Art Spiegelman's Maus

Vladek clearly possessed many resourceful qualities that aided him in surviving the holocaust. Spiegelman helped portray Vladek’s experience with diagrams of the camps, crematorium plans, an actual photo of Vladek and a manual for repairing shoes. By using these visual aids in the novel, it helped the reader to have a better historical understanding of the context. It also assisted the reader in imagining a setting of where this all took place. For example in chapter two, page 60 we see the diagram of Vladek explaining to the readers how he fixed boots and considered himself a shoemaker. Here we can see the quick thinking that he used to get himself out a situation that could have turned sour for the most part. He used his judgement and resourcefulness

Vladek is depicted as a hero who shows countless acts of selflessness and generosity and a villain who is, “opinionated, tight-fisted, and self-involved”. (Brown 6) Art Spiegelman’s book Maus, tells the story of how Vladek and Anja Spiegelman survived the Holocaust. Spiegelman illustrates Vladek as a man who single-handily saved his family from starvation and Auschwitz in World War I. During Spiegelman’s interviews, we get an idea of Vladek’s darker side since the war ended. Mala to speak of her astonishment and disgust in Vladek’s character. Which leaves us to question how truthfully these stories are being told. In the end, Vladek’s unsuccessful heroism is a constant reminder of his failure; survival with Anja was always easier, after her death, Vladek pushes everyone away with his “guilt and manipulation” (Brown 7)

The books Maus I and Maus II are biographical comic books written and illustrated by Art Spiegelman. In these books Spiegelman tells his father’s story of survival through the horrors of the Holocaust. Spiegelman simultaneously presents an inner story of the conflict between him and his father, Vladek Spiegelman as both he and his father try to come to terms with the past, and work to have a normal life. This feelings of tension and conflict suffered by Vladek and Art in Maus I and II is caused by a transitional and rebounding feeling of survivor’s guilt caused by Vladek’s passing down of his own guilt, Art’s guilt of neglect, and Art’s attempts to come to terms with his own guilt of survival.

After the Holocaust on May 8th, 1945, a book called Maus was released which is revolved around survival. The author, Art Spiegelman intended the story was to reflect upon his past and express his feelings world how he had to deal life was at the time.The book is a story of Art’s father named Vladek, he tells his point-of-view to the world to show multiple struggles he had to withstand. The theme of Art Spiegelman’s book Maus is survival; Art Spiegelman shows the theme of survival by using tone, mood, and point-of-view throughout the graphic novel. Vladek is the main character of Maus and shares his point of view. Vladek tells a true story about how he survived the Holocaust and the things he had to accomplish to make it through alive. This book is based on a true story of what had happened during the Holocaust.

What if you were a holocaust survivor and asked to describe your catastrophic experience? What part of the event would you begin with, the struggle, the death of innocent Jews, or the cruel witnessed? When survivors are questioned about their experience they shiver from head to toe, recalling what they have been through. Therefore, they use substitutes such as books and diaries to expose these catastrophic events internationally. Books such as Maus, A survivor’s tale by Art Spiegelman, and Anne Frank by Ann Kramer. Spiegelman presents Maus in a comical format; he integrated the significance of Holocaust while maintaining the comic frame structure format, whereas comic books are theoretically supposed to be entertaining. Also, Maus uses a

A powerful and provocative graphic novel, Maus, generates a Jewish individual’s life of grotesque and horror. With its ability of perception and interpretation, it tackles the main points of the ominous Holocaust and delivers a spooky aura to the absorbed audience. In comparison to Schindler’s List, the graphic novel shines brightly than the pale movie due to its realism and humor that is constantly present throughout the storyline. The novel has the ability to connect to the audience; thus, it gives an in-depth look and overall comprehension of the massacre that Spiegelman is trying to communicate. The graphic novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, brings an honest account of the Holocaust to a wide audience because of its historical truth and intriguing viewpoints and characters that shows the effect and process of the genocide.

While Vladek is telling his story about his experience in the Holocaust there can also be a great emotional effect on him as well. By Vladek telling his story it can also make his mental state worse than it already is by not recognizing what really happened during the Holocaust. If Vladek were to actually realize what happened and how he got through it is mental health could actually start to recover from most of the trauma it has gained. It is true that Vladek could possibly heal himself and hurt himself at the same time by sharing his stories from the Holocaust. It is also very true that by Vladek being traumatized it can cause him to be very depressed and denial and

This graphic novel is a story of Vladek experience in the Holocaust and is writing by his son Artie. The Holocaust is a terrifying event that have happen to Vladek and other people. This event can change how the person act in the future like with their family or friends. The Holocaust cause the survivors to experience things that they do not want to remember like how their family members were killed in the gas chambers. Vladek’s experiences in the Holocaust have impacted his relationship with his son Artie and his wife Mala.

Maus: A Survivor's Tale, by Art Spiegelman, tells the story of his father's survival in Auschwitz during the Holocaust, as well as about Art's relationship with his father, brought out through the interview process and writing the two books. The subject matter of the two books is starkly juxtaposed with the style in which it was written, that is, it is a graphic novel. In most simple terms, the story is told in a sort of comic, with characters represented as animals based on their race or nationality (Jews are presented as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, and Americans as dogs). While the cartoon had once been reserved for rather childish and light subject matter, Spiegelman has brought it to a whole new level as a medium capable

The Holocaust was a traumatic event that most people can’t even wrap their minds around. Libraries are filled with books about the Holocaust because people are both fascinated and horrified to learn the details of what survivors went through. Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel are two highly praised Holocaust books that illustrate the horrors of the Holocaust. Night is a traditional narrative that mainly focuses on Elie’s experiences throughout the holocaust while Maus is a comic book that focuses on the relationship between Art and his father and the generational trauma Art is going through as well as his father’s experiences during the Holocaust. Night and Maus are very different styles of

“Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor” (Thomas Jefferson). In the graphic novels Maus I: A Survivors Tale & Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman, he uses animal imagery to portray the predator-prey relationship that the Nazi regime shared with the Jewish population. Based on the alienation of the Jewish “race” albeit “not human” and the superiority that the rest of the populations begin to feel, these depictions of races, countries, and ethnicities as animals is both appropriate and effective to illustrate the various groups during the Holocaust. This resembles the Nazi belief that certain populations have a conventional character and will retain their inborn predator or prey status by characterizing the Jewish as Mice and the Nazis as Cats.

Showing Jews as mouse’s in the present-day was to some extent demeaning, however, there was a purpose for that decision. It appears as if the Art Spiegelman was trying to demonstrate the idea that although he was not actually in the Holocaust, he can too feel the burden of it because of Vladek. Other people Vladek has remained connected with can as well. Art Spiegelman made some very controversial choices when creating the Maus series. His choices were the finest that might have been completed though.

Art Spiegelman’s Maus uses a graphic novel style to cushion the horror of the Holocaust for the reader. It is not solely just by adapting this story to be lived through animals, but by using art as a buffer, that Spiegelman is able to adequately portray these atrocities without overwhelming the reader. Both Primo Levi’s “The Drowned and the Saved” and Georges Didi-Huberman’s “Images in Spite of All” touch on the idea that in most situations, words have a lot less power than images. Maus backs up these claims as the text (mostly dialogue) holds a lot less weight than the images in the novel. Furthermore, these three authors demonstrate that the best form of preservation is through photography.

Art Spiegelman, the author of Maus 1: My Father Bleeds History and Maus 2: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began, conveys many messages through his black and white illustrations in his graphic novels. Spiegelman uses a system of representation based on racial identity to portray his characters. The use of the mouse and cat can be seen throughout the novel to represent the characters, enabling Spiegelman to convey the complexity of each character. There is a constant reference to identity shown reoccurring in the novels. The use of masks can be seen to achieve a point of pretending to be someone else. Eyes can tell a lot about one’s characteristic. Spiegelman utilizes the use of eyes through the novel to show feelings. His use of racial identity by the motif of the cats and mice, the eyes, and the masks communicates the horrors of the Holocaust in such way words cannot describe alone.

While many might be hesitant of how appropriate the novel is for portraying such a tragic event, this novel can easily be said to be one of the most powerful, moving, and unique interpretations of the Holocaust. The novel is entirely in black and white, which in my opinion shows the darkness, rawness, and despair of those who endured the tragedy. Spiegelman's two-volume graphic novel records the struggles of comic book artist Artie Spiegelman as he interviews his father Vladek, a Polish Jew, about his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust. The work is made up in a graphic novel format of illustrated panels accompanied by narration and dialogue in a perplexed story. The novel consists of two primary accounts; the first account is a series of interviews by Vladek Spiegelman, who tells his story about his experiences during the Holocaust. The second account, and the one I will be examining, is a continuation of Vladek’s experiences in a Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz but also focuses on the author, Art. Within that narrative occurs a second minor narrative, which appears at the beginning of the second chapter of Maus II and takes place shortly after the publication of Maus I. It is a deeply personal and self-reflective story revealing the conflicting emotions of the author with regards to his father and the publication of