I found "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelmau to be my favorite read so far this semester. I have a feeling that nothing else we read will change this. This is probably because I enjoy comic books and graphic novels, but there is no doubt that this one contained a deeper level to it. However, I am very surprised that someone wanted to publish a graphical novel about a topic as serious as the Holocaust. Beyond that, having it played out by animals, which on a simple level seems comical and disrespectful, surprised me. Further examination, however, reveals that this element of the story is what makes it so special. Identity and nationalism, while they can be a positive thing, are taken too far during this time period and are ultimately why this novel has been written. Instead of portraying these different races in the book with humans of different looks, using animals of entirely different species highlights their differences. And with everyone knowing the relationship between cats and mice, a good vs. evil element is easily added, not that the novel was lacking one to begin with. I also found it interesting that Spiegelmau choose to represent the Polish with pigs. I think this may have happened because when it comes to cats and mice, pigs are a neutral party. And in the novel they can be on either side, helping or hurting the "mice".
The use of animals in this graphic novel adds another possible element. I have noticed in panels that Vladwk would sometimes wear a pig mask and mostly go unnoticed. To me, this served many purposes, one mocking how silly the beliefs of the Nazis were. Another on literally level it showed how some Jews could blend while some couldn't, just because of physical stereotypes. One panel in particular depicts this perfectly. Vladwk and Anja are trying to blend, but its stated that she stands out more. This is supported by the picture, has her tail standing out against the background. This is one of many examples of how the graphical novel genre enhances this novel. Another would be the examples and diagrams of buildings and hiding spots in the story. This, at least for me, made understanding the characters and their living situations, at least on a psychical level, a lot easier.
While reading this book I found the plot especially easy to understand. There are mainly things that occur, however, that I feel have more meaning to them. The biggest example of this is the Author’s interactions with his father. I can’t tell if many of these have a deeper meaning to them or are included just for the hell of it.
Overall, I have enjoyed reading this graphical novel. I thought at first that the use of animals in a comic genre was very inappropriate but now I see how it enhances the work.
I have to agree that Maus is one of my favorite reads so far this semester. I found it so intriguing how Art Spiegleman mapped out each picture to have specific meaning. It is truly amazing how genius his format of writing is. To be able to make graphic novel about the Holocaust with deeper meanings within each picture is truly a talent. I had read this book in high school and never did the class analyze the significance of the pictures or why it was a graphic novel. It all goes back to psychology again. The Nazi’s propaganda had deep psychological meanings behind them and Art Speigleman does the same with each graphic in his graphic novel. The shape of each picture, the sizes of the characters, and even the boarder of the pictures, all have significant meaning. As we discussed in class on page 12, Valadek was cycling. His tattoo from the concentration camp was portrayed, as well as Art being smaller in the pictures with the visual of the stationary bike. The actual action of Valadek spinning the wheels of his stationary bike signifies the process of the memories spinning back in to his mind. The fact that the characters are portrayed as animals has a great significance. Pet mice spin of wheels for exercise and Valadek in the story is a mouse and his bike is significant to a spinning wheel.
Alex Dishman This is the second time that I have read Maus for an English class, and this time made me like it even more than the first. So far this is also my favorite read of the class because I found myself not able to put it down (I read the entire first book literally in one sitting). Even though I’m not really into comic books or anything of that sort, I really enjoyed reading this book because it seemed as if it took an edge off such a serious subject. Just like the first time I read this, I thought that the symbolism of the different characters by animals was a truly spectacular tactic. I agree with Britton that using the cats vs. mice added a good vs. evil element to the story. I also agree with Britton in that when Spiegelman put the pig mask on Vladek and some other Jews it represented the ability of some of the Jews to blend in while others blatantly stood out. It definitely showed how dumb and gullible the Nazi’s were. The graphic novel definitely enhanced the novel, I agree with that point as well. The only thing that really confused me about the novel (which is a super minor point) is that if Americans are represented by dogs in the second novel, why are their mean dogs “sniffing out the Jews”? I can’t tell if that is representative of anything or just a random portrayal that actually doesn’t portray anything. I also agree that I can’t tell if Art’s interactions with his father are symbolic or have a deep meaning or if they are just in the story. I also wanted to mention that the transfer of present to past and back and forth really helped with the novel because it helped give my mind a break while I was reading and keep my attention. All in all, this was my favorite read of the semester and reading it a second time definitely helped me pick up on things I didn’t pick up on the first time, when I read it in 8th grade.
I agree with Britton completely. Art Spiegelman’s Maus is most definitely my favorite work that we have read thus far this semester. I really find Spiegelman’s use of imagery to be very creative and innovative. I agree that at first it can be considered inappropriate and morbid to compare Jews to mice and Germans to cats, but the idea grows on you. This idea of somewhat of a food chain was very creative of Spiegelman to represent the different nationalities and cultures. The representation of cats and mice for Germans and Jews actually reminded me a lot of Tom and Jerry, and how this bully-victim relationship between cats and mice is a metaphor for the relationship between Nazi Germany and Jews during the Holocaust. I think Britton makes an excellent observation with the Polish being represented as pigs, too. I had never really considered the idea of Spiegelman using the imagery of pigs for the Polish because of the neutrality of pigs. I hadn’t even noticed that aspect of pigs, being that they could choose to support either side of the “cat and mice” or German versus Jew debate. I hadn’t really considered that deeper meaning to Spiegelman’s choice of pigs to represent Poles, so great observation there. To summarize, after reading the first half of Spiegelman’s Maus, I’ve definitely grown to love the genre of graphic novels even more than I did before. I think Spiegelman does a fantastic job of having a deeper meaning to every aspect of his imagery; it seems as though everything he does in the design is intentional; nothing is random. Spiegelman’s mixture of excellent imagery, writing and plot harmonize in such a brilliant way. So far, it’s been an overall great read for me.
Chynna Humphrey I very much agree with Britton and some of the posts above me in that Maus: A Survivor’s Tale has been one of the best reads so far this semester. While being very simple to get through, you can also go back and reread the pages to get the full effect of Spiegelman’s genius. Each box is strategically drawn and placed on the page to give the reader a further understanding of Art and Vladeck’s stories. Even the angle and direction that each box is placed has a significance to the story, as it represents an overlap of time or change from past to present. It’s the amazingly drawn pictures and the genius of their placement that, in my opinion, makes this book so enticing. I also find it interesting how Spiegelman went about discussing a topic as horrible as the Holocaust. It would be almost impossible to put into words the atrocity and terror that was this genocide. I think this is why the author utilized the comic book strategy to go about writing this. It sort of puts a lighter, less intense edge on a period of time that was anything but light. I think this makes it easier for the reader to read about such a topic, and that was Spiegelman’s intention in doing so.
"The complete Maus" took me by surprise. At first, I imagined it to be a just another book and then I saw it was a graphic novel like a comic book. Even when I saw it was a comic book I wasn't too excited because I'm personally not into comic books and I thought it was be hard to read along and pick up the pictures and really retain the information I would be reading. When reading the first two pages I literally forced myself to go back and reread them because it was a lot for my to take it and I really wanted to evaluate the drawings. As I read on I really got the hang of reading this and seemed to be flowing by the pages. Spiegleman wrote this graphic novel in such a way where I can hear the characters voice and tone, even though they are mice.
What I admire most about this book is the way Spiegleman used animals to represent humans at this time that have a symbolic meaning. The jews were the mice and the germans were the cats and the white americans were the dog. Putting the three together you notice that the dog chases the cat, who chases the mice. The mice would be at the bottom of this food chain and thats how he wanted to portray Jews at this time.
There were a lot of little factors that I had to go back and realize. For example, the art in this graphic novel was really interesting to me. The fact that it was black and white made me think of why the author made it in black and white. I think it sets an older tone so the story isn't so modern as he talks about the holocaust. Also, I noticed that the art isn't consistent either. He draws the characters to wear different things. Lastly, I noticed how he typically did boxes with frames to capture each moment, but on some he would do a circle, the ones in the circle I payed extra close attention to.
I overall am really enjoying reading this as my first time. I can imagine that the book is even better reading it through again the second time to catch anything you didn't catch the first time.
This is actually my second time reading it so I feel like I could really get into the story and pick up things I didn’t the first time. I also find it interesting that he drew the characters as animals. I’m sure there are many reasons why Spiegelman drew Jews as mice. Other than the obvious reason that cats (Germans) chases mice it might have been because mice and rats are known for hiding in places and scavenging for food. I also find the conversation Art had with his father about Walt Disney interesting because Disney’s most famous character is a mouse, which might have sparked the idea. I’m also very surprised by how well Spiegelman portrayed everything and gave such emotion and reaction with only writing such small bits of conversation. Once I picked up the book I could not put it down; the novel is a very addicting read. One thing I found interesting about the style of the comic was the mini comic book Art had created years before he even wrote Maus. “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” was drawn so differently and the pages were blacked out so the story would really stand out. I like that I got a small taste of Art’s perspective on his mother’s death because Maus is all about his father’s journey. I feel like Maus is a book you could read over and over again and every time catch something you haven’t noticed before.
Justin Huntman I agree with your view of this Novel. I too was at complete and utter shock when I opened it up to see that it was not a traditional book like I had been expecting but instead it was a comic book also referred to as a graphic novel. But, unlike your initional impression the novel I was extremely exicted to read this because I do enjoy reading comic books. I felt from the very begging of novel and seeing that it was comic book meant that Maus would be a very enjoying read and after finishing it have to say that it was true. I am impressed with the way Spiegleman is able to tell this story there the graphic art form. His use of animals instead of humans for a majority of the book is quite impressive and different and not something you would expect in a book that is suppose to be about the holocaust. But, the he tells the story almost makes it seem more fitting; you can really see what the reaction of the people/animals involved are. The facial expressions are so important to the way he is trying to tell this story it just goes into showing how talented Spiegleman is.
When I opened Maus, I was surprised to see that it was a graphic novel. I also thought that it was interesting that it was biography of not only his father's life but also the interview process that he went through. The author could have easily just written the story, but as we have discussed in class he had reasons behind making it a visual novel.After the class discussion I had to go back and look at each panel again to try to find all the small details that I missed before. I found that there were little things that I maybe did not see or notice my first time reading it. Also the discussion made me think about why some of the panels were different from one another and what was the importance of doing so. Another area I wanted to touch on was that instead of using humans, the characters are instead animals. The Jews are mice, the German Nazis are cats, the Polish non-Jews are pigs, and the Americans are dogs. It is easy to see why he made the Jews mice and the Nazis cats. Cats chase mice and also the mice have to hide from the cats in fear of being eaten. Similarly the Jews were forced into hiding or running from the Nazis. Then there is the whole dogs chase cats thing, where the Americans had to chase out the Nazis. I am not really sure why he made the Polish non-Jew pigs, but it made me think of another novel. In the book Animal Farm the animals here too were humanized. In this book the animals overthrow the farmer and take charge. The animals place the pigs in charge. There is Snowball and Napoleon who are meant to represent Trotsky and Stalin. There is probably no connection, but when I saw the pigs I thought of Animal Farm. Overall I think that this book is really differnt and interesting and just like others said in class it is hard to put the book down after starting to read it. Although I will probably have to reread it a few times, jut to try to catch all the little details.
To make the characters animals instead of people really softens the message of the novel, in my opinion. The Holocaust is a very tragic and emotional subject, and using animals makes it almost humorous and causes the reader to disassociate the reality the characters are facing with the actual event. This is because the events of the Holocaust were so inhumane; it is easier to have them portrayed with animals than with actual human beings. I also found it interesting that Spiegelman used animals to represent the different types of people he wrote about. Using mice to portray the Jewish people is representative of the time period, in that Jews were considered to be the lowest form of human being and were therefore persecuted by the Germans, who are portrayed as cats. The Americans, who were at war with the Germans at the time, are portrayed as dogs. This is interesting because cats chase mice, and dogs chase cats. In media, reminiscent of Tom and Jerry, cats are generally portrayed as the villain while the mice are portrayed as the smarter, more agile underdog; while dogs generally bully the cats. I believe that this is the route that Spiegelman chose to take in writing Maus because it is the perfect example of how the involved parties in World War II were related.
I agree with Christen's statements in regards to the characters being depicted as animals in order to not only soften the terrible reality of the events but to also lend contextually to them - i.e. the iconicity of mice running from cats, cats chasing mice, etc. Besides softening the events in a narrative sense, I believe the animals softened them in a visual way, as well - a graphic novel depicting humans in states such as hanging by the neck would be very disturbing to the reader, and not only that, could you imagine drawing such a thing? The accessibility of the book would have, in my opinion, been extremely weakened.
In regards to the animal choices of the Americans and Poles, I think there are a few more elements in play besides those listed that give meaning to Spiegelman's choices. I believe that American's were portrayed as dogs because of their reputability. Dogs are generally perceived as loyal, smart, brave, and "man's best friend." A similar mindset is held by many American's about our country and its perceived superiority in both intelligence and morality. Considering Spiegelman is an American immigrant, his positive sentiment for the country is understandable. As far as the Poles being portrayed as pigs, Polish-Jewish conflict is a well-known recurring theme in history. Upon conducting some background research on the conflict, though, I found that it is mainly clung to by bitter Jews who experienced it first-hand and that their hate is generationally passed down to their otherwise uninvolved children. However, the Poles generally don't hold the same bitter memories and often feel betrayed by the Jews' lasting hatred, especially in light of the Poles support of the Jews is WWII. So, in Maus, I feel like Spiegelman picked the pig because: 1. While the word may have a generally negative connotation when used in reference to humans, most people don't actually dislike the animal itself, much like Jews have a general hatred for Poles, but it's only based on the contextual hate of their heritage not their actual experience, and 2. Pigs can suggest a less than positive idea in the reader's mind but they don't have iconically defined relationships with dogs, cats, or mice. Therefore, the reader has nothing from which they may draw narrative conclusion, leaving them solely with a negative idea of the Polish pigs that is fitting with a stereotypical Jewish mindset.
I got the same impression of Maus. I had no idea it was going to be a comic book and it really took me by surprise. I thought it was going to be some long rendition of the Holocaust, but open removing it out of the two book pack, I realized it was going to be just the opposite. The way he writes it also caught my attention before we discussed it in class. He the way he takes a step back to analyze his father’s story and then takes a further step back to analyze everything that is taking place during the interview process. You’re not alone in referencing this book to Animal Farm, because I did the same thing. I don’t believe there is any parallel between the two stories besides telling a historical event through animals. Animal Farm showed how these actual animals began to change into people, and on the other hand, Maus personified these animals right from the start. However, I do like the fact that he replaces humans with animals to bring about the whole animal hierarchy to further show the social divide between Non-Jewish citizens, Nazis, and Jews. Concerning the pigs, I believe this animal was picked intentionally because, with the intricacy he puts into every other details (Borders, picture content, and the flow of dialogue) he doesn’t seem to be the type of author to do something with no meaning behind it. I believe he made the Non-Jewish Poles pigs because he believed most of them to be filthy swine who would jeopardize another innocent human’s life due to fear of what could happen to their lives instead of doing the moral thing.
Like the rest of you, I really enjoyed this read as well. I was instantly captivated by the first page of the story; especially since it was all in graphic comic format. The stylistics and use of metaphor were used very well to create a vast range of personifications throughout the characters. It had such great symbolism as well- with the Nazi's being cat, and the Jews being the mice. It is pretty self explanatory why he would use those animals to personify the two. It's funny you both mention "Animal Farm", I too couldn't help but find some similarities while reading this book. The story has a very interesting narrative technique. The interview that is constantly taking place throughout the story really helps the reader develop an intimacy with Spieglemen, the main character. The familiar themes such as guilt and isolation were evident in this read as well, as should have been suspected. All in all, a wonderful piece of literature that I couldn't put down.
Ashley Hicks I agree with Maggie one hundred percent. I think half of Muse is based on the fact that it is written in a comic. I think that adds so much to the material. The fact that the author turned humans into animals really adds to how “animal-like” the holocaust was. I disagree with my classmates stating that the use of animals was to soften the overall comic. I also believe that he did this to de-humanize the Holocaust. So many people lost themselves in this terrible event, and by making the characters animals it visually represents the people “losing themselves”. He made the Jewish mice, the Germans cats, the Polish pigs, and American dogs. I didn’t realize until it was brought up in class that the age-old story of the dog chasing the cat who is chasing the mouse. We’ve all seen this so many times in Tom & Jerry. This visual fits Muse perfectly. The Americans are chasing the Germans who are chasing the Jewish people. This adds great visual to what is going on during this time frame of World War II. America was at war with the Germans while they were destroying the Jewish population. I haven’t quite figured out exactly with Singleton frames the different scenes in the way that he does. For example, the frame we were discussing in class with three different borders, why did Singleton feel this was appropriate? I do think that it does add a lot of motion to the writing though. With different borders and cropping you almost feel yourself moving along with the characters. I appreciate it though and I feel that it keeps me very interested and it just your typical Holocaust story that we have all read a million times.
Vanessa Previl Reading Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman was very interesting. My 4th grade teacher was a second year generation survivor and she took some time off to teach us about the holocaust, from there I have been hook to want to know more and learn more about each person story. So reading this book, though fiction, it captured my attention quick. But what took me off guard was when I first opened this book, is that it was a graphic novel in a comic book form – I almost did not take this book serious until I began to read. Hearing that this book would be about the holocaust I did not expect it first to be in a comic form but the way it was written is just amazing. Spiegelman really took time to put the writing and pictures together. It was like reading a movie or being there watching. I really can’t explain it. He even wrote side conversations such as the discussions about Mala and like on page 133 at the ending where he added that he had to get a pencil so he would not forget the conversation. He also added that to the book and I was like, okay… But this is what makes the book unique and stands out. Before reading this book, I skimmed the book and I found it interesting that each person was not in human form but as an animal. And while reading, it made perfect sense that Jews would be mice, Germans were cats, and Americans were dogs – those considered most vulnerable and weak would be represented as an animal that is also vulnerable and weak in the wilderness, cats that prey on mice and Americans would be represented by the animal that is more dominant then cats, this world is a wilderness. Also, though he was writing about his father’s story, he also wanted to incorporate his mother’s story to balance everything out. So when he found out that his father burned all the journals his mother wrote, I can see why he would say that his father was a murderer. His father killed history that may never be found again, lost forever. But I still want to know exactly what happened to him mother, especially to see why she decided to take her life. I won’t say I love the holocaust – I hate to read how Jews were treated worse than animals but I can still read about it and be interested. But in all I did enjoy reading this story.
I must agree with Vanessa in that it took me a while to take this book seriously as well. Although it is touching and exploring upon a very serious matter, due to its presentation (comic book form) it takes the reader a while to jump on the horse, if you will. Nonetheless, once you do get on that horse, there is no turning back; you are in for the ride of your life ( or at least in comparison to other Jewish pieces). Art Spiegelman ingeniously, brought to life in a non-offensive way something that most people rather put in the past or not even deal with at all. The Holocaust, something so real, so raw, that it almost physically hurts you when you read about it (jumping back to that point in time, locked behind some barbed wired fence until you are done with the story you are reading). For this reason, reading about the Holocaust is usually not a fun matter, at least I speak for myself. This is exactly what Spiegelman does; make it fun through the utilization of graphics and through his characterization of individuals. He substitutes animals for people, and so it makes it a bit easier to read and grasp the thought of genocide of mice instead of humans. Diminishing the emotionality of it, it allows one to pay close attention to other important aspects that one would overlook when you are caught in the harshness of the event and what actually happened. Indeed, Spiegelman constructed a piece of work where the reader is going to have no other choice but read his story and do so excitingly.
Cristina Vallarino The complete Maus by Art Spiegelman was by far my favorite book of the semester. I was quite shocked when I saw the book and realizing this was not a regular book, it was a comic. At first I thought this was going to be a long reading and difficult to understand, but when I began reading a realized it was easy and made me really interested to know what will happen to the family, even though I already know that the father and the mother survives, someway he still makes you interested in all that they had to go through to be able to survive this terrible times. All my life I have been interested in The Holocaust and all the survivors stories or diary’s, but when I read other books I never felt as connected and interested in the story as the author made me feel in this book. I believe this is an awesome book, not only for how the dad is narrating his story, but because of everything. We see all the characters and how Spiegelman illustrates them actually is not something random he thought about it and made his illustrations appropriate.He uses symbolism to show illustrate us how it was in that times and I believe its amazing his selection of characters for each different group of people. The jews were drawn as mouse, and the germans as cats; I believe this gives a lot of meaning to the story how jews were persecuted by this people as well as mouses are always persecuted by rats. Also he did not only told a story, he made us connect with the kid and the father. Most of jews holocaust stories are told in a sad depressing way, because they are expressing what they went through. In Maus we can even laugh he made a gloomy a depressing story into something interesting and entertaining and this is not something easy to do. I honestly believe that he is a genius in the way he told the story and the way he illustrated everything he made sure that the readers will feel what jews felt in that times, that we will know every detail that they went through. This was not just a story telling, it went beyond that we could see the good moments and the bad ones, the suffering and the happiness. I believe that this book is a piece of art and a great work and will recommend it to many people. It is a easy and interesting book to read that keeps you so into the subject that it is difficult to stop reading it, you want to know what happens next immediately.
As everyone has pointed at, I was surprised that Maus was a graphic novel. Throughout my education I have learned and read about the holocaust a lot. In high school I even took a class called Genocide and Holocaust. Needless to say, I am very familiar with this subject. However a graphic novel about the holocaust is something I have never come across. I really enjoyed the first part of Maus because it gave you one man’s story about the holocaust in a unique way that has never been done before. In this first book I found the way Vladik talked about Anja to be so endearing. The reader can tell that even at his old age, Vladik still has so much love for Anja. Various times throughout the book, Vladik interrupts his story telling to comment on how much he misses Anja. He even says “I tell you, if Anja could be alive now, it would be everything different to me.” I always find it really amazing that even in the most tragic of times people will always have time to invest in love. This part of the story reminds me of “The Shawl” because like Vladik, the mother in that story had to endure terrible conditions but still had an immense amount of love for her daughter. Likewise I really loved how the author, Art Spiegelman, uses vernacular to portray his father. It really bothers me when authors overdo a characters vernacular. For instance if a character is from the south many authors will use dialect that is such broken English that it is almost impossible to understand. However Spiegelman uses subtle flares in his father’s vernacular that the reader can obviously tell that the father is not from America, but not so much so that it is obnoxious. It is ironic that even though the illustrations in this story are animals, the way it is written makes me, as a reader; connect better with the story because the dialogue is so realistic. I also connected with this story so well because I loved the story-telling aspect about it. I too had (very distant) family who died in the holocaust. I have always wished that I could know more about what happened to them and hear their stories. When I am reading Maus, I feel connected to Art and his curiosity for his father’s incredible life. This is by far my favorite story that we have read in this class so far and I am sure the second part will prove to be just as good as the first part.
Maus by Art Spiegelman is, by far, the most captivating story we have read thus far this semester. I was shocked the first time I opened the book to find that it was entirely a cartoon. This would be my first time reading a graphic novel, a style I now have grown an interest it. I immediately noticed the framework of the story, where the different races took the identity of different animals. The subject of the Holocaust represents a brutal dehumanization of innocent people and this is portrayed through these characters a representative animal form. The “cat and mouse chase” clearly depicts the struggle faced by the Jews during this terrible time. After our discussion in class, I too questioned the genre of this work. In my opinion, I think it is in the oral history genre but Art may have blurred some facts in order to develop a stronger story. The cartoon form gives this work great value. Although the drawings are of cartoon animals, you get a sense of the scene and scope. Dramatization flows heavily throughout the work, but does a great job to illustrate the severity of the situation. Spiegelman created an iconic way of telling the history and personalized the story by creating a sense of attachment to both Art and his father. The gravity of the situations forced upon Vladek are unbelievable. He escapes near death on several occasions purely due to good fortune. The portrayal of the different races, although does provide entertainment, certainly caused for several disputes. I would expect that since this book is fairly new, people from specific races cared not to be compared to animals. I also saw the connection between Maus and Animal Farm, where real life conflicts were translated through the conflicts between farm animals. I would assume that is where Spiegelman gained some inspiration. Compared to Portnoy’s Complaint, I feel a sense of remorse felt by Art towards his father. Unlike Portnoy, he values his father and regrets the lack of attention he has shown him in the past. This time they have spent together going through his father’s past has allowed for him to grow closer to his father. The main question I have with this book surrounds Arts mother and her suicide. Her death is filled with speculation as to its reasoning and he only tell a small portion of her story. In all, I truly enjoyed reading the first book of Maus and look forward to reading the next.
It was hard for me to pick a specific topic to discuss for this blog. As soon as I started reading the book I never put it down. We discussed in class that many people seem to have a similar urge to finish this book once they read the first page. I started to look into why this might be. Some thoughts I had were the story telling quality, the unique experience you have reading and analyzing the visual details, and the way Art Speigelman presents such a sensitive subject. First, I felt the story was told in a way that wasn’t forced. The only opinion Mr. Spiegelman heavily developed was how he personally felt about his father. I think this was essential to keeping the story interesting and honest as far as how an interview between a father and son would be. Also, the unique experience you have as a reader is another reason it is hard to put down. When I first saw that this was a comic book I was horrified. I’ve never been into comics and immediately lost a good amount of interest in the book. However, after the first few pages I was drawn in and never looked back. The complexity of this comic is unlike any I have ever read. We talked in good detail in class about the possible reasons for placement/order and why he chose to use animals instead of people. The actual text is straight to the point, but all the imagery allows you as a reader to draw your own conclusions. I would imagine that people have a wide variety of interpretations and I think that makes this book unforgettable. Lastly, the way such a sensitive subject is present makes the reader want to keep turning the page. We discussed in class how it is possible that one of the reasons he chose to use animals was to take us out of the thought that this was a human event. At first it even has a childish feel to it just because the characters you first see are mice. Also, I think Spiegelman does a great job of pausing between sessions. This way not all of the book is about the story, but there is a good chunk focusing on the present. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at this book and can’t wait to read Part 2.
I am also stuck on exactly which aspect of Part 1 draws me in so much. I believe the fact that these sensitive and dramatic moments shared between Art and Vladek are perfectly contrasted with the presence of just the right amount of hate towards one another. While Art is so eager to hear his father’s stories of the past, he blatantly shows that he is not interested at all in his present life with Mala. I feel that this factor of the book just adds to the inhumane qualities portrayed through the use of mice, cats, etc. This also makes me excited and curious as to how Art will tackle the second part of the book, where he is solely interpreting his father’s recollections in his own eyes.
I, on the other hand, am an avid and ridiculously geeky comic book collector, so when I discovered that this graphic novel was in this awesome format, I knew it would be an intriguing read. The talent that is needed to make this particularly somber story into a thoughtful and meaningful comic is extraordinary. Creating a comic on any subject is unlike creating any other form of writing, and the fact that Art has a meaning behind every single picture is just utterly amazing to me. This goes back to not only the way he highlights each character throughout the story in very subtle ways, but also, like you said, how smoothly he transitions from past to present. In normal comics, you will often see a deliberate shift to and from flashbacks, because it is so difficult to do it discreetly. Art has mastered this piece and I am so ready to get into Part 2.
I was immediately engulfed in this novel the minute I opened the first page. This book leaves the reader with so much to think about beyond just the text. The illustrations alone leave me with 1,000 questions and ways to analyze things. I thought it was most interesting to analyze the significance of the characters unframed and overlapping other scenes. In one way, I interpreted to be somewhat of an overlapping of understanding. Art was putting himself in the scene figuratively and literally. I think these moments are the moments he most connected with his father. They were the moments that stuck out in his mind; the moments that he truly saw what his father was explaining.
I have also always been interested in books about the Holocaust. In fact, they were the only types of books I liked to read in elementary school because I though the Jewish religion was so much more complex than being a Christian. Part of what makes every book great, is making it a controversy. The symbolism of the Jewish community being mice raises a lot of ideas for me. For one, mice come in the hundreds. Mice are also a well-known prey of cats, the Germans. I also dug a little deeper to find that "They are known to invade homes for food and occasionally shelter." This sounds a lot like how mice are portrayed in the novel when they were hiding from the cats. Some of my findings also lead me to understand that, "because of its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, the mouse is one of the most successful mammalian genera living on Earth today". I find this also applicable in the situations in the novel because Art's father is a complete success yet he is always paranoid that there will be another cat just around any corner.
I'm interested to see what is to come in the next book because the accusation art casts upon his parents is that he calls them murderers. This reminds me a lot of the story murders where the young boys murder the beauty and sensual connection that the rabbi and his wife had while having sex. I think Art feels he was ruined by his parents because they survived such a horrific event that they couldn't separate themselves from what they survived which troubled Art for the rest of his life. He could never connect with them because he will never go through what his mother and father went through or endure what they endured.
I found "The Complete Maus" by Art Spiegelmau to be my favorite read so far this semester. I have a feeling that nothing else we read will change this. This is probably because I enjoy comic books and graphic novels, but there is no doubt that this one contained a deeper level to it. However, I am very surprised that someone wanted to publish a graphical novel about a topic as serious as the Holocaust. Beyond that, having it played out by animals, which on a simple level seems comical and disrespectful, surprised me. Further examination, however, reveals that this element of the story is what makes it so special. Identity and nationalism, while they can be a positive thing, are taken too far during this time period and are ultimately why this novel has been written. Instead of portraying these different races in the book with humans of different looks, using animals of entirely different species highlights their differences. And with everyone knowing the relationship between cats and mice, a good vs. evil element is easily added, not that the novel was lacking one to begin with. I also found it interesting that Spiegelmau choose to represent the Polish with pigs. I think this may have happened because when it comes to cats and mice, pigs are a neutral party. And in the novel they can be on either side, helping or hurting the "mice".
ReplyDeleteThe use of animals in this graphic novel adds another possible element. I have noticed in panels that Vladwk would sometimes wear a pig mask and mostly go unnoticed. To me, this served many purposes, one mocking how silly the beliefs of the Nazis were. Another on literally level it showed how some Jews could blend while some couldn't, just because of physical stereotypes. One panel in particular depicts this perfectly. Vladwk and Anja are trying to blend, but its stated that she stands out more. This is supported by the picture, has her tail standing out against the background. This is one of many examples of how the graphical novel genre enhances this novel. Another would be the examples and diagrams of buildings and hiding spots in the story. This, at least for me, made understanding the characters and their living situations, at least on a psychical level, a lot easier.
While reading this book I found the plot especially easy to understand. There are mainly things that occur, however, that I feel have more meaning to them. The biggest example of this is the Author’s interactions with his father. I can’t tell if many of these have a deeper meaning to them or are included just for the hell of it.
Overall, I have enjoyed reading this graphical novel. I thought at first that the use of animals in a comic genre was very inappropriate but now I see how it enhances the work.
DeleteI have to agree that Maus is one of my favorite reads so far this semester. I found it so intriguing how Art Spiegleman mapped out each picture to have specific meaning. It is truly amazing how genius his format of writing is. To be able to make graphic novel about the Holocaust with deeper meanings within each picture is truly a talent. I had read this book in high school and never did the class analyze the significance of the pictures or why it was a graphic novel. It all goes back to psychology again. The Nazi’s propaganda had deep psychological meanings behind them and Art Speigleman does the same with each graphic in his graphic novel. The shape of each picture, the sizes of the characters, and even the boarder of the pictures, all have significant meaning.
As we discussed in class on page 12, Valadek was cycling. His tattoo from the concentration camp was portrayed, as well as Art being smaller in the pictures with the visual of the stationary bike. The actual action of Valadek spinning the wheels of his stationary bike signifies the process of the memories spinning back in to his mind. The fact that the characters are portrayed as animals has a great significance. Pet mice spin of wheels for exercise and Valadek in the story is a mouse and his bike is significant to a spinning wheel.
Alex Dishman
DeleteThis is the second time that I have read Maus for an English class, and this time made me like it even more than the first. So far this is also my favorite read of the class because I found myself not able to put it down (I read the entire first book literally in one sitting). Even though I’m not really into comic books or anything of that sort, I really enjoyed reading this book because it seemed as if it took an edge off such a serious subject. Just like the first time I read this, I thought that the symbolism of the different characters by animals was a truly spectacular tactic. I agree with Britton that using the cats vs. mice added a good vs. evil element to the story. I also agree with Britton in that when Spiegelman put the pig mask on Vladek and some other Jews it represented the ability of some of the Jews to blend in while others blatantly stood out. It definitely showed how dumb and gullible the Nazi’s were. The graphic novel definitely enhanced the novel, I agree with that point as well. The only thing that really confused me about the novel (which is a super minor point) is that if Americans are represented by dogs in the second novel, why are their mean dogs “sniffing out the Jews”? I can’t tell if that is representative of anything or just a random portrayal that actually doesn’t portray anything. I also agree that I can’t tell if Art’s interactions with his father are symbolic or have a deep meaning or if they are just in the story. I also wanted to mention that the transfer of present to past and back and forth really helped with the novel because it helped give my mind a break while I was reading and keep my attention. All in all, this was my favorite read of the semester and reading it a second time definitely helped me pick up on things I didn’t pick up on the first time, when I read it in 8th grade.
Stephanie Jones:
DeleteI agree with Britton completely. Art Spiegelman’s Maus is most definitely my favorite work that we have read thus far this semester. I really find Spiegelman’s use of imagery to be very creative and innovative. I agree that at first it can be considered inappropriate and morbid to compare Jews to mice and Germans to cats, but the idea grows on you. This idea of somewhat of a food chain was very creative of Spiegelman to represent the different nationalities and cultures. The representation of cats and mice for Germans and Jews actually reminded me a lot of Tom and Jerry, and how this bully-victim relationship between cats and mice is a metaphor for the relationship between Nazi Germany and Jews during the Holocaust. I think Britton makes an excellent observation with the Polish being represented as pigs, too. I had never really considered the idea of Spiegelman using the imagery of pigs for the Polish because of the neutrality of pigs. I hadn’t even noticed that aspect of pigs, being that they could choose to support either side of the “cat and mice” or German versus Jew debate. I hadn’t really considered that deeper meaning to Spiegelman’s choice of pigs to represent Poles, so great observation there. To summarize, after reading the first half of Spiegelman’s Maus, I’ve definitely grown to love the genre of graphic novels even more than I did before. I think Spiegelman does a fantastic job of having a deeper meaning to every aspect of his imagery; it seems as though everything he does in the design is intentional; nothing is random. Spiegelman’s mixture of excellent imagery, writing and plot harmonize in such a brilliant way. So far, it’s been an overall great read for me.
Chynna Humphrey
DeleteI very much agree with Britton and some of the posts above me in that Maus: A Survivor’s Tale has been one of the best reads so far this semester. While being very simple to get through, you can also go back and reread the pages to get the full effect of Spiegelman’s genius. Each box is strategically drawn and placed on the page to give the reader a further understanding of Art and Vladeck’s stories. Even the angle and direction that each box is placed has a significance to the story, as it represents an overlap of time or change from past to present. It’s the amazingly drawn pictures and the genius of their placement that, in my opinion, makes this book so enticing.
I also find it interesting how Spiegelman went about discussing a topic as horrible as the Holocaust. It would be almost impossible to put into words the atrocity and terror that was this genocide. I think this is why the author utilized the comic book strategy to go about writing this. It sort of puts a lighter, less intense edge on a period of time that was anything but light. I think this makes it easier for the reader to read about such a topic, and that was Spiegelman’s intention in doing so.
"The complete Maus" took me by surprise. At first, I imagined it to be a just another book and then I saw it was a graphic novel like a comic book. Even when I saw it was a comic book I wasn't too excited because I'm personally not into comic books and I thought it was be hard to read along and pick up the pictures and really retain the information I would be reading. When reading the first two pages I literally forced myself to go back and reread them because it was a lot for my to take it and I really wanted to evaluate the drawings. As I read on I really got the hang of reading this and seemed to be flowing by the pages. Spiegleman wrote this graphic novel in such a way where I can hear the characters voice and tone, even though they are mice.
ReplyDeleteWhat I admire most about this book is the way Spiegleman used animals to represent humans at this time that have a symbolic meaning. The jews were the mice and the germans were the cats and the white americans were the dog. Putting the three together you notice that the dog chases the cat, who chases the mice. The mice would be at the bottom of this food chain and thats how he wanted to portray Jews at this time.
There were a lot of little factors that I had to go back and realize. For example, the art in this graphic novel was really interesting to me. The fact that it was black and white made me think of why the author made it in black and white. I think it sets an older tone so the story isn't so modern as he talks about the holocaust. Also, I noticed that the art isn't consistent either. He draws the characters to wear different things. Lastly, I noticed how he typically did boxes with frames to capture each moment, but on some he would do a circle, the ones in the circle I payed extra close attention to.
I overall am really enjoying reading this as my first time. I can imagine that the book is even better reading it through again the second time to catch anything you didn't catch the first time.
This is actually my second time reading it so I feel like I could really get into the story and pick up things I didn’t the first time. I also find it interesting that he drew the characters as animals. I’m sure there are many reasons why Spiegelman drew Jews as mice. Other than the obvious reason that cats (Germans) chases mice it might have been because mice and rats are known for hiding in places and scavenging for food. I also find the conversation Art had with his father about Walt Disney interesting because Disney’s most famous character is a mouse, which might have sparked the idea. I’m also very surprised by how well Spiegelman portrayed everything and gave such emotion and reaction with only writing such small bits of conversation. Once I picked up the book I could not put it down; the novel is a very addicting read. One thing I found interesting about the style of the comic was the mini comic book Art had created years before he even wrote Maus. “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” was drawn so differently and the pages were blacked out so the story would really stand out. I like that I got a small taste of Art’s perspective on his mother’s death because Maus is all about his father’s journey. I feel like Maus is a book you could read over and over again and every time catch something you haven’t noticed before.
DeleteJustin Huntman
DeleteI agree with your view of this Novel. I too was at complete and utter shock when I opened it up to see that it was not a traditional book like I had been expecting but instead it was a comic book also referred to as a graphic novel. But, unlike your initional impression the novel I was extremely exicted to read this because I do enjoy reading comic books. I felt from the very begging of novel and seeing that it was comic book meant that Maus would be a very enjoying read and after finishing it have to say that it was true. I am impressed with the way Spiegleman is able to tell this story there the graphic art form. His use of animals instead of humans for a majority of the book is quite impressive and different and not something you would expect in a book that is suppose to be about the holocaust. But, the he tells the story almost makes it seem more fitting; you can really see what the reaction of the people/animals involved are. The facial expressions are so important to the way he is trying to tell this story it just goes into showing how talented Spiegleman is.
Word Count 207
When I opened Maus, I was surprised to see that it was a graphic novel. I also thought that it was interesting that it was biography of not only his father's life but also the interview process that he went through. The author could have easily just written the story, but as we have discussed in class he had reasons behind making it a visual novel.After the class discussion I had to go back and look at each panel again to try to find all the small details that I missed before. I found that there were little things that I maybe did not see or notice my first time reading it. Also the discussion made me think about why some of the panels were different from one another and what was the importance of doing so. Another area I wanted to touch on was that instead of using humans, the characters are instead animals. The Jews are mice, the German Nazis are cats, the Polish non-Jews are pigs, and the Americans are dogs. It is easy to see why he made the Jews mice and the Nazis cats. Cats chase mice and also the mice have to hide from the cats in fear of being eaten. Similarly the Jews were forced into hiding or running from the Nazis. Then there is the whole dogs chase cats thing, where the Americans had to chase out the Nazis. I am not really sure why he made the Polish non-Jew pigs, but it made me think of another novel. In the book Animal Farm the animals here too were humanized. In this book the animals overthrow the farmer and take charge. The animals place the pigs in charge. There is Snowball and Napoleon who are meant to represent Trotsky and Stalin. There is probably no connection, but when I saw the pigs I thought of Animal Farm. Overall I think that this book is really differnt and interesting and just like others said in class it is hard to put the book down after starting to read it. Although I will probably have to reread it a few times, jut to try to catch all the little details.
ReplyDeleteTo make the characters animals instead of people really softens the message of the novel, in my opinion. The Holocaust is a very tragic and emotional subject, and using animals makes it almost humorous and causes the reader to disassociate the reality the characters are facing with the actual event. This is because the events of the Holocaust were so inhumane; it is easier to have them portrayed with animals than with actual human beings. I also found it interesting that Spiegelman used animals to represent the different types of people he wrote about. Using mice to portray the Jewish people is representative of the time period, in that Jews were considered to be the lowest form of human being and were therefore persecuted by the Germans, who are portrayed as cats. The Americans, who were at war with the Germans at the time, are portrayed as dogs. This is interesting because cats chase mice, and dogs chase cats. In media, reminiscent of Tom and Jerry, cats are generally portrayed as the villain while the mice are portrayed as the smarter, more agile underdog; while dogs generally bully the cats. I believe that this is the route that Spiegelman chose to take in writing Maus because it is the perfect example of how the involved parties in World War II were related.
DeleteI agree with Christen's statements in regards to the characters being depicted as animals in order to not only soften the terrible reality of the events but to also lend contextually to them - i.e. the iconicity of mice running from cats, cats chasing mice, etc. Besides softening the events in a narrative sense, I believe the animals softened them in a visual way, as well - a graphic novel depicting humans in states such as hanging by the neck would be very disturbing to the reader, and not only that, could you imagine drawing such a thing? The accessibility of the book would have, in my opinion, been extremely weakened.
DeleteIn regards to the animal choices of the Americans and Poles, I think there are a few more elements in play besides those listed that give meaning to Spiegelman's choices. I believe that American's were portrayed as dogs because of their reputability. Dogs are generally perceived as loyal, smart, brave, and "man's best friend." A similar mindset is held by many American's about our country and its perceived superiority in both intelligence and morality. Considering Spiegelman is an American immigrant, his positive sentiment for the country is understandable. As far as the Poles being portrayed as pigs, Polish-Jewish conflict is a well-known recurring theme in history. Upon conducting some background research on the conflict, though, I found that it is mainly clung to by bitter Jews who experienced it first-hand and that their hate is generationally passed down to their otherwise uninvolved children. However, the Poles generally don't hold the same bitter memories and often feel betrayed by the Jews' lasting hatred, especially in light of the Poles support of the Jews is WWII. So, in Maus, I feel like Spiegelman picked the pig because: 1. While the word may have a generally negative connotation when used in reference to humans, most people don't actually dislike the animal itself, much like Jews have a general hatred for Poles, but it's only based on the contextual hate of their heritage not their actual experience, and 2. Pigs can suggest a less than positive idea in the reader's mind but they don't have iconically defined relationships with dogs, cats, or mice. Therefore, the reader has nothing from which they may draw narrative conclusion, leaving them solely with a negative idea of the Polish pigs that is fitting with a stereotypical Jewish mindset.
I got the same impression of Maus. I had no idea it was going to be a comic book and it really took me by surprise. I thought it was going to be some long rendition of the Holocaust, but open removing it out of the two book pack, I realized it was going to be just the opposite. The way he writes it also caught my attention before we discussed it in class. He the way he takes a step back to analyze his father’s story and then takes a further step back to analyze everything that is taking place during the interview process.
DeleteYou’re not alone in referencing this book to Animal Farm, because I did the same thing. I don’t believe there is any parallel between the two stories besides telling a historical event through animals. Animal Farm showed how these actual animals began to change into people, and on the other hand, Maus personified these animals right from the start. However, I do like the fact that he replaces humans with animals to bring about the whole animal hierarchy to further show the social divide between Non-Jewish citizens, Nazis, and Jews. Concerning the pigs, I believe this animal was picked intentionally because, with the intricacy he puts into every other details (Borders, picture content, and the flow of dialogue) he doesn’t seem to be the type of author to do something with no meaning behind it. I believe he made the Non-Jewish Poles pigs because he believed most of them to be filthy swine who would jeopardize another innocent human’s life due to fear of what could happen to their lives instead of doing the moral thing.
Like the rest of you, I really enjoyed this read as well. I was instantly captivated by the first page of the story; especially since it was all in graphic comic format. The stylistics and use of metaphor were used very well to create a vast range of personifications throughout the characters. It had such great symbolism as well- with the Nazi's being cat, and the Jews being the mice. It is pretty self explanatory why he would use those animals to personify the two. It's funny you both mention "Animal Farm", I too couldn't help but find some similarities while reading this book. The story has a very interesting narrative technique. The interview that is constantly taking place throughout the story really helps the reader develop an intimacy with Spieglemen, the main character. The familiar themes such as guilt and isolation were evident in this read as well, as should have been suspected. All in all, a wonderful piece of literature that I couldn't put down.
DeleteAshley Hicks
DeleteI agree with Maggie one hundred percent. I think half of Muse is based on the fact that it is written in a comic. I think that adds so much to the material. The fact that the author turned humans into animals really adds to how “animal-like” the holocaust was. I disagree with my classmates stating that the use of animals was to soften the overall comic. I also believe that he did this to de-humanize the Holocaust. So many people lost themselves in this terrible event, and by making the characters animals it visually represents the people “losing themselves”. He made the Jewish mice, the Germans cats, the Polish pigs, and American dogs. I didn’t realize until it was brought up in class that the age-old story of the dog chasing the cat who is chasing the mouse. We’ve all seen this so many times in Tom & Jerry. This visual fits Muse perfectly. The Americans are chasing the Germans who are chasing the Jewish people. This adds great visual to what is going on during this time frame of World War II. America was at war with the Germans while they were destroying the Jewish population.
I haven’t quite figured out exactly with Singleton frames the different scenes in the way that he does. For example, the frame we were discussing in class with three different borders, why did Singleton feel this was appropriate? I do think that it does add a lot of motion to the writing though. With different borders and cropping you almost feel yourself moving along with the characters. I appreciate it though and I feel that it keeps me very interested and it just your typical Holocaust story that we have all read a million times.
Vanessa Previl
ReplyDeleteReading Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman was very interesting. My 4th grade teacher was a second year generation survivor and she took some time off to teach us about the holocaust, from there I have been hook to want to know more and learn more about each person story. So reading this book, though fiction, it captured my attention quick. But what took me off guard was when I first opened this book, is that it was a graphic novel in a comic book form – I almost did not take this book serious until I began to read.
Hearing that this book would be about the holocaust I did not expect it first to be in a comic form but the way it was written is just amazing. Spiegelman really took time to put the writing and pictures together. It was like reading a movie or being there watching. I really can’t explain it. He even wrote side conversations such as the discussions about Mala and like on page 133 at the ending where he added that he had to get a pencil so he would not forget the conversation. He also added that to the book and I was like, okay… But this is what makes the book unique and stands out.
Before reading this book, I skimmed the book and I found it interesting that each person was not in human form but as an animal. And while reading, it made perfect sense that Jews would be mice, Germans were cats, and Americans were dogs – those considered most vulnerable and weak would be represented as an animal that is also vulnerable and weak in the wilderness, cats that prey on mice and Americans would be represented by the animal that is more dominant then cats, this world is a wilderness.
Also, though he was writing about his father’s story, he also wanted to incorporate his mother’s story to balance everything out. So when he found out that his father burned all the journals his mother wrote, I can see why he would say that his father was a murderer. His father killed history that may never be found again, lost forever. But I still want to know exactly what happened to him mother, especially to see why she decided to take her life.
I won’t say I love the holocaust – I hate to read how Jews were treated worse than animals but I can still read about it and be interested. But in all I did enjoy reading this story.
I must agree with Vanessa in that it took me a while to take this book seriously as well. Although it is touching and exploring upon a very serious matter, due to its presentation (comic book form) it takes the reader a while to jump on the horse, if you will. Nonetheless, once you do get on that horse, there is no turning back; you are in for the ride of your life ( or at least in comparison to other Jewish pieces). Art Spiegelman ingeniously, brought to life in a non-offensive way something that most people rather put in the past or not even deal with at all. The Holocaust, something so real, so raw, that it almost physically hurts you when you read about it (jumping back to that point in time, locked behind some barbed wired fence until you are done with the story you are reading). For this reason, reading about the Holocaust is usually not a fun matter, at least I speak for myself. This is exactly what Spiegelman does; make it fun through the utilization of graphics and through his characterization of individuals. He substitutes animals for people, and so it makes it a bit easier to read and grasp the thought of genocide of mice instead of humans. Diminishing the emotionality of it, it allows one to pay close attention to other important aspects that one would overlook when you are caught in the harshness of the event and what actually happened. Indeed, Spiegelman constructed a piece of work where the reader is going to have no other choice but read his story and do so excitingly.
DeleteCristina Vallarino
ReplyDeleteThe complete Maus by Art Spiegelman was by far my favorite book of the semester. I was quite shocked when I saw the book and realizing this was not a regular book, it was a comic. At first I thought this was going to be a long reading and difficult to understand, but when I began reading a realized it was easy and made me really interested to know what will happen to the family, even though I already know that the father and the mother survives, someway he still makes you interested in all that they had to go through to be able to survive this terrible times. All my life I have been interested in The Holocaust and all the survivors stories or diary’s, but when I read other books I never felt as connected and interested in the story as the author made me feel in this book. I believe this is an awesome book, not only for how the dad is narrating his story, but because of everything. We see all the characters and how Spiegelman illustrates them actually is not something random he thought about it and made his illustrations appropriate.He uses symbolism to show illustrate us how it was in that times and I believe its amazing his selection of characters for each different group of people. The jews were drawn as mouse, and the germans as cats; I believe this gives a lot of meaning to the story how jews were persecuted by this people as well as mouses are always persecuted by rats.
Also he did not only told a story, he made us connect with the kid and the father. Most of jews holocaust stories are told in a sad depressing way, because they are expressing what they went through. In Maus we can even laugh he made a gloomy a depressing story into something interesting and entertaining and this is not something easy to do. I honestly believe that he is a genius in the way he told the story and the way he illustrated everything he made sure that the readers will feel what jews felt in that times, that we will know every detail that they went through. This was not just a story telling, it went beyond that we could see the good moments and the bad ones, the suffering and the happiness. I believe that this book is a piece of art and a great work and will recommend it to many people. It is a easy and interesting book to read that keeps you so into the subject that it is difficult to stop reading it, you want to know what happens next immediately.
ReplyDeleteAs everyone has pointed at, I was surprised that Maus was a graphic novel. Throughout my education I have learned and read about the holocaust a lot. In high school I even took a class called Genocide and Holocaust. Needless to say, I am very familiar with this subject. However a graphic novel about the holocaust is something I have never come across. I really enjoyed the first part of Maus because it gave you one man’s story about the holocaust in a unique way that has never been done before. In this first book I found the way Vladik talked about Anja to be so endearing. The reader can tell that even at his old age, Vladik still has so much love for Anja. Various times throughout the book, Vladik interrupts his story telling to comment on how much he misses Anja. He even says “I tell you, if Anja could be alive now, it would be everything different to me.” I always find it really amazing that even in the most tragic of times people will always have time to invest in love. This part of the story reminds me of “The Shawl” because like Vladik, the mother in that story had to endure terrible conditions but still had an immense amount of love for her daughter.
Likewise I really loved how the author, Art Spiegelman, uses vernacular to portray his father. It really bothers me when authors overdo a characters vernacular. For instance if a character is from the south many authors will use dialect that is such broken English that it is almost impossible to understand. However Spiegelman uses subtle flares in his father’s vernacular that the reader can obviously tell that the father is not from America, but not so much so that it is obnoxious. It is ironic that even though the illustrations in this story are animals, the way it is written makes me, as a reader; connect better with the story because the dialogue is so realistic.
I also connected with this story so well because I loved the story-telling aspect about it. I too had (very distant) family who died in the holocaust. I have always wished that I could know more about what happened to them and hear their stories. When I am reading Maus, I feel connected to Art and his curiosity for his father’s incredible life. This is by far my favorite story that we have read in this class so far and I am sure the second part will prove to be just as good as the first part.
Maus by Art Spiegelman is, by far, the most captivating story we have read thus far this semester. I was shocked the first time I opened the book to find that it was entirely a cartoon. This would be my first time reading a graphic novel, a style I now have grown an interest it. I immediately noticed the framework of the story, where the different races took the identity of different animals. The subject of the Holocaust represents a brutal dehumanization of innocent people and this is portrayed through these characters a representative animal form. The “cat and mouse chase” clearly depicts the struggle faced by the Jews during this terrible time. After our discussion in class, I too questioned the genre of this work. In my opinion, I think it is in the oral history genre but Art may have blurred some facts in order to develop a stronger story. The cartoon form gives this work great value. Although the drawings are of cartoon animals, you get a sense of the scene and scope. Dramatization flows heavily throughout the work, but does a great job to illustrate the severity of the situation. Spiegelman created an iconic way of telling the history and personalized the story by creating a sense of attachment to both Art and his father. The gravity of the situations forced upon Vladek are unbelievable. He escapes near death on several occasions purely due to good fortune. The portrayal of the different races, although does provide entertainment, certainly caused for several disputes. I would expect that since this book is fairly new, people from specific races cared not to be compared to animals. I also saw the connection between Maus and Animal Farm, where real life conflicts were translated through the conflicts between farm animals. I would assume that is where Spiegelman gained some inspiration. Compared to Portnoy’s Complaint, I feel a sense of remorse felt by Art towards his father. Unlike Portnoy, he values his father and regrets the lack of attention he has shown him in the past. This time they have spent together going through his father’s past has allowed for him to grow closer to his father. The main question I have with this book surrounds Arts mother and her suicide. Her death is filled with speculation as to its reasoning and he only tell a small portion of her story. In all, I truly enjoyed reading the first book of Maus and look forward to reading the next.
ReplyDeleteIt was hard for me to pick a specific topic to discuss for this blog. As soon as I started reading the book I never put it down. We discussed in class that many people seem to have a similar urge to finish this book once they read the first page. I started to look into why this might be. Some thoughts I had were the story telling quality, the unique experience you have reading and analyzing the visual details, and the way Art Speigelman presents such a sensitive subject. First, I felt the story was told in a way that wasn’t forced. The only opinion Mr. Spiegelman heavily developed was how he personally felt about his father. I think this was essential to keeping the story interesting and honest as far as how an interview between a father and son would be. Also, the unique experience you have as a reader is another reason it is hard to put down. When I first saw that this was a comic book I was horrified. I’ve never been into comics and immediately lost a good amount of interest in the book. However, after the first few pages I was drawn in and never looked back. The complexity of this comic is unlike any I have ever read. We talked in good detail in class about the possible reasons for placement/order and why he chose to use animals instead of people. The actual text is straight to the point, but all the imagery allows you as a reader to draw your own conclusions. I would imagine that people have a wide variety of interpretations and I think that makes this book unforgettable. Lastly, the way such a sensitive subject is present makes the reader want to keep turning the page. We discussed in class how it is possible that one of the reasons he chose to use animals was to take us out of the thought that this was a human event. At first it even has a childish feel to it just because the characters you first see are mice. Also, I think Spiegelman does a great job of pausing between sessions. This way not all of the book is about the story, but there is a good chunk focusing on the present. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at this book and can’t wait to read Part 2.
ReplyDeleteI am also stuck on exactly which aspect of Part 1 draws me in so much. I believe the fact that these sensitive and dramatic moments shared between Art and Vladek are perfectly contrasted with the presence of just the right amount of hate towards one another. While Art is so eager to hear his father’s stories of the past, he blatantly shows that he is not interested at all in his present life with Mala. I feel that this factor of the book just adds to the inhumane qualities portrayed through the use of mice, cats, etc. This also makes me excited and curious as to how Art will tackle the second part of the book, where he is solely interpreting his father’s recollections in his own eyes.
DeleteI, on the other hand, am an avid and ridiculously geeky comic book collector, so when I discovered that this graphic novel was in this awesome format, I knew it would be an intriguing read. The talent that is needed to make this particularly somber story into a thoughtful and meaningful comic is extraordinary. Creating a comic on any subject is unlike creating any other form of writing, and the fact that Art has a meaning behind every single picture is just utterly amazing to me. This goes back to not only the way he highlights each character throughout the story in very subtle ways, but also, like you said, how smoothly he transitions from past to present. In normal comics, you will often see a deliberate shift to and from flashbacks, because it is so difficult to do it discreetly. Art has mastered this piece and I am so ready to get into Part 2.
I was immediately engulfed in this novel the minute I opened the first page. This book leaves the reader with so much to think about beyond just the text. The illustrations alone leave me with 1,000 questions and ways to analyze things. I thought it was most interesting to analyze the significance of the characters unframed and overlapping other scenes. In one way, I interpreted to be somewhat of an overlapping of understanding. Art was putting himself in the scene figuratively and literally. I think these moments are the moments he most connected with his father. They were the moments that stuck out in his mind; the moments that he truly saw what his father was explaining.
ReplyDeleteI have also always been interested in books about the Holocaust. In fact, they were the only types of books I liked to read in elementary school because I though the Jewish religion was so much more complex than being a Christian. Part of what makes every book great, is making it a controversy. The symbolism of the Jewish community being mice raises a lot of ideas for me. For one, mice come in the hundreds. Mice are also a well-known prey of cats, the Germans. I also dug a little deeper to find that "They are known to invade homes for food and occasionally shelter." This sounds a lot like how mice are portrayed in the novel when they were hiding from the cats. Some of my findings also lead me to understand that, "because of its remarkable adaptability to almost any environment, the mouse is one of the most successful mammalian genera living on Earth today". I find this also applicable in the situations in the novel because Art's father is a complete success yet he is always paranoid that there will be another cat just around any corner.
I'm interested to see what is to come in the next book because the accusation art casts upon his parents is that he calls them murderers. This reminds me a lot of the story murders where the young boys murder the beauty and sensual connection that the rabbi and his wife had while having sex. I think Art feels he was ruined by his parents because they survived such a horrific event that they couldn't separate themselves from what they survived which troubled Art for the rest of his life. He could never connect with them because he will never go through what his mother and father went through or endure what they endured.