Maus

What do we Americans know about poverty?   What do we know about ration cards, brutal occupations, and extermination camps?   We don't, because we have become too concerned with our self-image, bank statements, and the size of our cars and house.   Instead of starvation, we have a rising obesity rating.   Instead of an oppressive fascist government, we live in a free, capitalist nation.   Instead of restricted religion, we enjoying religious freedoms.   Instead of being poor and impoverished, we have grocery stores and free markets to buy from cheaply.   We know NOTHING of the trials that millions of Jews and other Europeans endured during the second World War.   Maus is very unique story, especially because it is a comic book, which is based off the story of a Jewish family that underwent horrible oppression during the Holocaust.   The different ethnicities are represented by different animals.   The Jews are mice, the Poles are pigs, the French are frogs, and the Nazis are large, mean cats that oppress all the other animals.   The family in the story underwent horrible things.   They were always having to relocate, and hide to avoid being seen by the Nazis.   They were never sure who they could trust, even their Jewish and Polish friends, because you could never be sure who was being bribed to turn you into the Nazi authorities.   The family also went through the notorious extermination camp called Auschwitz, which was one of the worst camps ever created.   They would put Jews in straight lines and shoot them that way in order to save ammunition.   The gas chambers, ovens, and disgusting living quarters made short work of even the most resilient people.   Although the main character in the story, Vladek, made it through the camp alive, it had forever changed him.   People who endured the camps and oppression under the Nazis were extremely tough, and learned to save every little thing that had some possible value.   When Vladek is older, he even grabs paper towels at the public restrooms so he won't have to buy napkins.   Many older people today who lived during this time, still live in this way, because they were so used to squeezing a dollar out of every dime.   Today, almost everything we own is made for being disposed of easily.   We have gotten in the bad habit of wasting everything from gasoline to food.   We should not grow too comfortable with our easy lifestyles, because with a recession on the way, we might have to change we Americans live out everyday lives.   We can only afford to be wasteful for so long.   Hopefully we will learn from the hardships that our grandparents and great-grandparents went through and think twice before we complain about some miniscule thing.