MAUS

Maus is a graphic novel by Art Speigelman. It depicts his father's experiences during the Holocaust as a Jew. The story is written in an interview style, where it interlaces the dialogues with his father in the present and his father's accounts of the war. This type of writing gives the narrative a second layer. When the story gets too dark, we get a moment of relief from the bleakness and get an insight on the characters peaceful lives now completely different from the horrors of the holocaust. It also suspends us mid action and makes us want to know what happens next. Although moments like this become less as less frequent as the story goes on, it becomes more of a continuous narrative with his father as the main character. Maus gives us a new lens to understand the Holocaust through the medium of the graphic novel, using unique visuals and storytelling techniques.

The interesting element of Maus is how it uses animals in the place of human characters as a metaphor. He portrays Jewish people as mice, Germans as cats, and Polish people as pigs. The cat and mouse dynamic makes the predator and prey relationship clear. This further alludes to how no one was safe when they are jewish. Although sometimes it is hard to tell the different characters apart, it adds to the connotation of how Nazi Germany dehumanizes the Jews and rounds them up without discern. 

As similar as the characters look, Speigelman paints a very clear picture of the character's personalities and we relate to them in many ways because of how well grounded they are. Such as Vladeck's stinginess and resourcefulness. The drawings are very bold and forceful, with black lines and white backgrounds. It is not holding anything back. The format of the panels felt repetitive and did not aid in telling the story as much as it could have. But this allows the reader to follow along well, especially in the text heavy portions.  We can feel the character's anguish and hopelessness through simple drawings with strong lines. As the scenarios get darker and bleaker, as it does in Maus II, the pages have more dark tones covering larger portions of the page. The progression of Maus I and II goes from the beginning of the war to deep in the camps of Auschwitz until his release. He does not hold back on telling us the gritty details and gruesome truths. The depressing narratives are contrasted with moments of hope at times when the character finds a glimmer of hope and is able to use his wits even in the most desperate situations. Each time that Vladeck narrowly escapes death, it gives us a bit of relief. Maus is definitely a comic that is unlike anything else I have read before, and I will remember it for a long time for its messages and truths that still hold up to this day.