Bayes 1

Salicia Bayes
Mr. Whitely
English 12
20 October 2015
Morality
The Holocaust generated many situations that show how frail morality and ethics can be
when truly tested. The normal bonds that hold human beings together friendship, family,
community disintegrate. Moral high ground doesnt ensure survival: some who seem most
deserving die, while some of the worst seem to flourish. Morality is shown within Maus I, Maus
II, and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by friendship, guilt, and sacrifice.
In Maus I, friendship and morality tie together. Morality is the extent to which an action
is right or wrong and friendship is a state of mutual trust and support between allies. The two
often get confused within the books and the movie. In Maus I Vladek says to his son in the very
beginning, Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a
weekThen you could see what it is, friends! (Spiegelman, Maus I 6). He states this to an
eleven-year-old who tripped on his skates which is a reflection of the gap in their life
experiences. Another time where it shows that friendship was hard to find during this time is
when Vladek says At that time it wasnt anymore families. It was everybody to take care for
himself! (Spiegelman, Maus I 116). The Nazis persecution of the Jews created impossible
situations where people had to throw their morals aside just to survive. From these examples you
can see how it was difficult to have friendship and morality. People had thrown that aside to
survive, but with Vladek, he tried to keep friends and people close because that alone was a key
to his survival.

Bayes 2

Guilt is a big thing which ties in with morality. In Maus II, everyone there is trying to get
by and survive to the best of their knowledge and resources, which causes people to do very bad
things which lead to guilt. It wasnt so easy like you think. Everyone was so starving and
frightened, and tired they couldnt believe even whats in front of their lives. (Spiegelman,
Maus II 63). Vladek explains why resistance seemed impossible to the Jewish prisoners.
Constantly living in fear, starving, exhausted; with the spectacle of other prisoners being
randomly beaten or killed around them, they were in an exceptional situation that nothing in their
previous lives could have prepared them for. Since they were having to do things that would only
benefit themselves, morality was not a strong priority for them. Another example of guilt and
morality not being shown to a high standard is when Vladek says, Like wild animals they would
fight until there was blood. You cant know what it is, to be hungry (Spiegelman, Maus II 81).
Another ironic statement, given the representation of characters as animals in the text. The
conditions in the camp are so brutal that people are reduced to fighting with each other like
animals to survive.
Lastly, survival. Morality and survival go hand and hand together. In The Boy in the
Striped Pyjamas there are a lot of examples of morality and survival. The theme of friendship is
apparent in the boy's devotion to one another despite their different backgrounds and
circumstances. Bruno and Shmuel represent all that is kind and decent in humans as well as the
potential that they have to do well. Conversely, Bruno's father and Lieutenant Kotler reveal
man's capacity for evil. The movie points out the choice humans must make regarding how they
treat others. On a similar note, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas also considers the dangers of
conformity and people's reluctance to take a stand in the face of adversity. Bruno would sneak

Bayes 3

food over to Shmuel to help him survive knowing the way he was treated on the other side of the
fence. Lastly, a big part of the movie which shows positive traits like friendship, companionship,
love, and morality is at the very end when Bruno sneaks over to meet Shmuel to sneak inside the
camp with him to help him find his dad, shows the love he had for him. Even once inside and
Bruno started to get scared when they were all clumped together with hundreds of other people
and saying he wanted to go home, stated he would stay with Shmuel and help his friend in need.
In the end the books and movie display the impact morality has on one another. Human
beings consistently experience huge change in just about everything related to survival. In order
to survive, humans have to adapt. These stories describe situations of humans during an extreme
transition in their lives. It describes the problems they faced, the adaptations required in order to
survive and the hazards of change. Still, more than anything, it describes how friendship and
sacrifice played such prominent roles that impacted the actions taken by these characters. It is
important to be good to your fellow human being, and to do what is morally right. High ethics
and morality will shape our future so that we live in a better world, so later generations will not
end up repeating the mistakes of the past and have our legacy fall back into a time of darkness
and evil.

Bayes 4

Work Cited
Spiegelman, Art, Maus I: A Survivors Tale. New York: Pantheon, 1986. Print.
Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began. New York: Pantheon, 1991. Print
The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. Dir. Mark Herman. Perf. Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert
Friend. Miramax, 2009. DVD.