1. Chapter 1: The Sheik Art visits his dad Vladek after a 2 year absence
Vladek is married to Mala now
Anja committed suicide
Art persuades Vladek to tell his story
Vladek was a ladies man
Vladek had an affair with Lucia
Vladek marries Anja

2. Chapter 2: The Honeymoon
Art continues to visit Vladek
Vladek takes a lot of pills for his failing health
Vladek begins with his story again
Vladek and Anja have a prospering factory
Anja gives birth to Richieu and becomes depressed
She goes to a sanitarium and recovers
Vladek is drafted into the Polish army

3. Chapter 3: Prisoner of War
Vladek had little training in the army
Kills a German soldier and gets captured
Sent to a POW camp in Germany, where the Jews are treated worse than the Poles
Vladek has a dream about becoming free in the future
Poland gives in to Germany
Vladek assimilates with the Poles
Vladek is reunited with his family

4. Chapter 4: The Noose Tightens
Life is harder, but still comfortable (black market)
German roundups, beatings, and riots occur
Anja does not want to send Richieu away
Jews are moved to a ghetto
Jews caught selling without coupons = hanging
Jews have to report to the stadium to be sorted (old, weak, and too many children are sent to Auschwitz to be killed)
Vladek’s family is sent to Auschwitz
Mala talks about Vladek being dominant
Art looks for Anja’s diaries

5. Chapter 5: Mouse Holes Vladek wants Art to help him with repairs
Art knows that Vladek has seen the comic
Moved to another ghetto
Richieu is moved to a safer place
Richieu is poisoned in fear of being sent to Auschwitz
Zyleberbergs and Vladek hideout in a bunker
Found and Anja’s parents are sent to Auschwitz
Vladek gets a job with a scheming uncle
Hide behind shoes and escape as Poles

6. Chapter 5: Prisoner on the Hell Planet
Published years ago
Art was in a mental institution
Discusses mother’s suicide
Characters are people, not animals
Art is pictured as a prisoner, showing that he feels guilty over his mother’s suicide

7. Chapter 6: Mouse Trap Mala feels like she is in prison
Art sympathizes with her and compares Vladek to a miserable Jew
Mala and Vladek approve the comic because it will draw in other readers
Hideout in a Polish woman’s barn, until she is searched
Hideout at different places
Pay smugglers to smuggle them into Hungary
Smugglers take their money and report them
Put in prison and taken to Auschwitz
Ends—Vladek tells Art that he burned Anja’s diaries and Art calls him a murderer