There are a number of possibilities as to how guilt is passed from Vladek to Art. One reason could have been the way Vladek treated Art growing up. At the very beginning of the book the audience sees how Art's father reacts when he cries because his friends leave him behind; instead of comforting Art or simply telling him that real friends would not leave him behind he talks about a more extreme scenario from WWII. Art was only a young child when his father told him this, of course there would be many more times Vladek does this because even when Art is writing his book his father brings up how ridiculous and impractical Art's actions are compared to a how he had to live during WWII. Generally, people are likely to feel guilty or ungrateful if they complain about a small announce, such as, cold coffee and then are reminded that there are many people that are homeless. Just imagine how guilty Art when his life is being compared to Vladek's life during the Holocaust. It is also possible he feels guilt because he survived and Richieu did not. He even mentions a couple of times how he thinks that Vladek wishes Richieu were alive so he can have a better son that Art. He may feel that he is a waste of life that should have belonged to Richieu; that Richieu would have been everything he was not, instead of being a cartoonist with little compassion and tolerance for his father, Richieu would have been a businessman or physician who visited Vladek more frequently. Also, he might feel guilty because of the way he treated his mother before she committed suicide; not only does he have to deal with the idea of him being the last thing to cause her to break completely, he also has to deal with the extra guilt of Vladek going through more traumatic pain after being through the Holocaust. Another reason could be because he is pushing his father to give him detailed stories for the sake of his book, even though he does not want to do anything for his father in return. The guilt could even be a result of collective unconsciousness.
A graphic novel was an effective way to portray this story because it allows the readers to view the events of WWII as if it happened in a glass case. It allowed the readers to "see" the memories of Vladek and observe his present life. As a result, a reader gets to see the cruelty and craziness during the war, while also seeing the affects of that chaos on the people involved even after years and years later. Also, the pictures allow the author to represent feelings or details while telling the story. For instance, in Maus II when Art is listening to the tapes of his father and he regresses to the size of a child or when all the people are trying to talk to him about his book they all wear masks on top of a human face. This allows the reader to actually see how small or childish he felt because he only cared about his book when he forced his father to tell him about WWII and that the mask on humans represent how at that particular time period things had changed from seeing people of different races as a different species to an acknowledgment of all races as human, however still recognizing there were differences because of national background.
Interesting post, Kim. You have posted several great possibilities of how guilt has been passed down from Vladek to his son, Art. I just wanted to bring up another possibility. What do you think about Art's guilt (if he did have any) from publishing the book, and, for the most part, portraying his dad negatively? From the discussion with Pavel, it seems to me that Art does not feel right about using scenes of him arguing with his father, and despite that fact that his career is doing well, he feels indifferent and often goes home lying down for hours on the couch and contemplating.
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