Maus By Michael Spiegelman

The books Maus I and Maus II, written by Art Spiegelman over a thirteen-year period from 1978-1991, are books that on the surface are written about the Holocaust. The books specifically relate to the author’s father’s experiences pre and post-war as well as his experiences in Auschwitz. The book also explores the author’s very complex relationship between himself and his father, and how the Holocaust further complicates this relationship. On a deeper level the book also dances around the idea of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. The two books are presented in a very interesting way; they are shown in comic form, which provides the ability for Spiegelman to incorporate numerous ideas and complexities to his work.

The graphic novel Maus I: My Father Bleeds History and Maus II: And Here my Troubles Began, by Art Spiegelman was a story of the life depicting Spiegelman’s father, Vladek, during his plight through the holocaust. His son Art visits his father to get information to write his illustrative graphic novel showcasing the dynamic between different ethnicities during World War II. We are given a visual reenactment of Vladek’s life from meeting his first wife, to losing a son, and to surviving the beast that is the holocaust. Spiegelman uses allegories throughout Maus for human ethnicities by replacing facial features with that of an animal. The primary focuses upon the differentiation in ethnic stereotypes in this graphic novel were: Germans as the big bad tough cats that toy with the mice, Jews as quiet vermin that must be squashed, and great and loyal dogs from America who are portrayed as the saviors too the mice from the cats. Art Spiegelman uses metaphor to describe race and adds in hierarchy/superiority from the Germans, Americans, and Jews. All the stereotyping Spiegelman does, correlates with his recurring theme of racism, which was the primary catalyst to spur the holocaust.

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.

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’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 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

Comics exist to expose the ethnic representations that seek to control the development of collective perceptions, memories and emotions and especially fear by investigating the techniques through which this control is maintained. Maus I is a true account of a Holocaust survivor, Vladek Spiegelman, and his experiences as a young Jew during the horrors leading up to the confinement in Auschwitz. Maus II is about Vladek recounting his own history to his son Art

Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a famous, Pulitzer Prize winning tale about the journey of a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Despite the amount of similar storylines, Spiegelman’s creativity with the normal elements of comics has won him high praise. This analysis will focus on Spiegelman’s unique twist on icons, layouts, diegesis, abstraction, and encapsulation as displayed by Maus.

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

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.

In the book Maus it shows many structures in the way the animals are portrayed. The Jews being drawn as mice; mice are known to be small and dependent. As the Germans being drawn as cats; cats being bigger and more independent tend to eat mice. Nazis haunt torture and kill the weak Jews just like cats. It is an analogy, cats and mouse. The mouse is a symbol for subordinate and the cat is supremacy. Spiegelman’s meaning for drawings the character like that has a totally different approach. His main purpose was to show the different kinds of ethnicities in the book, through the different types of animals in order to tell them apart. His main purpose was also to show the human traits of the animal by drawing them with human bodies.

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.

“No darling. To die, it's easy. But you have to struggle for life.” The quote conveys the persistence needed to surmount the obstacles life will possess and when you are able to surmount these obstacles, then you are genuinely a true survivor. Art Spiegelman’s “The Complete Maus” utilises anthropomorphic imagery of the feline and mouse to depict his parent’s experiences during the Holocaust and an unorthodox medium of a graphic novel to explore Vladek’s survival of the Holocaust and its effects upon him and his family. Through Art’s interpretations of Vladek’s story, we perceive that the comix extensively explores the trauma suffered

Jew’s that lived in Germany or Poland in the late 1930’s and 1940’s lived under constant fear for being found. A Jew’s life during this time consisted of hiding from the ruthless Nazi campaign. These grim times pressured many Jews to change their appearance and lifestyle in order to blend in with the non-Jewish crowd. This act of concealment was displayed particularly effectively in the Art Spiegleman’s Maus: A Survivors Tale. In this graphic novel Spiegleman portrayed his father’s survival stories of the holocaust with mice as Jews, cats as Germans, pigs as Poles, and more animals for different racial backgrounds. As depicted on page 136, the mice would sometimes wear pig mask in order to disguise themselves as Poles, and in this case they

In the comic book Maus, Art Spiegelman shows the readers what people endured during the Holocaust terror. Art mostly spoke about persons of Jewish descent. He utilized great imagery, and characteristics to allow readers to get a mental image and painting of the immense pain and suffering Jews endured during the Holocaust. His use of symbolism of mice and cats helped to show how Jews were just pawns, and experimental factors to Germans. Art allows for the reader to see how terrifying and horrific it was for Jews to live through the senseless racism, and harsh living conditions. These camps were like a living hell, full of deceit, hate, guilt, and survival of the fittest. If one were to read Maus , and fully look at the words , and paint these pictures they would noticed how the Holocaust just wasn’t a tragic period of time , but it had a lasting mental effect on any individual who survived those terrors.