Maus

I remember back when I was a junior in high school I was given Art Spiegelman's book to read for my English class. It's a treat to be able to come back to this graphic novel after all these years, as it's one of the first ones I've read that had to do with something non-fiction based in origin. I didn't check when it was made but I had always thought it was a comic made later than it actually was, probably due to it's design that influenced others.  The lower usage of type in every panel, how well he spread the conversations were for each page, its a long book but it never felt long with how he spread the information.  

I suppose it makes sense that the subject that would legitimize graphic novels would be an autobiographical take on WW2.  The war has inspired countless works of art that have been highly honored in our society as its such a crazy period of time where a good portion of the world was thrown into chaos en masse.   But what really helped Maus at the time in the 80s was that comics were a new medium for storytelling and were previously untapped by writers who wanted to make biographical novels.  So many stories of holocaust survivors told, or told of the countless ones who were unable to make it out of the death camps. 

 It's an event far away enough to be somewhat romanticized by the following generations and still a present reminder due to the consequences we now deal with.  What makes Maus stand out from other movies and books is the simple and effective symbolism behind the anthropomorphic elements in the book.  It's something that's immediate and takes no time to decipher yet adds such a different feel to the book.  You know that all of them are human one in the same, but having them personified as cat and mouse helps you identify the "chase" of the Nazis after Jews and eventually all non-Germans.

The layers of Art Spiegelman's personal life that we dive into is also what really helps gain other empathy to his and his father's story, with the absent tale of Anja Spiegalman left untold sadly.  You can tell although Vladek's life was undeniably marked by the Nazis, he had always been more of a shifty character in his own nature.  His skill with business, building, crafting, and quick wit helped keep him connected to potential allies or eventually winning over adversaries.  Also being more financially well off at the start of the war greatly helped as well.  Looking back through there's usually a situation where Jews will be attacked and rounded up in the ghettos and Vladek will either sneak away or get snatched up by a friend just in time.  Artie definitely identifies characteristics that Vladek has that benefited him, between his frugalness, his do-it-yourself attitude, and his willingness to do whatever is necessary to live.

Originally in high school I hated that Vladek had burned Anja's diary, I didn't feel Vladek should have been punished or anything but I felt hurt in a way that someone's story was simply just burnt away with not much else to know them by.  I can empathize with Vladek's pain, having to see his wife's diary and pain from her suicide, but I felt having her perspective on her experience in the holocaust would have added an interesting dimension to the books that we can only speculate about now.  Reading through the first this time was different in that I wasn't angry with Vladek, but instead I felt more enamored with the squabblings of his current life oddly enough.  Artie continuously wanted him to get back to the war but I felt that it was a way for Artie to not get close to his father, as Artie probably still doesn't forgive him for the diaries.  It was even more interesting looking at Artie's comic about his mother's suicide as I could see more of the Underground influence on Art in that story's nature.  The disconnect he protrays from his parents in that comic was interesting to see as we never get a full picture of what their family was like together.

I'm glad that I now know the significance behind Maus and the path it helped create in graphic novels, Art Spiegelman touches at the very core of the trauma that many Holocaust survivors went through and still go through.  The choices he used to tell this story with are what will make this a timeless book that still shines even decades from now.