I found an article that I really liked that is about the guilt of the holocaust surviers. Here it is good sir:
http://www.duke.edu/~jds31/Papers/maus.html
There are some interesting things that this article made me think about in Maus II. It was strange to me when I was reading it because it made me realize that in Maus, Artie seems to be guilty about the whole Holocaust thing than his dad did. At least that's what it seemed like to me haha. Art's dad, Vladeck, probably felt guilty about surviving but got over it a little bit more but since Art is writing these books he catches the guilt his father once had. One thing that I thought about (I don't know if this is right, it's just a theory I made up) was Art's brother Richieu. Art always feels like he's in competition with this 'ideal child'. I think he feels this way mostly because Richieu was just a picture on the wall, and it seems like all Art feels towards his brother is jealousy, but something that was interesting to me was that he dedicated the book to him. This could show that he shows a little guilty about how Richieu died so young during the war and never got a chance to really live and become something of himself. Art thinks of this often because he brings up what Richieu probably would have been if he had the opportunity to grow up. There is also scene in the book when is really guilty about all of the success he's receiving about writing this story about the Holocaust. There is a picture of him writing his book on a heap of dead Holocaust victims. It's like he feels that the tragedy of all their deaths are holding him up and supporting him. The guilt from this causes him not able to write the book until he goes to his psychiatrist.
Art also seems kind of guilty about how he'll never be able to go through what his father went through. He wants to be able to relates a fully understand the pains of the Holocaust. He feels like that's where he's supposed to be, and I think that Vladeck felt guilt for surviving when so many people he knew had died. He didn't understand why HE survived apposing to someone who didn't. That's one point that leads Art to feel guilty about writing Maus. He can never tell the actual story of the Holocaust, only his dad's story. For all of the people who died in the camps, their story will never be told.
