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<strong>Quiz</strong>: <strong>Maus</strong> <strong>II</strong> <strong>NAME</strong> _________________________________<br />
Instructions: In the blank write the letter of the word or phrase that BEST answers the<br />
question or completes the sentence.<br />
__A___ 1.The author of <strong>Maus</strong> <strong>II</strong> is<br />
a. Art Spiegleman<br />
b. Vladek Spiegleman<br />
c. Anja Spiegeleman<br />
d. Elie Wiesel<br />
e. Alexander Solzhenitsyn<br />
__A___ 2. The broad historical context for <strong>Maus</strong> <strong>II</strong> is<br />
a. World War <strong>II</strong> in Europe<br />
b. the Pacific front in World War <strong>II</strong><br />
c. the rape of Nanking<br />
d. World War I<br />
e. Operation Torch<br />
___B__ 3. What is the relationship of the author to Vladek?<br />
a. Vladek is the author’s son<br />
b. Vladek is the author’s father<br />
c. Vladek is the author’s brother<br />
d. there is no relationship; Vladek is a fictional character<br />
__B___ 4. <strong>Maus</strong> <strong>II</strong> describes Vladek’s experiences in which specific Nazi camps?<br />
a. Treblinka and Sorbibor<br />
b. Auschwitz and Dachau<br />
c. Kolyma and Auschwitz<br />
d. only Sorbibor<br />
e. None of the above<br />
___C__ 5. A major theme in the story is<br />
a. the conditions of trench warfare and its psychological impact<br />
b. the role of the Depression in Hitler’s rise to power<br />
c. how people survived the Nazi death camps and the psychological impact of their survival<br />
d. the terrible losses suffered by the Russians from the Nazi invasion<br />
e. the failure of the United States to stop the Nazi Holocaust<br />
__A___ 6. Besides extermination of Jews, what other purpose did the camps fulfill?<br />
a. Labor and construction<br />
b. Development of Hitler youth<br />
c. Military training for the German army<br />
d. Religious training<br />
___C__ 7. Which animal does the author use to depict the Germans?<br />
a. dogs d. mice<br />
b. rats e. pigs<br />
c. cats<br />
TURN OVER FOR QUESTIONS 8-14
__D___ 8. Which animal does the author use to depict the Jews?<br />
a. dogs d. mice<br />
b. rats e. pigs<br />
c. cats<br />
___B__ 9. In <strong>Maus</strong> <strong>II</strong>, the character Anja is<br />
a. Vladek’s daughter d. the author’s wife<br />
b. Vladek’s first wife e. none of the above<br />
c. a sympathetic Pole who helps Vladek hide from the Germans<br />
__C___ 10. What was the major gas used in the extermination of Jews as shown in <strong>Maus</strong> <strong>II</strong>?<br />
a. Carbon monoxide d. Fosgene<br />
b. DDT e. mustard gas<br />
c. Zyklon B<br />
<strong>II</strong>. For the following two questions, write your answer in the space below the question:<br />
11. List three specific factors that enabled Vladek to survive the Nazi camps. What do you think the<br />
author is trying to say about the longterm psychological impact of Vladek’s survival? (3 pts)<br />
Some possible answers include:<br />
Luck<br />
Resourcefulness in being able to learn quickly valuable skills that enabled him to work as a tinsmith and<br />
shoemaker<br />
His facility for language and ability to speak English and French, which gained him friends and patrons<br />
who made his situation easier, got him extra food rations, enabled him to bargain for food to then trade<br />
for favors<br />
His having hope and working to help his wife gave him a reason to keep going<br />
Good health that enabled him to survive a bout of typhus and periods of starvation<br />
There are multiple answers to this question and this is only one possible response:<br />
The author is trying to understand how the camp experience and what Vladek had to do to survive may<br />
have shaped his personality and made him develop the qualities that have driven him to rage and<br />
frustration; he is suggesting that the camp experience may help to explain his miserliness, his selfishness<br />
and self-centeredness, his wanting to make use of every item beyond reasonable limits. All of these were<br />
qualities that helped him to survive, but then he seems to have not been able to adjust to conditions not<br />
requiring those same qualities. The author is also trying to come to terms with the fact that merely<br />
surviving the camps does not make a person a hero or a saint, because survival did not rest upon human<br />
qualities, but upon a combination of qualities and pure luck. The conditions in the camps required<br />
people to develop or nurture qualities that were not necessarily moral or “good,” and this situation<br />
often took its toll on those who had to endure these conditions in order to survive.<br />
12. Why do you think the author chose to tell this story in comic book format, and to use animals<br />
instead of people as the characters (besides the obvious reason that the author is a cartoonist)? (2 pts)<br />
This is a question open to multiple interpretations.
Bonus Questions:<br />
__A___ 13. Which animal is used to depict the French prisoner who helped Vladek to survive?<br />
a. Frog c. pig<br />
b. Dog d. goat<br />
__B__ 14. What happened to the Hungarian Jews brought to Vladek’s camp during the last year of the war?<br />
a. They were all gassed in the showers, every one of them<br />
b. There were too many for the showers so many were burned to death in open pits<br />
c. They were all liberated by the American armies<br />
d. The Germans turned them all into Kapos and they tormented Vladek and the other Jews mercilessly
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