One of the most prominent examples of this situation occurs at the beginning of Chapter 5 of Book I, in which Vladek awakens his son early in the morning to ask for help fixing a drain on his roof. Vladek often asks his son for help with errands around the house, and Art is always loath to comply. Indeed, arguments often do break out over, for example, Art's dropping cigarette ash on the carpet, or Vladek's revelation that he has burned Anja's diaries from the war. Art is always on edge around his father, and when they speak it feels as if an argument could break out at any moment. Right from the first panel of Book I, we are told that the two of them do not get along particularly well, and that they do not see each other often, though they live fairly close by. The simplest form of guilt in Maus is Art's guilt over the fact that he thinks he has not been a good son to his father. The primary types of familial guilt can be divided into three separate categories: 1) Art's feelings of guilt over not being a good son 2) Art's feelings of guilt over the death of his mother and 3) Art's feelings of guilt regarding the publication of Maus. Of particular relevance in Maus is the guilt that is associated with the members of one's family. In many ways, the relationship between Vladek and his son is the central narrative in the book, and this narrative deals extensively with feelings of guilt. While on its surface Maus is the story of Vladek Spiegelman's experiences in the Holocaust, it is also much more.
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