Maus I

Art Spiegelman’s Maus is his father’s tale of survival of the Holocaust. I felt Spiegelman’s representation of different ethnicities as different animals was really unique as well as helpful for readers. I especially liked the scenes where Vladek and other Jewish people were trying to portray themselves as Polish, so the illustration had them wearing masks of pigs (which is the animal Polish people represented in Maus). It took me a second glance to understand the meaning of the pictures, but after realizing what they were portraying I thought how smart of Spiegelman to do it this way.

Not only do we get to see glimpses of Vladek’s life during Hitler’s reign, but we get to see how Vladek and Art himself interacted after his father’s survival. We see instances of how surviving through the Holocaust has changed and shaped Vladek by his need to save everything he owns like old papers, but especially his money. Art even jokes that his father is living up the stereotype of old Jewish men being stingy about their money.

At the end of the comic there is a scene between Vladek and Art. They are talking about Anja’s diaries (Art’s mother). Throughout the comic Art asks Vladek to search for these diaries because they would give him some great insight of what she went through. When Vladek tells Art he burned them because he was upset, Art calls him a murderer. I thought this specific word was interesting for Spiegelman to use. At first I was upset that Art would treat his father this way, but when reconsidering the situation, it is almost like a murder has taken place. Because Vladek burned all of her diaries, he also burned the memories of her. In this sense, we could think of Vladek as a sort of murderer.

As I read the first volume of Maus it kept me wanting more. So, I am eager to read the second volume. Although I have yet to read the second volume, I can already agree with people in class who have mentioned that they think it is wrong to just read the first volume.