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“God DAMN you! You—You murderer! How the hell could you do such a thing!!”
Artie yells these words at Vladek at the end of Book I, Chapter 6, when he learns that Vladek has burned his mother Anja’s diaries. The illustration shows a standing Artie looming over a sitting Vladek. His eyebrows draw down in anger and he shakes his fist. The speech bubble has jagged edges, showing that Artie is yelling. Throughout the frame story, Artie has been asking Vladek more about Anja and asking to see her diaries. When Vladek finally reveals that the diaries do not exist anymore, Artie’s anger, which had been at a low simmer, finally boils over. Vladek is upset that Artie would talk to him this way, but both men almost immediately apologize to each other. Artie still walks away from the conversation saying “murderer” to himself, though, suggesting he truly does see Vladek’s destruction of the diaries as equivalent to killing Anja a second time. Importantly, this scene shows that Artie is willing to show his shortcomings, as well as Vladek’s, as he writes Maus. This highlights his artistic intention to tell a story that is real and human, not just a heroic caricature.
