Cory Voorhis

Mrs Wortz-O
UWRT 1103
22 October 2014
Genre Reflextion
At the beginning of the assignment we were asked to remediate some aspect of the story
of Maus in a new genre form. Some of the different genres that stood out to me were the
timeline, interview, and diary entries. At first I was thinking of creating a timeline that followed
Vladeks life from when he was first taken to a concentration camp to when he was released. I
thought that this was to simple and generic so I rethought my idea. In the end I wanted to create
a diary that highlighted Vladeks time in Auschwitz. The diary would look like it had been partly
destroyed and aged. I felt like this idea was more creative and would stand out over a timeline.
This genre was challenging in several aspects, but one aspect that was difficult was
figuring out which events would be necessary and not necessary to include in the diary. I know I
wanted to create a diary that provided details, but not to many details. My goal was to make it
seem as if Vladek was secretly writing his entries. Many of the entries vary in length which I
think would be accurate due to the amount of time each day he would have to write them. Diary
entries have many specific characteristics that set them apart from other genres. For example, it
has a date, 1st person, only has one point of view, summarizes events, and not for other people to
read. I did not necessarily have any issues incorporating these characteristics into my project
because the author already provided a base line from which I could expand on. This genre did
have some constraints on what I could include and not include in the diary entrees. For example,

this genre is only one point of view which effected my project both negatively and positively. It
was negative because I could not provide as many perspectives which I feel would have
enhanced the readers understanding of the situation. This was also positive because it did help
the reader gain more of an understanding of Vladek and the troubles that he is facing.
After finishing this assignment I have realized how free and relaxing this genre is because
theoretically the person writing the diary is the only one that is going to be reading it. This
allows for more free flowing thoughts and creativity. After writing a mock diary I can defiantly
see the benefits of having one. A diary can be a way to express your self and I think that was
crucial during that time period. The genre of a work is extremely important to the overall
understanding and perception of the work itself. Each genre can have the same goal and
meaning, but they are written and comprehended completely differently. Genre can sometimes
be confusing, and I feel that the only way to understand genre is to investigate multiple types of
it.