Mr. Coward and Mr. Brazil: 8th Grade English

Maus Study Questions: Chapter 5: "Mouse Holes" (35 points total)

  1. (2) List two reasons why is Artie unwilling to help Vladek fix the drain pipe?

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  2. (2) Why is Vladek unfriendly to Artie on page 98? What is going on here?

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  3. ( T / F ) On pages 100 to 103, Anja is presented to us as the antagonist of the story.

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  4. ( T / F ) Those pages allow us to see that Artie views his mother Anja with ambivalence.

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  5. Do you think that Vladek ever views Anja with ambivalence?  Support your viewpoint.

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  6. (2) Why does Anja's suicide seem so much more disturbing to us than the other deaths we have seen in Maus?  Do the "mouse faces" allow us to reconcile those earlier deaths?

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  7. (2) Why do you think Art Spiegelman chose to include "Prisoner on the Hell Planet" in Maus? Couldn't he have just mentioned that comic, instead of showing it to us?

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  8. Is Maus a better book, because Art Spiegelman chose to share his mother's suicide?

    9. Support your opinion now, then return to this question after reading all of Maus II.
     
  9. The Village of Srodula, in 1943, is converted to this by the German occupiers.

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  10. ( T / F ) Wolfe's Uncle Persis is a collaborator with the Germans.

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  11. ( T / F ) Wolfe's Uncle Persis uses his power wisely, and genuinely tries to help the Jewish Community in Zawiercie.

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  12. (2) What do the previous questions help you understand about the we labels we place on one another?  Vladek despises collaborators; yet he admires Uncle Persis.  How can this be?

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  13. (3) How does Richieu die?  What is Tosha's motivation?  How does Vladek feel about this?

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  14. (4) Describe three separate hide-away bunkers that we see in Chapter 5. Which works best?

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  15. (2) What happens to the informer who betrays Vladek's family?  What was your reaction?

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  16. (2) Vladek does not approve of  his Cousin Haskel?  Is it just because Haskel is always looking for ways to make a profit? (like Vladek, himself).  Or is more going on here?

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  17. (4) Vladek calls Haskel a "Kombinator."  What does he mean by this?  Give two examples of

    18. Haskel acting like a "Kombinator."  What term might we use today to describe him?
     
  18. (3) How do Vladek and Anja escape from Srodula?  Did this surprise you? Why or why not?