Week 7: Maus and the Legitimization of the Graphic Novel

This week I read the graphic novel titled Maus by Art Spiegelman, which tells the story of the Holocaust through the eyes of Spiegelman's father. It is written in sort of an interview-style format as Spiegelman is asking his father many questions about the whole ordeal. The material covered in this graphic novel is extremely dark and is delivered through anthropomorphism. The Nazis are depicted as cats and the Jewish people are depicted as mice—a prey predator relationship. Also, American people are dogs and Polish people are pigs. This style of storytelling is reminiscent to me of the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, where the story is told from a group of farm animals. This story mainly creates an allegory of the horrific actions of Joseph Stalin.

Despite Maus telling its story in a cute art style, it is understood that what happened was terrifying. When something truly frightful occurred in the story, Spiegelman would change his technique of illustration to convey the message better.

  

Here, Spiegelman utilizes darker values and crosshatching to get the point across that the hangings of the Jews was traumatic for Vladek. The value of Vladek and his wife is darker than anything else in this panel; we as viewers focus on them the most. The gesture of his silhouette depicts that he is upset—there is no need to see facial expressions to tell that he is undergoing distress. Overall, Spiegelman makes excellent use of illustration techniques to create a well done graphic novel. He details the events of the Holocaust in a manner that is easy to read but not childish; this is very much an adult work. I enjoyed reading Maus, I gained a new perspective on the Holocaust and was reminded just how awful this moment of time truly was.