Story begins in Rego Park, NY where Vladek now lives.

We see the tension between Mala and Vladek - "They didn't get along."Vladek uses an exercise bike which he says is "…good for my heart, the pedaling." This can be seen as a metaphor for his processing of the events of the Holocaust. He is moving forward but is somehow still stuck in the same place, with the same memories.Vladek begins telling his story. He came from Czestochowa, near the border with Germany.Vladek claims that people said he looked like Rudolph Valentino.

Readers get a sene that Vladek was a ladies man. He begins a superficial relationship with Lucia which she is more invested in than he is.Anja Zylberberg's family are very wealthy, but when he is invited for dinner Vladek discovers that Anja is taking pills for a nervous condition.Vladek and Anja were engaged in 1936 and he moved to Sosnowiec.

Art visits Vladek regularly“I went back to visit my father quite regularly, to hear his story”

Vladek counts his pills; 6 pill for his heart, 1 for diabetes and about 25 or 30 vitamins

“For my condition I must fight to save myself… junk food, that’s what I call prescription drugs now”

Vladek talks about Anja's Communist friend.Anja gives a package to Mrs Stefanska which included papers that showed Anja was helping Communists translate them into German. Mrs Stefanska gets arrested

Miss Stefanaska- Please! Hide this package for me- Don’t tell anyone about it!”

Vladek started a textiles factory in Bielsko.In October 1937 Vladek and Anja had their first child called Richieu.We learn that Art was very premature and the doctors didn’t think that he would survive.

“But you- After the war, when you were born, it was very premature. The doctors thought you wouldn’t live”

Anja is recognised to have depression because giving birth was apparently too much for her. She had a breakdown.

“Giving birth was too much of a strain. She’s always hysterical or depressed… a breakdown!”

Anja and Vladek go to a sanitarium in Czechoslovakia. On the way was the first time Vladek sees the Swastika.

“Here was the first time I saw, with my own eyes, the Swastika.

Vladek learns on the train about pogroms that are going in in Germany.Vladek gets told about Kristallnacht (the burning of synagogues, Jews being beaten and towns pushing out all of the Jews.

“It was many, many such stories- Synagogues burned, Jews beaten with no reason, whole towns pushing out all Jews, each story worse than the other.”

Vladek and Anja spend time at the Sanitarium and Anja slowly gets significantly better. They spend three months there.

“She was so laughing and so happy, so happy, that she approached each time and kissed me, so happy, so happy she was.”

While they were at the Sanitarium the factory was robbed and they took everything.“Brace yourself- the Bielsko factory has been robbed”

On the 24th of August 1939 Vladek received a letter from the government saying he needed to go to the Polish reserve.

“A draft notice! I was in the Polish reserves army, and so I had to go right away.”

Anja, Richieu and the governess went to Sosnowiec and Vladek went to the frontier against Germany.On the 1st of September 1939 the war began and Vladek was on the front line.

We learn Vladek has a glass eye because of a haemorrhage in the glaucoma.When Vladek went to a specialist when he was put into a hospital for an operation he was left there, so he found another doctor and he operated right away.A young doctor once when he was checking Vladek’s eyes mentioned that his right eye was perfect (glass eye) but his other one had a cataract. Vladek didn’t mention to him that it was fake eye because he didn’t want to embarrass him.

“And I didn’t tell anything to him. I didn’t want to make him an embarrassment.”

Tension between Mala and Vladek over dinner.Vladeks father starved him to prevent him going to war - "there seems time to be something wrong with him" - polish doctor.Vladek being drafted and going to war Shoots German soldier disguised as a tree."Well if it moved, I had to shoot!" -Vladek Captured by Nazis, spared because he can speak German. Finds the corpse of Jan, the soldier he shot. "Well at least I did something" Taken to work camp, forced labor. Poor accommodation and conditions.

"At least they gave us enough to eat." - prisoner Goes to another camp with heating and real beds, but harder work Vision of his grandfather saying he will leave the camp on the day of Parshas Truma. They are released on Parshas Truma - Parshas Truma is a yearly Jewish event, each Saturday, a section of the Torah was read - this was called a parsha - one week a year as the Parshas Truma.Train does not stop at Sosnowiec and goes to Lublin.Were about to be marched into the forest to be shot, bit his friends manage to get him out.Disguising himself as a Polish man, he manages to leave to Sosnowiec.His mother dies a month after his visit.Vladek throws away Art's jacket, and gives him his old one

Vladek asks Artie to fix his drainpipe; this is because he’s reluctant to pay a man for a job, which is easily fixed. This causes slight tension between Artie and Vladek “You both think money grows on bushes! Ill fix it myself!” (P, 75).Vladek continues his story about life after his return from the prisoner of war camp.Life for his family was still fairly luxurious “”the Germans couldn’t destroy everything at one time” (p, 76)The Nazi’s were beginning to enforce new laws, which gave the Jewish people less freedom. E.g. Coupons for food.Some of the laws included: curfew of 7:30 for all Jews, no trading of food without coupons. Failure to comply with these laws resulted in being taken away to work camps.All Jewish businesses were taken into ‘Aryan management’. People began trading on the black market to survive. “With money you can always get anything” (p77).

Vladek tells Artie of how he collects cloth from people who owed him money, and trades to Ilzecki. He is very profitable from this.Nazi’s begin to round up large groups of people from the streets, to transport them to work camps. Vladek does not get captured “I managed to disappear into a building.” (P, 80).Anja’s father tries to do business with soldiers, but they do not keep their word and steal all of their furniture, except for his wife’s bed.In 1941 the Nazi’s began assaulting Jew’s in the streets. The level of aggression towards Jews escalated. “They were grabbing Jews if they had papers or no!” (P 82).Ilzecki hides Vladek during the assault; they speak about the safety of their children. “We must keep our children safe!” (P 83)Ilzecki knows a polish man who will hide his son, and be able to protect Richieu also, but Anja is reluctant to relinquish her son from her care.An order is released stating Jews will be relocated to Stara Sosnowiec.

They were taken to live with 12 people in 2 ½ rooms, which was lucky, compared to what other people endured. “It was no more luxury life we had before” (P 84) they had nothing but a curtain for privacy.Vladek continued trading on the black market, until one day his friends Nahum Cohn

Mala calls Artie because she is stressed about Vladek. “He just climbed into the roof”, “what am I supposed to do”?!Artie stayed at home and Vladek got his neighbour to help him on the roof.A week later Vladek seems upset when Artie visits.Artie talks to Mala. “it could be that comic strip”. Called prisoner on the hell planet.Artie apologizes then Vladek and Mala have another fight over Anja.Vladek and Artie walk to the bank they start talking about the ghetto in Srodula.They would march to Sosnowiec every day to work then back at night. They would then count us and locked us in. The guards were Jews and they acted like Germans.

Prisoner on the hell planet.

Artie is living with his parents.Anja commits suicide while Artie is gone.Doctor tells Artie his mom killed herself while he was out.Artie didn’t feel like crying but felt he had to. “I didn’t exactly feel like crying. But I figured I should”!Vladek is devastated and people are blaming Artie for her suicide.People blame Artie for his mother’s suicide as he wasn’t there to stop her.Artie is in Jail metaphorically.

Vladek’s Son Richiev gets given away to wolfs uncle persis from Zawiercie.They give away their kids to Tosha and Wolf.Wolf, Tosha, Bibi, Richiev and Lonia went way to live in Zawiercie.The kids die because Tosha poisons them rather then let them die in the chambers. “I won’t go to their gas chambers” and “my children wont go to their gas chambers”.The little kids got smashed by the german soldiers. “they never anymore screamed”.Vladek builds a bunker and they hide in the bunker in Srodula.“German’s couldn’t find them even with their dogs.”They were moved to a new house and built a new bunker.They were found by a Jew who ratted them out to German soldiers.They get captured and taken to “a ghetto inside a ghetto”Every Wednesday people were taked to Auschwitz.Vladek talks to his cousic jakov and arranged for haskel who was in the jewish police to get them out with payment.Haskel promised to take them all out except for Anjas parents.Haskel arranges work for Vladek with Pesach and Miloch.Pesach and Haskel were both combinators.

At the beginning of the chapter Art is confronted by Mala who is upset due to Vladek’s frugal nature. Art agrees with her and tells Mala about how stingy his father was in his own childhood.

“He’s always been uh pragmatic”-Art Vladek comes in, and Art shows them some sketches of the book he’s writing. Both Vladek and Mala are pleased with the way the comic is looking. Vladek and Art go out into the backyard, where Vladek takes up the story again in 1944. They go back to Sosnowiec to Richieu’s governess, who had always offered to help them, but when the governess sees them, she shoos them away. They then go to Anja’s old home, where the janitor agrees to hide them. Vladek goes out to look for some food, where another Jew tells him of the black market, where he can get some food for himself and Anja. On the advice of other Jews, Vladek and Anja go to hide on a farm belonging to a Polish woman, Mrs. Kawka.

“Go to the black market on De-Kerta street number 8” Both Vladek and Anja disguise themselves as Poles by wearing the mask of a pigs face. Art Spiegleman shows Anja as appearing vulnerable by depicting her with a mousses tail. By doing this he shows that Anja is at a higher risk of being caught out.

“I was a little safe. I had a coat and boots, so like a Gestapo wore when he was not in service. But Anja her appearance, you could see more easy she was Jewish. I was afraid for her”

Vladek goes into town on the train, and in order to blend in, he always sits in the German car, figuring that no one would suspect a Jew would sit in a German car. He meets another Polish woman, Mrs. Motonowa, who often sells him goods on the black market, and she agrees to take him and Anja into her home.

“The Germans paid no attention of me…in the Polish car they could smell if a polish Jew came in.

Things are going well with Mrs. Motonowa, but when she in in town she gets searched by the Gestapo. In a panic, she throws Vladek and Anja out of her care and they are forced to walk the streets alone with the risk of being caught and taken to the death camps.

“This is terrible! The Gestapo just searched me…they took my goods. They may come search here any minute! You’ve got to leave!”.

They go back into town, and spend the night hiding in a pit at a construction site. They then go back to Mrs. Kawka’s barn. Mrs. Kawka tells them that she knows of some smugglers who take Jews to Hungary, where the situation is much better.

“Two people know smuggled them into Hungary. I heard he and his boy were doing well there”.

Later, Vladek sees Mrs. Motonowa again on the street; she apologizes to them and welcomes him and Anja back into their home. But her husband, who doesn’t know she’s

hiding them, returns home on a vacation from his work, and Vladek and Anja have to hide in the cellar with no food for 3 days. When the husband leaves, Vladek and Anja are able to emerge.

“Praise Mary, you’re safe! I couldn’t sleep, I felt so guilty about chasing you out.” “The Gestapo never even came to my house. I just panicked for nothing. Please come back again.”

Vladek is confronted with a gang of German boys; they taunt him and accuse him of being a Jew. But he gets out of the situation because he has the Polish mask and he convinces them that he is net a Jew by saying “Heil Hitler” and speaking German. Vladek goes to Mrs. Kawka to meet the smugglers, and there he sees Abraham and his family, who are also interested in getting to Hungary. They finally agree that if Abraham sends them a note from the border, they’ll know that it’s okay to trust the smugglers. Anja and Mrs. Motonowa are deeply suspicious, but Vladek is hopeful. He even visits his cousin Miloch, who is hiding in his former janitor’s rubbish pit, and invites him to be smuggled out as well. Miloch is suspicious, and decides to stay at the rubbish pit. Vladek directs Miloch to stay with Mrs. Motonowa once he and Anja leave with the smugglers. Vladek and Anja meet up with the smugglers at a train station in Katowice. They grow suspicious when one of the smugglers disappears to make a phone call, but they get on the train anyway.

A little while later in Bielsko-Biala, where Vladek had his textiles factory, they are caught by the Germans. It turns out that the smugglers were fake and the letter from Abraham was fake. The Germans forced him to write that he had arrived safely. It was all a trap. They are taken to a POW camp and then to Auschwitz. At the camp, Vladek and Anja were separated, as the men and women were separated into different sections.

“Anja and I went each in a different direction, and we couldn’t know if we’ll ever see each other again”.

Vladek finishes telling that part of the story there and Art asks Vladek about Anja’s notebooks again and sais that he needs the desperately. Vladek finally confesses that he had destroyed Anja’s notebooks because one day he was feeling very depressed and he needed to destroy anything that reminded him of Anja. Art is furious and calls Vladek a murderer.

“These notebooks, and other nice things of mother… one time I had a very bad day… and all of these things I destroyed.” “After Anja died I had to make an order with everything…these papers had to many memories. So I burned them.”

Vladek tells Artie that he buried the Jew that turned them over to the gestapo.Vladek has a heart attack and he has nitrostat pills.Vladek nearly gets his brains blown out by a german who lets him go when he find out he’s related it Haskel.Pesach makes a cake “we were all of us sick like dogs” because it had detergent in it.Vladek says how pesach is always sceaming.“the end of 1943 more and more people went to Auschwitz and Haskel discovered they plan to deport everyone left in Srodula.They go into the bunker of shoes, loleck refuses to go into hiding and gets taken to Auschwitz.They hide in the bunker for a few days before pesach organises to leave with germans.Pesach and the others he goes with are all shot, Vladek stays behind and leaves a few days later.Anja and Vladek pretend to be Polish, and walk in the direction of sosnowviech.Vladek and Artie arrive at the bank and Vladek shows Artie his safety box.Then Vladek complains about Mala and cries about Anja.

and his son, were executed by hanging in the town square.Vladek had done lots of business with Nahum on the black market. They remained hanging in the square for one week. “The Germans intended to make an example of them” (P 85)Even after all the years gone by, Vladek still speaks of getting tears in his eyes at the thought of watching his friends be murdered.Vladek found other ways of making money, such as: trading in gold, and also food, like sugar. There was a close call with the Nazi inspectors and he barely escaped with his life. “All my businesses became harder, it was not so easy to move around “ (P 88)The elderly became the easiest prey for the Nazi’s and they were rounded up, and taken to Auschwitz. This was due to their fragility and inability to defend themselves adequately compared to the younger generations.The police sought after Anja’s grandparents, and after hiding they too were taken away.Finally there was a call for all Jews to register to be taken. Many went willingly in fear of the police. People were very frightened not to show up. 25-30k people gathered to be registered.They had a cousin on the registration tables, so they got through to the right side (good side) of the stadium, this meant that they would stay and work. Unfortunately Vladek’s mother was sent to the left side, causing his father to jump the fence to be with her.Back in present day, Artie speaks with Mala, they speak of Mala’s history at the time, and her experiences. Artie questions Mala about his mothers Journals.There is talk of how Vladek is very protective over his possessions, and that things mean more to him, then the average person.

Lucia attempts to sabotage the relationship and fails.

This chapter highlights the themes of cross generational conflict and the difficulties that children have understanding their parents. It also looks at pre-war life and highlights the normalcy of life for European Jews.