When reading Maus II and analyzing it in class the one huge topic that always seemed to stand out is feeling guilty in your family for something you have not particularly done, but it always seems to come up. The author Art Spegeilman is the son of a Halocaust survivor,Vladek, whom seems to be the main contributor of Art's guilt. In the article it describes that "the primary types of familial guilt can be divided into three separate categories: 1) Art's feelings of guilt over not being a good son; 2) Art's feelings of guilt over the death of his mother; and 3) Art's feelings of guilt regarding the publication of Maus." I believe that when Art feels guilty about not being a good son it is referring to his dead older brother, whom he ironically dedicated the book to, and him feeling as though he cannot level up to his "ghost brother's" legacy of him being a good son and dying in the war lead him to feel guilty about even being being alive, and the fact that his entire family went through the horribleness of the war, while he did not. As the article goes onto say that Art and Vladek do not get along too well. "Art is always on edge around his father, and when they speak it feels as if an argument could break out at any moment" He feels guilty in every decision he makes towards his father, especially when he turns down a request his father makes toward him about cleaning out the drain pipes. And "a few weeks later, during Art's next visit to his father, [his] guilt is painfully obvious, as he immediately asks his father if he needs help with any chores." Moving on, it is really obvious that he feels responsible for his mother's suicide, he feels that he was not her "ideal" son. For example "his last memory of his mother - in which she asks him if he still loves her, and he responds with a cold and dismissive "sure" - is a painful reminder of this disregard." It shows that he feels disdain towards his parents but then once he expresses that pain, it haunts him later in life through guilt. Ultimately, you could almost say he was born into the wrong family. He was not presently involved in the Holocaust, but most likely heard about it and experienced it through his family's stories and actions.
http://www.gradesaver.com/maus/study-guide/major-themes/
