Maus

As you read Prisoner on the Hell Planet to determine Artie’s relationship to his Jewish heritage as well as the book Maus, you get a glimpse of his viewpoint as it relates to his heritage. Without reading the words in Prisoner on the Hell Planet but by simply viewing the visuals you can see that Artie views his Jewish heritage from the standpoint as if he himself was a prisoner of the German death camps during the World War II years. Throughout the Prisoner on the Hell Planet you see Artie depicted in the prison garb of the Jews as if to say that by being a Jew he is forever a prisoner by simply being a Jew. Other visuals that show Artie as a prisoner is when the family friend informs him that his mom is sick and this person definitely represents a Polish person because on pages 138-53 of Maus Polish people are depicted as pigs. According the Maus, the Polish people despised the Jews just as much as the Germans did, and they conspired with the Germans to capture Jews. Another visual found in Prisoner on the Hell Planet is the doctor himself who looks similar to Adolf Hitler when he explains to Artie that his mother committed suicide.

As you analyze the transcription of the Prisoners on the Hell Planet it becomes painfully obvious that Artie has no ties religiously to his Jewish heritage. On page 102 of Maus, where Prisoner on the Hell Planet is found, shows Artie laying on the floor with his father and Artie is uncomfortable because apparently this is a Jewish custom that is done when a loved one dies. Also on that same page during the funeral, Artie does not quote Jewish texts, but instead he quotes from the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”. It is also clear that the members of the Jewish community view Artie with shame and anger, because Artie is not taking hold of his religious aspect of his heritage, because pages 102-03 show how friends of the family feel. Page 103, it shows that the people feel that his mother’s death was his fault. It is my belief that Artie himself feels that he is responsible for his mother’s suicide, because he does not know much about his mother.

Now with this story, there is a direct relationship between this and his mother’s diary, and that relationship is not realized until the end of Maus. At the end of Prisoner on the Hell Planet on page 103 he says, speaking to his mom, “you murdered me mommy, and you left me here to take the rap.” I believe this means as her son, he didn’t know his mom and he did not hear the stories of her life during the concentration camp times. That at the end of Maus, when Artie finds out that his father got rid of the diary on page 159; Artie accuses his father of being the murderer, because the memories of his mother have been killed.

This is my take on his identity and how Artie views that Jewish heritage.

Maus

As you read Prisoner on the Hell Planet to determine Artie’s relationship to his Jewish heritage as well as the book Maus, you get a glimpse of his viewpoint as it relates to his heritage. Without reading the words in Prisoner on the Hell Planet but by simply viewing the visuals you can see that Artie views his Jewish heritage from the standpoint as if he himself was a prisoner of the German death camps during the World War II years. Throughout the Prisoner on the Hell Planet you see Artie depicted in the prison garb of the Jews as if to say that by being a Jew he is forever a prisoner by simply being a Jew. Other visuals that show Artie as a prisoner is when the family friend informs him that his mom is sick and this person definitely represents a Polish person because on pages 138-53 of Maus Polish people are depicted as pigs. According the Maus, the Polish people despised the Jews just as much as the Germans did, and they conspired with the Germans to capture Jews. Another visual found in Prisoner on the Hell Planet is the doctor himself who looks similar to Adolf Hitler when he explains to Artie that his mother committed suicide.

As you analyze the transcription of the Prisoners on the Hell Planet it becomes painfully obvious that Artie has no ties religiously to his Jewish heritage. On page 102 of Maus, where Prisoner on the Hell Planet is found, shows Artie laying on the floor with his father and Artie is uncomfortable because apparently this is a Jewish custom that is done when a loved one dies. Also on that same page during the funeral, Artie does not quote Jewish texts, but instead he quotes from the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”. It is also clear that the members of the Jewish community view Artie with shame and anger, because Artie is not taking hold of his religious aspect of his heritage, because pages 102-03 show how friends of the family feel. Page 103, it shows that the people feel that his mother’s death was his fault. It is my belief that Artie himself feels that he is responsible for his mother’s suicide, because he does not know much about his mother.

Now with this story, there is a direct relationship between this and his mother’s diary, and that relationship is not realized until the end of Maus. At the end of Prisoner on the Hell Planet on page 103 he says, speaking to his mom, “you murdered me mommy, and you left me here to take the rap.” I believe this means as her son, he didn’t know his mom and he did not hear the stories of her life during the concentration camp times. That at the end of Maus, when Artie finds out that his father got rid of the diary on page 159; Artie accuses his father of being the murderer, because the memories of his mother have been killed.

This is my take on his identity and how Artie views that Jewish heritage.

Maus

As you read Prisoner on the Hell Planet to determine Artie’s relationship to his Jewish heritage as well as the book Maus, you get a glimpse of his viewpoint as it relates to his heritage. Without reading the words in Prisoner on the Hell Planet but by simply viewing the visuals you can see that Artie views his Jewish heritage from the standpoint as if he himself was a prisoner of the German death camps during the World War II years. Throughout the Prisoner on the Hell Planet you see Artie depicted in the prison garb of the Jews as if to say that by being a Jew he is forever a prisoner by simply being a Jew. Other visuals that show Artie as a prisoner is when the family friend informs him that his mom is sick and this person definitely represents a Polish person because on pages 138-53 of Maus Polish people are depicted as pigs. According the Maus, the Polish people despised the Jews just as much as the Germans did, and they conspired with the Germans to capture Jews. Another visual found in Prisoner on the Hell Planet is the doctor himself who looks similar to Adolf Hitler when he explains to Artie that his mother committed suicide.

As you analyze the transcription of the Prisoners on the Hell Planet it becomes painfully obvious that Artie has no ties religiously to his Jewish heritage. On page 102 of Maus, where Prisoner on the Hell Planet is found, shows Artie laying on the floor with his father and Artie is uncomfortable because apparently this is a Jewish custom that is done when a loved one dies. Also on that same page during the funeral, Artie does not quote Jewish texts, but instead he quotes from the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”. It is also clear that the members of the Jewish community view Artie with shame and anger, because Artie is not taking hold of his religious aspect of his heritage, because pages 102-03 show how friends of the family feel. Page 103, it shows that the people feel that his mother’s death was his fault. It is my belief that Artie himself feels that he is responsible for his mother’s suicide, because he does not know much about his mother.

Now with this story, there is a direct relationship between this and his mother’s diary, and that relationship is not realized until the end of Maus. At the end of Prisoner on the Hell Planet on page 103 he says, speaking to his mom, “you murdered me mommy, and you left me here to take the rap.” I believe this means as her son, he didn’t know his mom and he did not hear the stories of her life during the concentration camp times. That at the end of Maus, when Artie finds out that his father got rid of the diary on page 159; Artie accuses his father of being the murderer, because the memories of his mother have been killed.

This is my take on his identity and how Artie views that Jewish heritage.

blog 4

This week discussion dealt with ethnic and immigrant identities and examples of assimilation, diversity, the melting pot, and particularly Americanism. My point of interest and the thesis of this blog will focus on how Americans tend to view the rest of the world by analyzing the story written by Jhumpa Lahiri entitled Interpreter of Maladies.

I learned in my anthropology class last semester, that we as American citizens tend to exotify* everything that is different from our culture, everything from language, to their way of life, and in the story, the author beautifully expresses American thought. The character, Mrs. Das in the beginning of the story seemed disinterested and inattentive before and even during the tour, but she quickly changed her tune when she learned that Mr. Kapasi was an interpreter to the local doctor. As soon as Mrs. Das learned this she begin to exotify his job by saying, “But so romantic,” (50) where Mr. Kapasi thought of it simply as a job. I thought this point was unique, because in the United States, we have interpreters for hospitals, but the author makes it seem that Americans make a big deal about the littlest things. As if to say that the United States is the only country that has interpreters of medicine. The author makes it seem that Americans are all ethnocentric in view. Admittedly, most Americans are ethnocentric but I feel that as educated people we need to go beyond this point of view.

I do believe that the author is expressing the feelings of many immigrants, and I find myself being what I have just spoken out against. I have a fiancé from the Philippines, not a mail-order bride, but a person who I met on my travels, and when she started a piggery I was amazed that she wanted to do that, and I thought it was interesting and neat, although pigs and cows are quite common in my community.

This will conclude my thoughts of how we as Americans tend to exotify different cultures and a different way of life.

* note the word exotify is not a word in the dictionary, this is a word that Professor Shope anthropology teacher uses, so i too will use it.

blog 3

Last week we discussed racism in American Culture Studies, this week we discussed classism and how it has been portrayed in the media. I wanted to discuss classism in the context of Hurricane Katrina. I had a class recently that dealt with racism, and one of the books that we were to read was entitle Taking Sides and one of the questions that were raised was, “Did Hurricane Katrina Expose Racism in New Orleans?” I chose the side of no because I felt the response to Katrina reflected a class issue more so than racism, and what lead me to that conclusion were the California wildfires of last year and how the response to that was very quick. The other reason I feel this way is because African Americans were not the only ones that were affected by the hurricane. Though true the majority of the individuals were black, still whites were affected during this event; in contrast, the wealthy neighborhoods in California received aid and help very quickly. Racism, I do not agree, classism is what I attribute the varying response rates to.

Now to focus on one point in our readings for this week concerning the working class of whites and how they are portrayed in the media. It has been noted before during our group discussion that the white trash portrayal is out there and it is real, but I wanted to focus on one line in the piece written by Angeline F. Price entitled working class whites. The quote is this: “The white trash portrayal represents the little devil on ones shoulder-embodying racism, ignorance, violence, filth, and base desires.” I have a friend the other week tell me a show that I like was white trash and I was shocked that she would tell me that, so my response to that was why does it have to be white trash, why can’t it just be trash if you feel that way about it. The television show we were talking about was Married With Children, and everything in that quote is reflected in the show, from an ignorant man, to sex, and violence are all portrayed in the show. So I have to say that her view of the show as white trash has come from the Medias perception of what white trash is. The media has created white trash, but to me trash is trash, there’s no such thing as white trash. Classism affects all of us.

blog 2

As I analyze this piece written entitled Nigger written by Dick Gregory I cannot help but being reminded of the struggle that African Americans went through in order to secure a future for the next generation of people. There is one particular line that is mentioned here I want to focus on, and that line is found on page 597 where Gregory states that “I had made speeches that every door of racial prejudice I can kick down is one less door that my children have to kick down. But my kids don’t have to worry.” I have often heard that my generation of blacks does not appreciate the opportunities that we as blacks have now that those who fought and struggled and went to prison for did not have. Often times our generation forgets but reading this quote is truly beautiful, because we do have more opportunities now than before. These people who struggled to kick these doors down have indeed gave us in my generation one less door to kick down. I also found this other point found on page 593 interesting as well in which Gregory describes this gentlemen that changed his life around as the type of African American that every other Negro in America would look down upon. When I read that I said that is so true, because even within the black community the darker you are the more likely you will be talked about and looked upon negatively. Perhaps blacks have been conditioned to reason that way due to the propaganda of cartoons and television but again the point is this was a man who fought for freedom as Gregory points out. I am thankful for reading this article because being black; this is a reminder and an appreciation of the number of doors that have been kicked down so that my generation of blacks has fewer doors to kick down.

blog 1

This piece concerning the Truth About the First Thanksgiving is important because as the author mentions in the beginning of his article when he asked his students when the United States was first settled (67). The answer that the author received was not surprising because many would tend to agree that the United States was formed once the Europeans arrived, however, it is important that all of us in the United States know and understand that people were here in America well before the Europeans. Most people view America through a narrow lens of ethnocentrism thus the need for articles such as that found here. In both elementary and high school we are all taught that the pilgrims were great, the Native Americans were all savage, uncivilized cultures, yet how many knew that Native cultures had limited exposure to disease because their hygiene habits were far superior to that of the pilgrims (70). Another point of interest is how the author dispels the legend of Squanto by describing exactly what he went through, how he learned English, and ultimately why he helped the pilgrims (83). There are a number of books out there that tells the other side of American history but there is one book that I particularly enjoy and the title of the book is called Portrait of America. This book gives the biography of famous people such as Christopher Columbus and our “Founding Fathers” and it describes in detail the other side of these people which we may have not heard about in our high school history classes. This is why articles such as this one is important because it tells both sides of American history and it should help all students and citizens to appreciate that if not for the Native Americans, who died of the European diseases, that America would be a much different country today.