I-Search questions and sources

Main question:

Why are people of all ages afraid of the dark?

Sub-questions:

°What's in the dark that make people so afraid?

°What creates the fear, is it myths or is it intuition? 

°Is the fear of the dark psychological or biological? 

Sources: 

http://www.ted.com/conversations/6848/what_s_with_the_fear_of_darkne.html

http://phobias.about.com/od/phobiaslist/a/nyctophobia.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/29/fear-of-the-dark_n_1840014.html

Persistent fear and anxiety can affect young children's learning development by Harvard university 

I-Search topic

For my I-Search paper I want to focus on the mentality of a child. Why are children afraid of the dark? What makes a child fear the dark? I want to do this because it will be interesting to find out why children are so gullible about scary stories about the dark and why they get this way. Everyone has a fear of something but a child's number one fear is the dark. I wonder what they think is in the dark? It's just a place with no lighting. I remember I was afraid of the dark when I was little but I don't remember why. This is why I want to do this topic on my I-Search paper.

The reasons why Spiegelman drew mice as Jews.

Spiegelman portrays the Jews in "Maus" as mice because of Jews were thought to be, "vermin of mankind." This dehumanizing quote was one of the many important reasons why Spiegelman chose to depict Jews as mice. During the Holocaust Jews were emotionally smaller than the Germans and Polish. This mean the Jews were weaker and had a better chance on not surviving like mice. Once spotted they must be killed at once this is the similarity that is shared between the Jews and mice.  He wanted to equalize both the German and Jew's biological ways but not power. So that's why he made the cats the same size as the mice, he did this so the metaphor was not as noticeable. Dehumanization was a big part of helping Spiegelman's character development during the process of "Maus." He explains that in Auschwitz the Nazis used pesticide made to kill mice in the gas chambers. The ideas of Jews were toxic and many people beloved Jews carried diseases like mice. Those are the main points way Spiegelman chose to draw mice as Jews. 

Analysis of "Prisoner on the Hell Planet."

In Art's old comic "Prisoner on the hell planet," he wrote about his mothers suicide and what that did to his mind. His mother did not leave a note or anything. No one knows why she killed herself but Artie has an idea. Art draws himself as a prisoner because he felt like he has done a crime. He believes his mom killed himself because of him. He is incarcerated figuratively in his thoughts of guilt.  This comic is different from "Maus" because of the drawing style, it is more dark and depressing. It seems more cluttered because of all the thoughts Artie has about his mom's suicide. In "Maus" the comic strip is not as terrifying as the "Prisoner on the hell planet" comic strip.  This comic is also different from "Maus" because we get to see more of Anja's personality. The reader can tell that she is very sensitive and is so depressed that she is in the verge of suicide. The reason why she is depressed is because she feels like she not involved with her family and feels like her son doesn't love her back. Artie gave her the cold shoulder when she asked him if he still loves her. She feels rejected and not wanted. She couldn't survive with out love and kindness, that's probably what brought her up through the hard times in the Holocaust. The reader will never no entirely what Anja's personality was like since Vladek murdered her personality by never finding her diaries.

This comic is the only piece of art Vladek has read that Artie created.  But why didn't he read other pieces of Artie's works? Vladek is never putting that terrible behind him. He can forget about parts of the Holocaust but he will never forget Anja's death.