Maus Spiegelman Analysis

“At all levels this is the ultimate survivor’s tale - and that, too, of the children who somehow survive even the survivors” (i). This harrowing graphic novel creates bonds with the reader by using relationships between characters. The idea behind the story is to tell someone's perspective of a horrific event and how it impacted the lives of everyone, even today’s generation. The Holocaust is an influential piece of the story. Without it, this graphic novel would not have been written. The graphic novel aspect of the story is intriguing. It draws the reader's attention because they can view the content through the images Art has presented. The emotion of characters can be seen vividly throughout the novel. This is unique because it can appeal to a variety of ages. It can be relatable to many because of the relationships. The relationships established in Maus are those of father son, wife husband, mother son, including Nazi's Jewish relationships. In “Maus”, Art Spiegelman was inspired by multiple ideas, such as relationships, the Holocaust, and to tell his story via graphic novel in such a manner relatable to general readers.

Leaving 6 million Jews murdered in its wake, the Holocaust is one of the most devastating events to ever occur in history. This horrific work of evil is a moment never to be forgotten, especially by those who lived through the nightmare. With hundreds of stories that have been published about the Holocaust by survivors and their relatives, this time in history is also a learning experience for modern day people. By reading the sorrowful and melancholy tales of Holocaust victims, the people of today grow wiser and more knowledgeable as to prevent something so heinous from reoccurring in the future. However, what shocks many readers is one author’s decision to depict his father’s Holocaust story in the form of a comic book. The comic book format used in both Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman is a new and innovative way to present the atrocities of the Holocaust because it makes the dark concepts of the story easier to understand and opens opportunities for not only displaying, but inspiring new insights among readers.

The comic book “Maus” by Art Spiegelman talks about his father who lived during the holocaust in poland. The comic talks about how his father Vladek had to do in order to survive the holocaust. The comic has the same story as the other works but Vladek had different experiences since he had to protect his wife Anja.

Maus is a graphic novel about a survivor of the holocaust. The author depicts in the graphic novel what his father told him about his experience in the holocaust. It is written about the events of the holocaust. The story begins when the author goes to his father’s house to interview him about his memories of the holocaust. He was jotting down notes so that he could make a book about his father’s life.

Art Spiegelman’s Maus, has the depth and subtlety that we expect from traditional novels and extended non fictional text. When you think of a comic you think superheroes and funny comics in the back of the newspaper. Maus is the chilling reality of surviving as a Jew during the Holocaust. The comic type writing and illustration help us understand what the Jews had to go through to survive during the Holocaust. For many people today it is hard to imagine what it must have been like to live as a Jew in those days. The illustrations show how they had to disguise themselves so they wouldn’t be attacked for just being themselves. Jews didn’t really have anyone to turn to. Even the police would not help. Spiegelman used animals to show different

Frank A. Clark once said, “A father is a man who expects his son to be as good a man as he meant to be”. Although a father wants his son to be the best he can be, this expectation can cause the deep love between them to be complicated. Vladek loves and wants the best for his son, but the hardships he endured throughout the war strains his relationship with Artie. From childhood, Artie’s connection to his father has been troubled, but as he learns about what his dad went through, Artie gains an understanding of Vladek. The graphic novel, “The Complete Maus” by Art Spiegelman, shows how a father’s survival of the Holocaust affects his relationship with his son. The relationship between a father and son can be complex and although Vladek and Artie love each other, Vladek’s experiences during the Holocaust and Artie’s resentment of his father’s expectations makes their relationship difficult.

Maus, first published as a complete work in 198X, is Art Spiegleman’s artistic work which captures his father’s experience during the Holocaust. Utilizing anthropomorphism, Maus portrays the Germans as cats and the Jewish community as mice. This cat and mouse game, which has become an overused cliché, takes on extremely dark undertones when the analogy is applied to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. Speigleman’s use of the comic medium helps to increase the reader’s defamiliarization and sense of the uncanny by guiding the audience to look again and create a deeper perception of the material. Maus operates as a type of frame story and plays with the non-linear aspect of memory. It constantly flows from the past to the present,

Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” allows readers to see the Holocaust through a comic as the story is told by his father. Other than Vladek's tellings about the Holocaust, Art includes description of his life now. This let the readers to see what happened outside of the Vladek's accounts. Consequently, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel broadens the readers understanding of the influences of Holocaust through Art’s relationships, guilt, and Vladek's changes.

Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel called Maus about the Holocaust. This book tells the story of Art’s father Vladek. Art writes about how he interviews his father later in his father’s life to learn about his experiences in Nazi Europe in the early 1940’s. The book contains many sad stories of death and destruction. Art uses the medium of comics so that his readers are able to see and read about the awful happenings during the Holocaust. Vladek demonstrates many abnormal behaviors throughout the novel because of his disturbing experiences. Throughout the story, it is shown that the Holocaust affects almost every aspect of Vladek and Art’s lives. Through diagnosing both Vladek and Art with post traumatic stress disorder, we can better comprehend

Within Maus 1 and Maus 2, Art Spiegelman gives a very thorough and developed image of his father, Vladek Spiegelman, through his artwork and given scenes from his father’s holocaust experience. Vladek Spiegelman grew up in the pre-war setting of Czestochowa, Poland and later meets the women to become soon his wife when he visits his family in a town of maybe thirty-five to forty miles away called Sosnowiec. Vladek then moved to the town at the end of 1936 and married Anja Zylberberg on February 14, 1937. Vladek married into Anja’s wealthy family and became a manufacturer in Sosnowiec.

Art Spiegelman’s two part graphic novel, “The Complete Maus”, chronicles the story of Art’s father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. As the book opens, we see Art interviewing his father about his experiences in World War II Europe, a time of horror and fear that Vladek is reluctant to discuss with his son. The book is comic-themed and Spiegelman draws out all the situations and events to better visualize his feelings about the events and the trauma that his father experienced during the Holocaust. Consequently, the comic nature of the novel has led to a large controversy about the author’s intentions and reasons behind his stylistic choice. Some believe that Spiegelman is more worried about entertainment than history, and uses the comic strip genre in his novel to make the story more interesting at the expense of accuracy. Conversely, others believe that Spiegelman uses comics because of his art background, which allows him to tell the story more easily than simply writing out his father’s story verbatim. Whatever his reasons or intentions, Spiegelman’s novel allows the reader to understand the grim events of the Holocaust from a survivor’s perspective through a medium that distracts the reader from the horrors of the war.

In the decades following the end of World War II there have been many literary and cinematic works portraying what life was like during the Holocaust. Many of these have come from survivors themselves but never the less even some of the most well-known works have come from second generation Holocaust victims or rather children whose parents were a part of it. One of the most renowned pieces is Art Spiegelman’s non-fiction graphic novel “Maus”. Originally published in 1980, it details the experiences of both Art as the son of a Holocaust survivor and his father Vladek as an actual eyewitness. The novel describes their individual struggles as well as the toll that has been taken on their relationship as a result of past events. Another famous and successful work by the son of a Holocaust victim is Roberto Benigni’s 1997 triple academy award winning Italian comedy-drama “Life Is Beautiful”. Written and directed by Benigni himself, he also portrays the main role of Guido Orefice, an Italian Jew, who falls in love with a woman named Dora. They subsequently get married and together have a son named Giousuè. As the war approaches the three of them are soon deported to what is presumably Auschwitz. Although these two works are completely different they share many common characteristics and themes with each other. The overarching theme of both works is survival

The two narratives that compose Maus portray the influence of the past on the life of Vladek Spiegelman. The past tense and present tense narrations, during the World War II and in New York respectively, shape his personality throughout the graphic novel. The transitions between the storytelling and the moments of father and son, with Artie, conveys the influence the character's past has on his present reality and his relationships. The intersection of essential motifs allows the flourishment of perceiving the character's development. The motif of trauma reflects the post-war consequences on Vladek, affecting his relationship with his wife Mala and his son; the constant father and son motif depicts the inconstancy of Vladek's personality;

The holocaust was a horrific event in our worlds history. An event that killed over millions of people and effected millions of peoples’ lives. Everyone has their own experience of living through the 1940’s when the holocaust was taking place. The author of the comic Maus tells the story of himself living and surviving through the concentration camps. He writes a personal narrative through pictures and word text bubbles to engage the readers and allow them to put themselves in his shoes but also see the whim of hope these people hung onto. In another text, The World Must Not Forget, a newspaper article from the New York Times, the author in a completely different point of view describes his experience as an outsider of going over to Europe

Secondly, Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel, shows his parents’ experiences in Nazi occupation in Poland, and his story describes the Holocaust, and he based on a series of interviews with his father that took place between 1972 and 1982. The novel is divided in to two parts. The first part, My Father Bleeds History, is focused on Vladek, Art’s father, and his life, and the stories of the Jews living through the Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945 in Poland. In this part of the story, Art interviewed his father, and he talked about his difficult life during that time and his survival of the Nazi occupation. The second part, And Here My Troubles Began, continues the story about his parents arrest and experience at Auschwitz and included more details