ENG 2100 Omar's Blog

1: How does fear influence the characters actions?

Fear was the deciding motivator in many of Maus’ characters. The people that lived in homes and worked in business for multiple generations had their entire lives turned upside down. Before the war they had good lives, they worked hard and had a large extended family live together. People knew were they stood, what was right and what was wrong. During the German occupation their rights were slowly taken away. The things the Nazis did and what they had planned for the Jewish people was something so alien to the people and when faced with the unknown people were naturally afraid. They let fear rule their thoughts and actions, ending up in positions they would never have imagined themselves in. Vladek’s father in law was a successful business man. He pulled strings to get a nice factory and was well respected with a nice luxurious house. He suddenly had to move his parents to a makeshift shed to protect them and eventually he lost his life and the lives of his parents believing in the Nazi’s lies. Their population were being whittled down slowly and they did nothing. Gripped by fear the Jewish police obeyed arbitrary laws and turned people in, hoping to placate the Nazis and save their lives.