Storytelling and tradition a comparison of Maus and The...

The stories Maus and The Woman Warrior that we read this semester seem very different from each other, but I think that they both contain similarities and can be contrasted readily. The Woman Warrior by Maxing Hong Kingston like Maus by Art Spiegelman deals with storytelling and tradition derived from racial issues. These books are not merely based on race though. Culture, identity, language, heritage, history, and discrimination are all components in the compositions of Maus and The Woman Warrior. The races, beliefs, and struggles of the characters in these books are very different, but can be similar at times. Cultural disparities run rampant in these books and are the cause of much suffering and struggle. In one book, you have†¦show more content†¦Vladek looks at things differently than most people. Vladek has seen things such as children being swung by the legs like baseball bats into a wall until they died. He has seen families ripped apart and countless cold-blooded mu rders. All of these things were caused by the Nazis. You could say that the Nazi’s created Vledek’s culture for him. Vladek has seen the most evil and horrible capabilities of human beings. This sets him apart from most people. This is what makes him cherish every piece of food on his plate at every meal and save every piece of rope or random junk that he finds, because he knows that if worse comes to worse again you have to be prepared. So, for the parents in these books, a dramatic past shapes their culture and this culture they pass on to their children through stories and tradition. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Through the stories in this book, an identity is created in the characters, one that reflects their past. In the case of Art Spiegelman and his father, their identities are that of a race that has incurred terrible tragedy. This fact is branded on them for life and it is a part of who they are. The Holocaust had a tremendous impact on Vladek, as did its story on Art. To survive an attempted genocide upon ones race would instill things like fear, hatred,