June 22, 2011

It is considered an example of oral history because it is about a man asking his father about his past. The story is mainly the father talking about his war stories and the son asking him questions and keeping him on a track that he was interested in. The oral history site talks about asking questions according to what a person says to keep the person going and get more information. It says under How do I Ask Questions "Ask for specific examples if the interviewee makes a general statement and needs to know more." It also says, "Ask followup questions and then ask some more." An example of this in Maus is when the father is talking about his training and the son says, "Wait a minute, they only trained you for a few days before sending you into combat." This is an example of keeping the interviewee on the right track and extending there story to get more information. The son is also taking notes in the interview which the oral history site says to do in some form whether it be actually writing, video taping, or a voice recorder.