Lee Putnam Mr. Hockensmith Honors Literature 4/9/24 Compare and Contrast Essay The Holocaust was a significant part of history for many Jewish people, it would serve as a permanent generational terror, causing trauma for many years. The graphic novel and autobiography Maus by Art Spiegelman and the Biography Night by Elie Weisel explore the inhumane treatment of Jews by Nazis during the time of the Holocaust. Both the narrators of the books explore the process of the Holocaust towards the Jews, however, in Night Elie discusses these processes through a more cynical perspective while in Maus, Art presents a past generation through his father, holding many separate viewpoints towards the Holocaust and differences behind an individual's ability…show more content… Still apparent in the flashes in the memoir, you can recognize Elie’s subconscious tendencies he would adopt from his coming of age in the camps. A beautiful woman with dark hair and dreamy eyes. I had seen those eyes before.” (Wiesel 53). Followed by the quote to represent more of his observations “His eyes were shining with greed” (Page 55). These quotes all reflect the ways Elie can recognize a character's emotions. They show importance by representing a different way to notice a person, since in the Holocaust they were rarely able to perform freely, always at risk of beating or death. By resorting to other ways to recognize a person's character, Elie would be able to read a person's eyes. This adaptation to the conditions in the camps, would regard the psychological effects of the holocaust paralleling with the present day, as Elie would continue to use this strategy to recognize the emotions of people. Similarly, in the graphic novel and autobiography Maus, Art’s father, Vladek, suffers physiological effects and torment from the Holocaust. Vladek would also rely on tactics that he would persist to use in the present day, sharing a likeness with
