Line #6 TearJerker/Maus


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7	* The ending to the second book (and thus the whole story), one of the most powerful moments of the story, when Vladek slowly goes to sleep and tells Art goodbye... but addresses him as "Richieu", which gives more fuel to Art's previously mentioned feelings that his parents had always loved their dead child more than him. The next and final panel shows Vladek's and Anja's tombstone.
8	* There's also the reunion of Vladek and Anja, which is half [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments sweet beyond words]] and half heart-wrenching when you realize [[ForegoneConclusion what happens to Anja later]]. In spite of that, Vladek's unreliable narration, "We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after."
9	* How exactly Richieu died.
10	** Vladek and Anja sent him to live with Anja's sister, Tosha (who also took in her niece, Lonia), in hopes that he'd be safe, [[DrivenToSuicide only for her to poison herself and the children]] [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled at the threat of being sent to Auschwitz]]. Recalling Richieu's death is one of the few things that really elicits an emotion from Vladek: "I'm telling you, it was a tragedy among tragedies. He was such a happy, beautiful boy!"
11	** It speaks volumes about how horrifying Nazism was that a woman poisoning her own charges could ''ever'' be seen as a reasonable decision.
12	** And before that, Vladek's friend Ilzeki tells him that he is going to give his own son to a Pole for safekeeping. He offers to send Richieu as well, but Vladek's family refuse. A year later, they had to give Richieu to go with Tosha anyway, and it was all for naught. The fact that Ilzeki's son survived means that Richieu possibly would have survived too if Vladek agreed to the idea.
13	* There is a moment near the end where Anja sees the picture of her living husband. Only it was no mouse, it was an ACTUAL photograph of Vladek Spiegelman, a man, a human. It is a simplistic, yet powerful reminder of what the Nazis failed to see, and a reminder that [[TruthInTelevision this entire story actually happened]].
14	* Near the end, there is a story told to Vladek about a Jew who survived all of the Nazi atrocities and attempted to return to his home, only to find that Poles had taken it for their own and are very unhappy to see the rightful owner return. With no idea what else to do, the Jew sleeps in a room behind the place. The Poles find him there and [[ShootTheShaggyDog hang him]].
15	* The last time we (and Vladek) see Anja's father, he is crying as he is being deported to Auschwitz. This is even after Vladek tried to bribe his Jewish police relative, who took the jewels, but sent the old man to his doom. What's even sadder is Vladek remarking that with all his wealth, his father-in-law couldn't even save himself, let alone most of his family.
16	* The characters themselves can be tearjerkers.
17	** We have Art, a man who feels as though he will never be as loved by his parents as his dead brother, feels personally responsible for his mother's suicide, as explained through a comic he made, one of the only sections where humans are used, and the fact he doesn't feel worthy enough to tell this story, having all this guilt and responsibility stacked upon himself during the story.
18	** Vladek changed from an upstanding young man to an extremely frugal old man who doesn't respect his new wife, and is racist towards African-Americans. While his experience in the Holocaust and losing his entire family can explain some of his behavior, other survivors contrasting with his behavior shows that something else happened to him.
19	** Anja had a history of mental breakdowns way before the war ever began, what with taking pills for her nerves and suffering postpartum depression after Richieu's birth. She took the Holocaust harder when compared to Vladek, considering she saw all of her family die one by one and suffered more her time at the camps. So her suicide is just another painful reminder of how much she suffered.
20	* The comic Art made about his mother's suicide is depressing, particularly when Vladek is shown breaking down and throwing himself on top of Anja's coffin during her funeral while screaming her name, followed by Art fleeing the room and being berated by a family friend for only crying for his mother now that she is dead, or when he recalls his final conversation with her, in which he dismisses her question of whether he still loves her as just another moment of emotional manipulation on her part. It stands out in the book, as it's the only part where humans are shown in their entirety (without masks, like Art sometimes has to segue into the book), and shows how badly off their family was. Vladek isn't happy to see the comic, but admits it was a good way for Art to cope with his grief.
21	* The fact that Vladek died before the book was finished. It's Vladek's story, but he never got to live to see the finished product.
22	* Art writes about the WritersBlock he suffered after Vladek died. He regresses to child-size while talking with the press, and heads to talk with his therapist. His therapist was also a Holocaust survivor, who gives him the sensible advice he needs to keep writing.
23	* It's an observation shared by at least some children of Holocaust survivors, but it's still a tearjerker all the same: Art told Francoise that as a child he used to think all adults moan in their sleep.
24	* Anja's utter breakdown when Lolek refuses to hide with her and Vladek. She's already lost so many family members, and now she knows she's going to lose her nephew who she probably feels personally responsible for. It's only in the second book do they find out that Lolek lived.
25	* A small one: Vladek had to literally ShootTheDog (more specifically, his pet dog) who had "gone mad".
26	* The reveal that Vladek burned all of Anja's diaries, cutting Art off not only from a valuable first-person resource for the story but also from a chance to understand, and come to terms with his mother's suicide.
27	* Vladek's observation about Auschwitz: "But here God didn't come. We were all on our own." It has a double meaning: life in a concentration camp is a horrific free-for-all, but in that tragedy human kindness shines through even brighter.
28	* Towards the end of the book, where Art and Vladek look through old photographs of their lost family members, Vladek remarks that only their photographs remain.
29	* Often when people order the graphic novel, it comes with a booklet of Spiegelman's other works...and a branch of the Speigelman family tree, before and after the Holocaust. Before, there are eighty-six names on the tree. After, only ''sixteen'' are left. From one branch of one family.

Context TearJerker / Maus