Parental Perspectives

Each and every experience that we have, from the moment we are born and forward, are what shape our view of the world and form our perspective. Every struggle that we are able to overcome is a lesson learned. With this said, parents teach their children things through the knowledge that they have gained through their own personal experiences. It is clear throughout the book that Vladek has a very particular personality and that Art, though has become used to it, is still bothered by it. Though Art knows that his father's unique personality comes from his struggles that he had to experience while surviving the Holocaust, he does not think that it is an excuse for it at all. This shows that traumas of the Holocaust can be passed down from generation but not fully understood like the people who actually lived through it. As a child of two immigrants, I have learned a lot about the struggles that they had to go through to succeed in the United States, though I myself never had to go through any of those experiences myself, but I know that I will never be able to fully grasp all aspects of the lessons they learned. I am aware that the struggle of the Holocaust survivors and immigrants are not comparable because they are two extremely different experiences but I use this as an example to show that parents will always want to teach their children to see things in a certain way because of the things that they, themselves, experienced throughout their lives.

Writing this story in the format of a graphic novel was effective because of the way that it showed complete transparency. From the moment that he shared the love affair between Lucia and Vladek,  and even told us that his father explicitly asked him not to add that part in his story, we are able to trust that he is not changing anything that is being told to him to make it seem a certain way; he has no agenda. Also, the way that he narrates the story gives us the opportunity to understand the person who told the story so that we can see where the perspective is coming from which makes the reader able to get a better grasp on the story itself.