Chapter Two - Auschwitz (Time Flies) Summary

Chapter Two begins with Artie—surprisingly now a human wearing a mouse mask—sits at his artist's easel amidst a pile of emaciated human-sized mouse corpses. Flies buzz around as Artie reminisces about Vladek's death in 1982. Artie gives an interview where he does not give a satisfactory apology for the graphic text; he goes to counseling and wonders about his family connection. He feels very small and, in fact, becomes very small—a walking miniature. He returns to the easel and turns on his tape recorder, hearing his father's life's narrative.

Vladek manages to arrange a job in the Auschwitz tin shop—with a job, he will be able to avoid being murdered by the Nazis for longer. He routinely bribes the tin shop foreman to retain him in...