Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Art Spiegelman’s Maus both raise issues of the meaning of being human, the parameters of humanity, and how people retain their humanity in the face of horrible conditions. Kafka raises issues of what are the boundaries of human life in Metamorphosis, while Spiegelman addresses the question of how people keep their humanity in extreme conditions. Inherent in both of these analyses is the central question of what is humanity–what is it that is being lost in the change that overtakes Gregor Samsa in Metamorphosis and what is it that people are trying to keep in the extreme conditions of the Holocaust in Maus? An examination of the two books may show some conception of what humanity is, what it is that makes us human, and thus what it is we try to hard to protect.