Maus - Art Spiegelman

           Maus is the graphic novel telling the horrific story of the holocaust through the use of comics as a medium. Art Spiegelman tell's the story of how his father survived the holocaust while also telling a modern day story of his and his father's relationship now. The one thing to note is that Spiegelman tells this story in a very creative and powerful way. He depicts the Jews as mice and nazis as cats. This formula is never broken even when the fourth wall is broken or with the modern day story. The cat/mouse depiction is such a powerful way to depict race in this graphic novel. This is thrown in your face with a quote from Hitler, before you read the first chapter. The quote is "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human". This really sells you the cat/mouse idea. Another reason I think this convention was used to bring this novel to a larger audience, that's the same reason it is in comic form. Teens will read this and be informed, not just adults. I also believe the cat/mouse depiction is a method of changing the memory of the reader. By now, we have all heard of the horrors of the holocaust, but there is something about making all the characters animals that give the story new impact. Your seriousness changes when you are seeing cats and mice, but then you read more and see that there is no holding back by the artist. It gives a familiar event in history a new view point, that is highly effective. 

          Another creative and unique thing Spiegelman does is make this novel two stories going on at the same point that are decades apart, but the same main character. You have the Holocaust going on in Poland then the modern day story going on in New York. The New York story is actually Spiegelman preparing for to write this novel by writing down and hearing the story from his father who is an elderly man now. We see how this story has affected him now right in the beginning of the story. His wife and Spiegelman's mother has committed suicide and he has gone through two heart attacks. He doesn't even want Art writing about the personal stories, like how he met Spiegelman's mother. I really liked how Spiegelman initially transitions to the Poland story then how he continues to transition. He first shows his father's younger self in a circular panel, then when he would want to go back to the modern day story there was no panel. Mostly dialogue, but still an effective way to help the reader with the back and forth. Spiegelman shows he can be very effective in creativeness and storytelling. Spiegelman brings a new twist to an important event in history. He doesn't try to make this awful time in history light, but tries to bring in a larger audience and change perspective.