In Maus 1 by, Art Spiegelman, The very first chapter was dated in December 1980 in a small insert in an american newspaper. Art Spiegelman is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics enthusiasts best known for his graphic novel Maus 1. His work as co editor on the comics magazines Arcade and Raw has been powerful, and from 1992 he spent a decade as a donating art for The New Yorker.
Maus 1 is a graphic novel that shows Horrific stories of the holocausts. The novel portrays the author, Art Spiegelman, as he interviews his father, Vladek, about his experience during the Holocausts. Vladek’s will to endure life is inspiring and allowed him to live through the horrors of concentration camps like being separated from his wife, nearly starving to death, watching his friends die, hearing about the deaths of family members, and other extraordinary trials. The novel ends with Vladek telling Art the story of how he was reconciled with Anja after the war. It is one of the most luminous parts of the novel, and it is crystal clear that Vladek has had one true love in his life.
In the story all the Jews were represented as mice, In representing the Jews as mice Spiegelman is playing off the anti Semitic typecast of Jews as rabble or pests, as less than human. This was a very appropriate technique to portray the Jews as mice because mice are very small and have very little defensive ability just as the Jews did, This doesn’t mean that the jews were small in height but as small in popularity and in government roles, They weren’t ready for a war or a fight so that’s how they have very little if at all any defense prepared.
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The relationship between Artie and his father is that they weren’t very close, Artie decided to start oftenly visiting him to learn more about his life story. Their type of relationship is a love-hate. They often Argue about stuff but still love each other because they are family and they only have each other. An example of there love-hate relationship is that,” Father: I don’t want you should write this in your book, Artie: What? Why not?”(Spiegelman 23). This isn’t that big of a deal but Artie is trying to get the full story but his father is holding him back from that.
Another example of There love-hate relationship is when this happened,”Artie: Oh, dad-have you seen my coat anywhere? Father: yes…I threw it out. Artie: What?!? You’re kidding! Give It back! Father: It’s too late… Father : Such an old shabby coat. It’s a shame my son would wear such a coat! Artie: But I like it!”(Spiegelman 68-69). The father threw away a possession that artie had prized without even asking or telling. This could have put a damper on their relationship. But luckily Artie was a bigger person and kept coming back afterwards.
Even though it’s a comic book, the content discussed in this book is very impactful to most people both then and now. Instead of being being wards on paper, The images create a picture or story in your head, where you can follow along and visualize it the whole time. A time where this was used Is when Artie and his wife Anja were going around with masks on portraying that they weren’t jews,” Artie:A-Amcha. Stranger: I thought you were a jew… I’m jewish too! There are very few of us left…”(Spiegelman 138).
This is when another man with a mask on [portraying a non-Jew] recognizes a fellow jew [Artie] and helps him out. It could only be understood using the images on the paper and would otherwise confuse us if it were just words on paper. Another way the Author portrayed something that wouldn’t make sense when he said,” And, what do you think? He sneaked on the bad side! And those on the bad side never came home anymore”(Spiegelman 91). In the book it shows a man climbing over a barbed wire fence, It wouldn’t be as bad if you were to just read “He sneaked on the bad side!”.
In pages 98-103 The style of drawing changes by the looking almost different from before, It’s a lot darker,There actually humans instead of mice. Just the overall feeling when reading or just looking at feels different from the rest of the book.
Some advantages of this book being a graphic novel instead of a regular novel is that you can almost experience it like your there instead of just hearing about. Meaning that your hearing but your also seeing, and it’s well known that seeing can help your mind have an image almost as if your there in the moment and experiencing what they are. Some disadvantages Is maybe some people don’t like seeing all these cartoons on every page, Maybe if it was every couple of pages it would be better but who knows.
