Comments will be closed after class Thursday.
Think about how Coben’s piece “The Key to My Father” or Alexie’s “The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me” tie in with other essays (or Maus) we have read this semester. Type up a few points of comparison or major themes that carry through.
10 responses so far ↓
1
Meagan Saulsbury
// Nov 6, 2007 at 7:17 pm
AFter reading “The Key to my Father” I immediately connected it to “Maus.” First because of the obvious, its a man telling a story about his father and the life of his father. Second I connected it because in both writings you can feel a sense of annoyance of the son because of the father. Both of the Dad’s like to save stuff, and neither really like to speak of their past, though Vladek does because Artie asks him to. There are many small things that also caused me to see a resemblance in the two pieces.
2
Junichi Lockett Jr.
// Nov 7, 2007 at 8:41 pm
The essay “The Key to My Father” was a very interesting one. I think that it can be compared to Vladek and the author of Mause, because of the relationship. I think that when we are children and teenagers we look our parents as weird and a lot of times we don’t really understand them. But when we grow and mature and we have the opportunity to look back over the lives of our parents we began to see the purpose in the things that they did when we were young. My mother always said that “You will understand when you get your own.” Now that I have my own child, everything comes into perspective. Just like in the texts, I now have a higher respect for my father because of what he went through to make sure that I grew into the man that I am today.
3
Jennifer Fornof
// Nov 7, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I really enjoyed reading Coben’s piece. It had a great way of connecting to the reader, and it kept you interested. As I read Coben’s piece I noticed many similarites between it and Maus. For instance, Coben’s family(specifically his father) was Jewish, as well as Art Spiegelmans family. I think that was pretty important to the fact that in both texts the fathers were not well known by their sons. Religion could’ve been one of the reasons the two men were such a mystery to their children. The men had to be tough like the head of a Jewish household, while showing as little emotion as possible. So, it very well could’ve been one of the main reasons theirs sons struggled so hard to find the connection to their fathers and the lives of their fathers.
4
Kianna Adkinson
// Nov 7, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Coben’s piece, “The Key to my Father” and Maus are related because they both focus on a father son relationship. In both pieces of literature, the sons never really got to know their father the way they wanted to after they were gone. Neither one of the sons understood their father either. Both fathers on the other hand, would give all they had for their family. Maus and “The Key to my Father” had a major theme that stood out, and it was the relationship between the father and the son.
5
Kianna Adkinson
// Nov 7, 2007 at 10:07 pm
After reading Coben’s piece, “The Key to my Father” and Maus I realized that they were related. They both focus on a father son relationship. In both pieces of literature, the sons never really got to know their father the way they wanted to after they were gone. Neither one of the sons understood their father either. Both fathers on the other hand, would give all they had for their family. Maus and “The Key to my Father” had a major theme that stood out, and it was the relationship between the father and the son.
6
Erica Llaca
// Nov 7, 2007 at 11:03 pm
In the text “The Key to My Father” it is obvious that this relates to “Maus” in the sense of the father-son relationship. It also shows how no matter what the father in “The Key to My Father” was always looking out for his family and making sure they were always secure as would Vladek in “Maus”. In the text ” The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me” relates to Maus by how goods were scarce, and how they were almost “marked” by being called Indians as the Jews were called. Some of the people thought by calling one another Indians was demeaning to one another as they might have seen in that when you called someone a Jew. In that sense it almost relates to “Marked Women” by Tannen on how females are “marked” by their gender. I conclude that from both of the texts that the relationship in family and being “marked” are a theme in all of the texts that were listed above.
7
Kate Bowers
// Nov 8, 2007 at 12:13 am
Coben’s “The Key to My Father” obviously relates to Maus because of the father/son relationships. In both pieces, there is an obvious gap between generations. Less obvious, though, is how Alexie’s piece, “The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me” ties into Maus. I’m not so sure that it actually does, but am convincing myself of it as I am writing this. Both Alexie and Spiegelman write about events that happened either to them or to family members and tell real-life stories. In “The Unauthorized Autobiography of Me” and Maus, both authors make references to writing and publicizing the book (Spiegelman) and reading the book at a bookstore (Alexie).
8
Priscylla Bento
// Nov 8, 2007 at 12:13 am
It’s easy to compare Maus to “The Key To My Father” but the differences are the strongest to show up. Of course one can argue that both are stories about the relationships between father and son, in an attempt to show the similarities, yet this is not enough to support the prior. If one observes the relationship of father and son in Maus, there is no admiration as of that found in “The Key To My Father”. Also, the history of both fathers in each piece is so contrasting that their personalities create two completely different stories. The focus of the father in Maus is made to seem materialistic all due to what he went through in the holocaust. Yet, the obscure history of the father in “The Key To My Father” makes him seem more family oriented and nothing less than a family man.
Personally, I am a daddy’s girl, so I would relate my story to that of “The Key To My Father” rather than to Maus. I like the positive outlook of the relationship between father and child rather than the constant arguing and bickering.
9
Ana Matijevic
// Nov 8, 2007 at 1:45 am
“The Key to My Father” has similarities to Maus. Obviously both deal with a father/son relationship in which the son does not understand the father. Both fathers have lived through a war that impacted the way they lived the rest of their lives. The father in Coben’s piece has become a family orientented man and I think that is from suriving the war. As to where Vladek, a bitter man, who survived the Holocaust, cares about his family too. Vladek has a hard time showing how much he does love his family but one can tell of how he misses his Anja that he loves her, and of course his son Artie. But in both occasions neither son understands there father. It is not until that person is gone that they realize how much their father meant to them. I relate to that because I have personally lost numerous loved ones in my life, ones who I have not been able to say good bye to. Once they have passed away, you always wish to have one more moment with them.
10
Justin!
// Nov 8, 2007 at 8:42 am
It’s easy to compare Maus with Coben’s “The Key to My Father”
In Maus, Vladek seems significantly more concerned about his family than his friends. In fact, Vladek’s friends are never even mentioned, assuming that he had any. On the other hand, in his own quircky way, he does care for his family (past and present) very well. This is just like the father in Coben’s essay, only this characteristic is explicitly stated in that case.
Part of that observation comes from the mutual theme of family in both pieces. In particular, the father/son relationship. Coben’s essay is almost entirely about one member of a family, but a lot of that is in terms of what he meant to the rest of the family and the father/son relationship. And then the father/son thing is present in Maus whenever Art is writing down Vladek’s story.
The end.