In modern day, the newest generation faces a difficult problem: a disconnect from the tragic experiences that the previous generation had to suffer through. However, while we exhibit a sense of ignorance and obliviousness to the true nature of their struggles, an inborn message keeps haunting us. The stories of their memories constantly an indirectly remind us of the victims of the past and shape our personalities.
Pultizer Prize winning author, Art Speigelman, highlights the unconscious influence of the past through his graphic novel, Maus. Despite his father's detailed Holocaust survivor stories, Speigelman still cannot fathom the true horror of the concentration camps. In one particular scene, Art's wife, Francoise, expresses that she finds it "almost impossible to believe that Auschwitz ever happened" (Speigelman 74).
This particular statemement reflects that the loss of direct experiences can only create a mirage of the truth rather than the truth itself. Speigelman stresses this idea through the semblance of a "peaceful...night" environment. As the characters sit on the balcony, however, he incorporates the time flies (ironically, also the name of the chapter title) to pester his characters. When Art angrily swats these pests away and exclaims, "these damn bugs are eating me alive!", it displays the modern generation's desperate attempt to fight the past's mysteries. Because he is unable to fully comprehend the disasters his father had to face, Art struggles to accept that the past will always underlie his thoughts and actions. The constant presence of these flies also symbolize the perpetually existing poltergeist of the enigmatic past on an individual.
Pultizer Prize winning author, Art Speigelman, highlights the unconscious influence of the past through his graphic novel, Maus. Despite his father's detailed Holocaust survivor stories, Speigelman still cannot fathom the true horror of the concentration camps. In one particular scene, Art's wife, Francoise, expresses that she finds it "almost impossible to believe that Auschwitz ever happened" (Speigelman 74).
This particular statemement reflects that the loss of direct experiences can only create a mirage of the truth rather than the truth itself. Speigelman stresses this idea through the semblance of a "peaceful...night" environment. As the characters sit on the balcony, however, he incorporates the time flies (ironically, also the name of the chapter title) to pester his characters. When Art angrily swats these pests away and exclaims, "these damn bugs are eating me alive!", it displays the modern generation's desperate attempt to fight the past's mysteries. Because he is unable to fully comprehend the disasters his father had to face, Art struggles to accept that the past will always underlie his thoughts and actions. The constant presence of these flies also symbolize the perpetually existing poltergeist of the enigmatic past on an individual.
