Maus Blog

Last week in class we read and discussed a piece “Show and Tell” and how graphic novels can have well detailed illustrations to deepen our understanding. To apply this concept we read  “Maus” by Art Spiegelman. After reading “Maus” in class and analyzing the story I understood that there's so much more than what meets the eye when it comes to comics. “Maus” is a comic that tells a story about the Holocaust using extended metaphors with animals and how they symbolize different groups of people. The graphic novel represents Jews as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, etcetera. 

As depicted in the comic, art is interviewing his father for a new comic about the experiences of his father during the holocaust. Over the course of all the interviews, art incorporates a flash back to a comic he had written after his mothers death about how she committed suicide. The illustrations show a gloomy atmosphere as he discovers his father, Vladek is crying on the floor over his wife Anjas death in sorrow because his wife had committed suicide. When art walks in the room and sees this he feels as if he has to comfort his father. Art illustrated himself in a prisoner's attire to symbolize how he feels guilty for not crying after his mother's death.