An element of tension runs through both volumes of Art Spiegelman's Maus. The two narratives that run parallel throughout Maus, namely those of Art and his father Vladek, converge at the end of the second volume in a shaky synthesis. The two narratives, however, do not fit together so well as to move from thesis to antithesis to synthesis. The last tables of Maus reveal, however, that biography and history are confused and full of conflicts, and that no "leaving the past behind" can erase some of the effects that one narrative has on the other. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayArt, while recounting his father's past, also punctuates the story by revealing the interview process that took place with him and his father in Rego Park and Florida. In Vladek's memories, we get the image of a resourceful, intelligent, loving person who possesses a strong survivalist streak. In the part of the comic where the character "Art" is involved, we see a weakened, paranoid, stingy, stubborn and rather racist old man: "That's not even comparing shvarsters to Jews!" (Spiegelman, 99). Throughout the part where Art speaks as a character, he notices the striking difference between the man he knows as his father and the man he writes about in his comic: "I can't make sense of my relationship with my father... How am I supposed to make sense of Auschwitz?” (Spiegelman, 14) He wants to believe that Vladek became who he is during the war, despite characters like Mala telling him that, in all likelihood, the war at best brought out something that was already in him: “Everyone our friends have passed through the fields. No one is like him!” (Spiegelman, 131) In this sense, the two narratives complement each other: the narrative of the “past” sheds light on some of the possible consequences of the narrative of the “present”. why would Vladek generalize about blacks when his own people were treated so similarly? Furthermore, is his greed a trait acquired in the camps or was it a character flaw that served him well in that particular situation? , do not only pose as thesis and antithesis, but also generate a series of theses, antitheses and syntheses in an almost infinite regress, the reader is reminded that the past always torments the present on the fields of his late wife, Anja, and later reveals that he tried to forget everything and live out the rest of his days in peace: "All these things about the war, I tried to put out of my mind once and for all... until you will not reconstruct all this from your questions.” (Spiegelman, 98). However, this was not to be, as the son he fathered after World War II would return with burning questions. This is an example of the present questioning the past and investigating it to understand itself. The present is informed by its past and relies on it to exist. The consequence of this is that the past cannot escape itself, and is forever encased in the things and people it ultimately produces. The present therefore constantly tries to identify itself through the antecedents. Again, this is where the endless cycle of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis comes into play. The clearest example of this lies in the last panels of Maus, where Vladek, speaking his apparent last words, lies down to sleep and calls his son Art by the name of his deceased son, Richiev: “I'm tired of talking to Richiev, and enough stories for now...” (Spiegelman, 136). The comic ends on this note, suggesting through the image of a tombstone that.