Erin Mannix

Eng 112
12 Apr 2015
Maus: A Deeper Look Into its Historical Meaning
Written by Art Spiegelman in 1991, the comic Maus gives an
extremely detailed account of Vladek Spiegelmans experiences living
in Nazi occupied Poland in World War 2. Maus is a story that condemns
the horrors of the Holocaust while simultaneously showing how the
sadistic plan impairs the lives of those who lived it many years later.
While reading the graphic novel, Art Spieglman portrays his father,
Vladek, both from his recollections of his years during the war and with
his present day reactions to everyday life. From Arts perspective we
see an unfolding account of the Holocaust while also seeing the
damage that years of war, hiding, and severe survival tactics has on an
elderly man. Arts comic formatting allows the novel to be a quick read
while also providing a complex commentary on how each of the
characters interacted; for example, characters are portrayed as
animals symbolizing their status with Germans being cats, Jews being
mice, and Poles being pigs. While reading the graphic novel Art is
completely present in the writing to the point where he directly draws
about what went on to get the information for the story, making the
novel seem evermore real.
Since this book is a work of nonfiction, we are given a true
hands-on account of what life was like during this time. There are

many references to Auschwitz and ghettos, which add to its validity.

From a historical perspective, we see how the basis of this comic, the
Holocaust, unfolds into a story full of brutality and adventure. The Jews
were treated as animals, no pun intended, and were confined to live in
the most horrid
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of conditions. With that being said, some of the remaining survivors
today, still face the daily struggles of coping with what they
experienced. It is not uncommon for victims to have flashbacks or
exhibit some form of posttraumatic stress disorder (KOLAR).
Spiegelman talks about how all of the Jewish citizens both in and out of
the concentration camps were punished and persecuted for trying to
live normal lives. These punishments were often worse for those who
tried to help others who were not so fortunate. One of these examples
was starting on page 84*, when a Jewish man who often sold goods
without coupons was hung for a week in the town center with a few
others for doing the same thing. Page 84 is quite visual and it includes
a dark panel denoting self-reflection and fear. The imagery is graphic
and the hanging heads of the mice make this page very dramatic and
it sets the dark tone for the rest of the chapter. Elaborating more on
how this affects the Spielgelman family, they were absolutely
astonished by this event, because without this man's good deeds, they
would have had a much harder time surviving on so little food.

Researching this event, it was not uncommon all over Nazi-controlled

towns for deaths like this to occur. While the Jewish man in Maus was
hung, there were multiple accounts of Nazis taking Jews and beating
them to death in crowds, entering shops and shooting at random, or
even stepping on human heads while on the pavement (Life). As if that
was not bad enough, often the friends and family members of these
victims had to clean up the mess made or suffer similar punishment
(Life). Relating that back to survivors coping, when having to deal with
such traumatic events, most are unable to forget the horrors they
witnessed and
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experienced. They carry with them the weight and even pass it on to
their children. Arts story confirms the assertion that generations
which have never been exposed to a traumatic event can inherit the
trauma of their ancestors and that the most common channel of this
intergenerational and trans generational transmission is through the
family, (KOLAR). Although Art never experienced the Holocaust
himself, he shows a certain resistance to his identification with
Vladeks experience, and though he sometimes appears to lack
empathy towards Vladeks suffering, there is no doubt that this trauma
affected him too.

Another historical context that this graphic novel highlights is

how Vladek survived neither because of luck, nor skill but rather a
combination of the two. Because of these two things, he was able to
withstand and endure the torturous experiences he
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faced; however, they were not without consequence. Throughout his
life he lost people very dear to him and witnessed events that no one
should have to witness. Both of these contributed to his detestable
relationships and frugalness later on in his life. Prior to the war, Vladek
was a skilled businessman and he had many connections that would
either prove to help or potentially hurt him. He came from a rich family
on his wife Anjas side and that gave him many valuables that he was

able to later trade; however, neither of these positive traits allowed her
father to live, who was also a millionaire. Spieglman writes, "he was a
millionaire, but even this didn't save his life," (Maus p. 115*). This is
important to note, because it goes to show how wealth still was not
able to help over come the anti-Semitic ideals of the Nazi rule. Even
though his wife had money, the Nazis were more concerned with their
singular focus of the mass genocide of the Jewish population. When the
Nazis came to power in 1933, they ordered anti-Jewish economic
boycotts, staged book burnings, and enacted discriminatory anti-Jewish
legislation. The Nuremberg Laws racially defined Jews by blood and
ordered the total separation of so-called "Aryans" and "non-Aryans,
thereby legalizing a racist hierarchy (Antisemitism). His fortunes
proved to be no match for Hitlers hatred. However, Vladeks desire to
push forward and save his family is a very common trend or theme
that occurs throughout many stories of the Holocaust. It is not hard to
see the Jewish peoples determination in trying to stay alive and their
extreme devotion to saving and protecting their families. Unlike his
father in law, Vladek was more
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concerned with the welfare of his family rather than what was going to
happen with his money or valuables.

To help make the Holocaust easier to understand, Speigelman

casts the Germans as cats, the Jews as mice, and the Poles as pigs.
Using the cat and mouse metaphor, Speigelman manages to symbolize
the Jews status with the Germans and show how they were often, in a
way, prey. These help stereotype the social groups, which make this
novel unique and compelling (Considering). Spiegelman, in an
interview states, [Eternal Jew] portrayed Jews in a ghetto swarming
in tight quarters, bearded caftaned creatures, and then a cut to Jews as
miceor rather ratsswarming in a sewer, with a title card that said
Jews are the rats or the vermin of mankind. This made it clear to
me that this dehumanization was at the very heart of the killing
project. (Why Mice?) He, similarly to many other books about Jews,
cast them as mice; however, he did so in
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a way that helped the reader understand their status, rather than for
demoralization. Throughout the book, the mice are rarely seen with
their mouths open. Spiegelman states, When I show the mouths,
theyre almost always there as cries and screams. Its not usually used
to show characters yukking it up and laughing really loud. Its that
triangle inverted as you look at it from underneath with a kind of
scream face. It allows for a kind of vulnerability, coming in toward the
underbelly of the mouse. The screaming mouth completes the face; its
a way of making that face human. (Why Mice?) Thanks to this little
visual aspect, we see his deliberateness when creating his comics.
Everything he did had some sort of meaning behind it, and he was
effective at shining light on the subject matter. Spiegelman's approach
to the Holocaust, in comics form and with animal imagery, transforms
the historical context into an artistic/fictional representation, thus,
making the history easier to understand for a broader audience (Hye
Su).
In regards to the visual aspects, Maus is rather simple and
extremely text based. The pages are done in black and white, with a
variety of different sized panels. This adds to the seriousness of the
comic and makes it seem dismal. The art itself, looks like scribbles and
is childish; however, it is effective at portraying his stance on the
whole ordeal. Towards the middle, the comic includes another comic

within itself about his mother committing suicide, and instead of using
animal figures, it uses actual photos

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and human forms. This was a nice change of scenery, and it put into
perspective how animals in a way, view humans. This excerpt also
goes into more detail about
how he felt when this event happened. He only briefly touched on that
in the rest of the book and it interesting to see his reactions to things,
instead of his fathers. Spiegelman manages to incorporate and
interchange both words and images so that he can collect his thoughts
on his fathers stories and show how the project shaped him even as
he shaped it (Hathaway).
Overall, Maus is a good representation of the Holocaust but it is
also about the story of the Speigelman family, whose image is
reflected through this historical representation. Its emphasis on history
and extreme attention to detail on how history affects individuals is a
theme that should not be overlooked. The text is a historical document
based on testimony and facts, but it is also an autobiographical
creation of the author, who artistically projects himself onto one of the
narrators, Artie, in the text (Hye Su). While Maus is Art's retell of his
father's life during the Holocaust, the many pauses between the
historical aspects of the novel mixed with Art's retelling of the process

show how the Holocaust shaped both Vladek and Art's life into one of
that aims to struggle. It seems as though having survived the camps,
Vladek still lives as though any day he will need the same strategies he
used then by saving everything and being extremely frugal, which
affects all of his relationships. The novel includes many examples of
how the Holocaust has affected its victims, and how they are dealing
with these struggles later on in their lives. The graphic novel captures
the story quite
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profoundly and makes for a very emotional read.
*Pictures taken from Maus pages 84 and 115.

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Works Cited
"Antisemitism." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United
States
Holocaust Memorial Council, 20 June 2014. Web. 21 Feb.
2015.
"Considering Maus: Approaches To Art Spiegelman's 'Survivor's Tale' Of
The
Holocaust." Holocaust And Genocide Studies 19.3 (2005): 549551. Index to Jewish Periodicals. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Hathaway, Rosemary V. "Reading Art Spiegelman's Maus As
Postmodern
Ethnography." Journal Of Folklore Research 48.3 (2011): 249-267.
MLA International Bibliography. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Hye Su, Park. "Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale: A Bibliography
Essay." Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal Of Jewish Studies 29.2
(2011): 146-164. Literary Reference Center. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
KOL, STANISLAV. "Intergenerational Transmission Of Trauma In
Spiegelman's Maus." Brno Studies In English 39.1 (2013): 227241. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
M. W., P. "Life In A Nazi Concentration Camp." Jewish Book World 32.3
(2014): 111. Jewish Studies Source. Web.
"Why Mice? by Art Spiegelman." Why Mice? by Art Spiegelman. Web.
16
Mar. 2015.