Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman

ISBN: 0394747232
Publisher Pantheon (1986)

160 p.

Reading Level: Grades 9^th and above.

Summary:

Maus is a memoir about the author’s father, Vladek Spiegelman, who is a Jewish survivor of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Although there are other novels of this genre, none are conveyed in such a way as this graphic novel. His son, an artist, captures his father’s story through a graphic novel using animals instead of people. Moving back and forth between his father’s past and present-day Queens, he draws a realistically heart-breaking portrait of the past and the present. While trying to get close to his cantankerous father by teasing his life’s story out of him, including stories of his mother and searching for her elusive journals as well as keeping his father on task and not going off on his tangents, he not only learns more about his father and why he is who he is, but he learns more about the highs and lows of being a child of a holocaust survivor.

Critical Evaluation:

Maus is an extraordinary graphic novel that deals with a son’s journey to understand his father through writing a book about his father’s life before, during, and after the Holocaust. Spiegelman’s use of animals instead of humans is superbly powerful. They are able to wear “masks” of the other animals, but this is readily apparent to the reader. Mr. Spiegelman used cats for Nazis, mice for Jews, and pigs for Poles. There was backlash in the use of pigs for Poles, but as Spiegelman said in a 1991 interview, “I'm unhappy that so many readers thought it was OK to use vermin for Jews but not pigs for Poles.“ (Retrieved from http://bolhafner.com/stevesreads/ispieg2.html). The author continues to add that he “hoped to show the absurdity of dividing people by these lines.” They are meant to be used as metaphors, but many readers took his use of the animals “literally.” One of the major themes in the novel is survivor’s guilt. Art feels guilty for not having been with his parents, because he was born after the Holocaust, and also for getting frustrated with his father’s quirks. Vladek and Anja have survivor’s guilt because so many of their friends and family, especially their little boy, did not make it out alive. I believe that the demons of guilt kill Anja in the end. Although she had a husband and a son who loved her, the horror of her past and of her loss catch up with her, as it did with so many others. Perhaps some survivors read Maus, and seeing another’s journey gives them a bit of peace.

Reader’s Annotation:

Enter a world of darkness and light as you travel with Art  Spiegelman in order to uncover his father’s past, his past, and what lies in the future.

This story shows two lives, one a Holocaust survivor, the other a child of a Holocaust survivor.

Author Biography:

Art Spiegelman lives in New York City with his wife, Francoise Mouly, and their daughter, Nadja. He is also the co-founder/editor of Raw, the acclaimed magazine of avant-garde comics and graphics.

Other than his graphic novels, he has been published in The New York Times, Playboy, the Village Voice, among many others, and his drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries both here and abroad. Honors received for Maus include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a nomination for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Genre: Biography through graphic novel

Curriculum Ties:

Could either be used in a History class on the section of the Holocaust, or in an English class.

Booktalking Ideas:

-How is Vladek’s story typical of what other Jews experienced during the Holocaust,
but in what ways is it unique?

-What type of writings and ideas could be in Anja’s notebooks?

Read-Alikes:

-Maus II by Art Spiegelman.

-Notes for a War Story by Gianni Pacinotti.

-Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

Challenge Issue:

Although parents may feel that the death, torture, and the horrors depicted in this world are too much for their children, and that being presented in a graphic novel “cartoon” is misleading, I would have to argue that children need to learn these historical lessons, and the use of animals as humans and the use of the graphic novel genre help pull in readers.

Reason to include in blog:

This was the first graphic novel I remember reading, and it struck me as immensely powerful and heart-breaking. I had read books on the Holocaust and personal tales such as The Diary of Anne Frank, but Maus truly brought the horror to the page by interspersing a heart-wrenching story of a son trying to understand his father. I believe this would be a significant addition to any high school curriculum. On a side note, I was surprised when checking this novel out from the library, for the woman behind the counter looked at the cover and said, “Aw, mice.” I’m not sure what she thought it was about since on the cover, prominently, there is a giant swastika, but perhaps one day she will pick it up and read it.

References:

Bolhafner, S. (1991). The Comics Journal. 145(96).
     Retrieved from http://bolhafner.com/stevesreads/ispieg2.html

Random House. (1994). Teacher’s Guide. Retrieved from
     http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780394747231&view=tg

Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus: A survivor's tale. New York: Pantheon Books.