The Use Of Animals In Maus By Art Spiegelman

The Holocaust was a very important tragic event that occurred in history. Many of the stories belonging to the jews were lost and never told, many of the innocent souls were unknown, but never forgotten. For years, people have tried to dig up these stories and explain it to many generations, because the Holocaust wasn't something to be forgotten about or left unknown. Sometimes it is hard to understand the truth without a visual. Movies such as Schindler’s list or books such as Maus try to give a message as well as a visual to better understand the content.

This one review made me question myself about my own opinion because i couldn't have disagreed more with the reviewer. He said “it was difficult to relate to the book and the holocaust because the author made the characters as pigs, cats, mice.”(mouse#1). So basically the reviewer is saying that he couldn’t see the connections that were trying to be made with the use of the animals as the characters throughout the text. I would have to say that i disagree with the point that the reviewer is trying to say, because the author used these animals as characters to show symbolism between the characters and humans. The cover of the book is a great expamle from the book to show how these characters symbolize humans.(spieglemen Cover.) The picture shows a nazi symbol with a cat (germans) in the middle and two mice scared down below, it symbolizes that during the holocaust the jews (mice) were scared and defenseless throughout the book and the germans (cats) were the bigger and more leatheal to bully the

Maus, is a very unique book, normally if the story is non-fiction meaning real they would use human figures, but in this book they use animal figures in the form of cats and mice. The use of cat and mouse holds a very deep meaning in this book. Jews are portrayed as mice, while Germans as cats. In holocaust Germans collected and transported Jews to Concentration camps where they were forced to perform labour work against their will and given little or no food, some were even executed depending on their accessibility to work. So the use of animal figures, cats and mice to be specific stands valid. Since cats have a natural instinct of chasing and hunting down mice, the same scenario can be applied to this book and holocaust, where the Nazis as cats executed Jews as mice. This is completely different from Anne Frank, the technique used in this book is ordinary. In Anne

The genre of the short story “Terrible Things” is that of an allegory, which is a story or poem that can be used or interpreted in a certain way to reveal hidden messages or morals. One reason why “Terrible Things” is a good example of an allegory is how throughout the story, animals are used as symbols to represent other things, like countries involved in the Holocaust. This allegory’s purpose, I think, is to try to help the audience, who can actually be people of all ages, to understand the Holocaust and how those horrific events could have been prevented if other countries and people stood up against the Nazis, instead of just looking away while men, women, and children were taken away just for being different.

Spiegelman’s Maus is a graphic novel which explores events of the holocaust and the uniting of a father and son. Though often overlooked the dedications play an integral role in better understanding the text. The dedications do not influence the meaning of the book but do reinforce events in the book. Spiegelman dedicates the first book to his mother as an attempt to rid himself of the guilt associated with his mother’s suicide. In an attempt to not have the same short comings as his father, Art associates his most prized work with the most prized people in his life. Richieu is often disregarded in the book however he is vital in Spiegelman’s eyes. The book in its entirety is highly important as it is a dedication to a whole race.

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.

Spiegelman uses mice, cats, pigs and other animals to portray the victims and events in the Holocaust. He uses real features of human beings such as hands, feet and emotions to give the animals the full potential to relate to. Maus reveals that the characters portrayed as mice are being seen in sharper relief as human concerns in the world of mice. Spiegelman decided on interesting but possibly offensive use of different animals to use. The first type of animal which appears in this comic is the mouse (MausI:5). The form of mice is used to represent the Jewish people during the Holocaust and as of now too. The Polish police were involved in the arrest of innocent Jewish mice (27). The Polish people were pigs and Germans were represented as cats. The Germans’ appearance as cats began to make sense in the way how cats chase, hunt and kill mice (33). This comic book was translated into an easily readable format to educate the history of the Holocaust to the younger generations.

“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.

Maus has an interesting way in approaching a historical account such as the relationship with his father and the Holocaust. One of the most interesting aspects of Maus is the way in which Spiegelman uses animals to distinguish the various races within the comic

    I believe The book uses animals instead of human characters for a personification feel. They use these types of animals to make up the different cultures during the Holocaust. The Poles as pigs the Jews are the mice, and the cats are Nazi Germans. I feel that Spiegelman uses animals instead of humans  because it gives us a better understanding of what type of animals make up the different types of activity that are being talked about.

Elie Wiesel major purpose for animal imagery in the story, the audience has not lived through the Holocaust like Elie did. Using the mistreatment of animals, many people have information and witnessed animal mistreatment could paint picture of the torture and horror of the Holocaust better and vivid. Wiesel was sending a message of not to repeat history and to be woke about the damage being done and to fix humanity. Wanting for everyone to know, all of humanity is equal,”Someone who hates one group will end up hating everyone - and, ultimately, hating himself or herself.”( Brainy Quotes) The novel is the perspective of Elie, as Elie was to be seen and treated a dirty animal of the treatment, from fighting for food, beat unnecessarily and other horrible torture tactics, that animals would

The Maus books are award-winning comics written by Art Spiegelman. They are the non-fictional stories of Art and his father, Vladek. In the book, Art Spiegelman is a writer, planning to portray Vladek’s life as a Jewish man during WWII Europe in comic book form. While Art gathers information for his story through visits to his father’s house, much is learned about their relationship and individual personalities. Through this analysis, Maus becomes an example of how the Holocaust has effected the lives of survivors and their children for decades. Survivors suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which impairs their ability to live normal lives and raise their children. By

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 animals in the story were used as imagery for the situation. Each race is depicted as a certain animal, which displays their role in the story: the Nazis are represented as cats, the Jewish people are mice, and the Polish are pigs. “Its form the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice) succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described…” (preface). Artie shares the imagery before the story to help the reader understand. “You're a Pole like me..” (64); when Vladek says this, he is wearing a pig mask, talking to a pig, so Poles can be identified as pigs. Each race at this time had identifiable characteristics that relate to animal characteristics. The Jewish people were hunted by the Germans like cats hunt mice (when there are cats, there are no mice). The Polish played a role that could easily be missed. Artie depicts them as pigs to show they were selfish. The Polish wanted to avoid fighting the Germans because they valued their own