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Summary
Back at Rego Park that fall, Artie visits his father, who bemoans how he has always saved his money only to find himself old and alone. Vladek invites Artie and Françoise to live with him, but Artie declines and tells him that he should get a live-in nurse. Vladek says that Mala told him she would come back and live with him if he put $100,000 in an account under her name. Artie asks Vladek to tell him about Anja, and Vladek says he is always thinking of her. The story shifts into the past.
Vladek loses track of Anja when Auschwitz is evacuated, but he later learns that she was liberated by the Russians. Mancie always looked after her. Though Vladek looks for Mancie to give her a reward after the war, he is never able to find her.
After exiting the train in Switzerland, Vladek and the other prisoners hear that the war has ended. The Nazis put the prisoners back on the train and send it onward to the next town, telling the prisoners that they’ll find Americans there. When the prisoners arrive, they disperse, but Vladek and some of the others run into German soldiers. The soldiers corral them all together by a lake, and one of the prisoners says that the Germans plan to shoot them that night.
Vladek and Shivek (a friend from before the war that Vladek happens to run into) wait and pray. The next day, the soldiers are gone, but Vladek and Shivek are caught by a different group of soldiers and held in a barn. They hear the sounds of battle outside all night, and the next morning, the soldiers have disappeared.
Soon after, the owners of the adjoining farmhouse run away, not wanting to get caught up in the fighting. Vladek and Shivek go inside and find clothing and food, but they’re so unused to eating that they become sick afterward.
Several days later, American soldiers, depicted as dogs, arrive, and Vladek explains who he and Shivek are. The soldiers take the house for a base camp but let Vladek and Shivek stay as long as they do household chores. The American soldiers give them food,s and they like that Vladek speaks English and can repair their shoes. They call Vladek “Willie.” When the Germans who owned the farmhouse return, they make Vladek and Shivek return their clothes.
In the present, Vladek gives Artie a box of photographs that he found; many are from Poland and some are from before World War II. Artie and Vladek sit on the couch, and Vladek tells him the backstory of the people in all of the photos. Many of them died during World War II; the only other member of Vladek’s family who survived was his little brother, Pinek. Suddenly Vladek feels like he might be having a heart attack. Though Vladek had hoped Artie would help him install the storm windows, Artie insists that Vladek rest. Artie apologizes for making Vladek talk so much, but Vladek insists it is always good to see Artie.
Analysis
Money is an important symbol in Maus, functioning both as a necessary resource for survival and a signifier of care. As the chapter opens, Vladek bemoans that though he has saved his money, it cannot buy the kind of familial care that he really wants. He could give Mala $100,000, he says, in return for her coming back to care for him. But he is not interested in trading money for care anymore, it would appear. In fact, as this chapter suggests, money cannot be evenly traded for care and kindness. Anja survives the war thanks to Mancie. As far as we can tell, Mancie helps Anja solely out of kindness. Though Vladek tries to find her to pay her a reward, he never finds her. Perhaps this is appropriate, as it leaves Mancie’s acts of kindness as simple kindness, not a trade or scheme to advance her own interests. The chapter ends with Artie apologizing for not helping his dad with the storm windows and thus costing Vladek a higher heating bill. Vladek, surprisingly, is happy just to have spent time with Artie. This reversal suggests that Vladek has begun to realize that care and connection is worth more than a few dollars saved here and there.
In the animal metaphor that runs throughout Maus, Americans are depicted as dogs. The real dogs that appear in the text, often on leashes held by Nazi soldiers, have jagged black fur and sharp muzzles, highlighting their viciousness. But the American soldiers who appear and take Vladek and Shivek under their protection have friendly, round muzzles, pointing to their role as liberators of the Jews. Traditionally, dogs are seen as loyal and man’s best friend. Dogs are also known for chasing cats, which represent the Germans in Maus. Spiegelman’s use of dogs to stand in for Americans makes the American soldiers easily discernible as heroic saviors.
The chapter ends in the present-day frame story, with Vladek sharing a cigar box of photographs of Anja’s family with Artie. Artie at first thinks the photographs may be Anja’s diaries, symbolic of her life story that he wishes to include in the book. Instead, the photographs stand for the many stories of the people in Anja’s family. The people in the photographs, like all Jewish people in Maus, are depicted as mice. But the photographs also look like snapshots, suggesting that they are based on real photographs. As Vladek shares the photos, images of them crowd the panels until finally they fill the foreground and almost cover up Vladek and Artie entirely. This image suggests how overwhelming the loss of these people and their lives before World War II is. In contrast, Vladek does not have photographs of his own family. Nothing is left, he says, and that loss is overwhelming also. The photographs, both those that remain and those that were lost forever, stand more generally for the lives lost during World War II and the Holocaust.
The final panels of the chapter depict a rare moment of connection between Artie and Vladek. Previously, Artie has pursued Vladek’s story single-mindedly, repeatedly blowing off Vladek’s requests for help with chores around the house. But this time, Artie fears that he has pushed Vladek into too much talking and apologizes. His brief stutter suggests he does not apologize often and that his concern is real. Vladek responds by calling Artie “darling” and their time together a “pleasure.” For the first time in the book, Artie and Vladek share a tender moment as father and son.
