Quote 46
“Show to me your pencil and I can explain you…such things it’s good to know exactly how was it – just in case….” (I.4.112)
Here, Vladek gets into Art’s territory, visually diagramming one of the bunkers he hid in during the war. But you have to ask, “just in case” what? The possibility of another worst-case-scenario is still on Vladek’s mind.
Quote 47
“Yes. I don’t read ever such comics, and even I am interested […] Someday you’ll be famous, like…what’s his name?” “Huh? ‘Famous like what’s-his-name?!’” “You know…the big-shot cartoonist…” “What cartoonist could you know? …Walt Disney??” “Yah! Walt Disney!” (I.5.135)
Walt Disney is, of course, the creator of one of the most iconic cartoon figures ever: Mickey Mouse. Ironic, considering that we are reading a book called <em>Maus.</em>
Quote 48
“I learned a little shoe fixing watching how they worked when I was with my cousin in Miloch, there in the ghetto shoe shop […] You see? It’s good to know how to do everything.” (II.2.50)
Vladek’s diagrams help Art to visualize life in the concentration camps, but these diagrams also suggest that Art’s visual skill as an artist is not so alien to his father as we might initially be led to believe.