronted and that it is "impossible to live with trauma without acknowledging it." As said before the only differing view I have from my peers is the idea that this trauma is impossible to move beyond, I believe that anything is possible to move beyond, and I think that moving beyond does not mean forgetting it entirely but being able to live a happy and successful life without it impeding on our daily activities or aspirations.

Originally posted by krausz on February 03, 2026 21:46

Spiegelman is impacted by both the Holocaust itself, and by his father, having been impacted by the Holocaust. Spiegelman, in Kolar’s view, feels a kind of obsession with the Holocaust, as it was the event that shaped his whole family and made them who they were, but he wasn’t alive at the time to experience it, making him feel somewhat alienated. Spiegelman thinks his parents view him as a failure, in part because he was born after the Holocaust and they feel like he doesn’t value the luxuries he was given. He never feels like he can do enough to satisfy them, and is constantly compared to his deceased brother Richieu, who did live through the Holocaust. When Spiegelman is alive, he only exists as a photo which can do no wrong and is the perfect son, everything Spiegelman is not (Maus II page 16) Kolar writes, “His identification with his parents’ affliction becomes so intense that he starts imagining being in Auschwitz… he fantasizes about Zyklon B coming out from the shower of their bathroom instead of water [Maus II page 16]”. Spiegelman’s drive to learn more about the Holocaust is what led him to the many interviews with his father, and seems to be very personally driven, always pushing for more and more information, perhaps to fill his own personal void, even if he says they are to share information with the world.

I am unsure whether it is possible to move past generational trauma. Maybe, after so many generations, if the memory is not shared forward, it will go away. However, this would leave future generations with a reduced understanding of who they are and where they came from. Living with generational trauma is difficult and requires a great deal of effort to work through, and seems to be tempting to bottle up in order to not spread a burden onto others. But, by doing so, by spreading knowledge and educating about events publicly and doing personal introspection, it not only helps to bring people closer together, but also allows people to have a further understanding of their own trauma.

I liked this person’s point about how Spiegelman writing this novel is really a way to “fill his own personal void” because I think I can agree. I also liked how this person added that he wants to fulfill this so much that he may share personal information with the world. I definitely saw this in reading the novel and touched upon it in my LTQ. I also liked their input at the end about how living with generational trauma and talking about it can help people be brought closer together who share trauma and give others (and themselves) a better understanding of their own trauma. When you share trauma, it’s part of living through it and healing from it. I thought this was an interesting interpretation and I agree, although I didn’t think of it to add in my own reflection. I think a lot of people had a similar idea about sharing trauma. Finally, I think this person could have added a bit more about Vladek and Maus specifically and maybe used more aspects of the novel or moments that they noticed. But I did like how they came to a final standing on what the novel expressed about generation trauma.

Originally posted by Champ on February 03, 2026 23:07

Art Speigleman’s graphic novel, Maus, follows not only his father Vladek Speigleman’s experience during the holocaust, but also Art’s relationship with his father through writing the story. Within this, Spiegelman indirectly shows the complexities of mass acts of violence, and how the impact can ripple throughout generations. Although Art himself did not experience the holocaust first hand, his father, mother, and step-mother were all imprisoned, criminalized, and victimized Jews of the Holocaust. Due to his background being so heavily apart of his upbringing, Art experiences Marianne Hirsh’s concept of “post-memory” by being haunted by a memory that preceded his birth.

This idea, although upsetting, is common within descendants of survivors of massive acts of violence. When Dr. Stern came to talk to us about his own families experience during the holocaust he would often refer to the liberation of Bergan-Belson as the starting of his life, even though he was born many years later and his father was only a child. This is because, although it was an event that preceded his birth, it impacted him and his family greatly. In a sort of more pessimistic and directed way, Art Spiegelman toys with this idea throughout Maus, representing how everything his father, mother, and community had gone through led him to the way he is.

The best way to see this is by understanding his relationship with Vladek, his very stubborn and distrusting father that survived the holocaust. Art and Vladek have a complicated relationship where neither person can seem to truly trust or respect the other, however, throughout their connection and shared experiences I think they understand each other on a deeper level than anyone else. There are many times throughout the novel where Vladek has to put life in perspective for Art, comparing the modern struggles Art has to face, to the horrors of the holocaust. In these moments we are reminded as the reader to truly understand the position that his familial background has put Art in.

The idea of generational trauma is also heavily tied to families experiences, including the often quick immigration either during or after such an act of violence. In my own life, I translate this idea a lot to my own families experience coming from Irish immigrants. Although of course never the same scale of the holocaust, the historical mistreatment and oppression of Irish Catholics has generationally impacted me and my family greatly. Because of this, it is always interesting to compare my own families perspective on being Irish American, compared to a friends. For example, my father specifically has taught me a lot about Irish history and culture because he deems it important to continue our roots, while other people I may know have no knowledge of any Irish history. A big part of the reason why my family has this connection, is because my neighborhood has a high population of Irish people in it, this is an important factor to understand when discussing intergenerational trauma because although one might immigrate and generations might go by, the community you are living in impacts your perspective greatly. Similarly, because the Speiglemans lived in such a strong Jewish community where many of Vladek’s friends had similar experiences than him, this really amplified the holocaust memory onto Art

The most important part of Champ’s post is when they talk about Hirsch’s idea of the post memory to certain parts of Maus when Art and Vladek talk to each other. I agree with their claim that while Vladek and Artie sometimes struggle to understand each other, their shared experiences about the Holocaust forms a distinct bond with each other. It’s interesting because it shows Vladek’s strange personality not as a bad thing about him but as a way for his history of the Holocaust to transfer into Artie who was born post WW2. It relates closely to the discussions in class about how trauma can be generational trauma that can be spread from one generation into the next. I also liked the part when Champ talks about Dr. Stern in their post since they made an important point that even though someone is freed from being oppressed like Jewish people after the Holocaust, the stress caused from traumatic events like the Holocaust still exists. Lastly, I also liked how Champ connected their Irish American background with the Jewish background that Artie grew up with in both Maus books since both Irish and Jewish people share some important similarities with each other.