Week 7: Maus and the legitimization of the graphic novel

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Maus is a black and white, graphic novel by Art Spiegelman. The story depicts the relationship between the author, Art Spiegelman, and his father Vladek.  Spiegelman is interviewing his father as he tries to understand his father better and his life in Poland before the Nazi invasion. Vladek also tells his son about his experiences in Auschwitz and Dachau before his liberation and immigration to the US. The story switches back and forth between the past and the present as Spiegelman interviews Vladak, making it an intense read. He is not afraid to tell all the details even if they are ugly and does not sugarcoat it. He makes the story raw and heavy as he wants the readers to feel like they are in the story.

Spiegelman takes a creative route when sharing the story characters, with the Jews being depicted as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, French as frogs, Americans as dogs and so on. This made the topic of the Holocaust more approachable. It was a very effective as it added a new aspect to the story. This also breaks up the dark tone used throughout the story with a little bit of comedy and light-heartedness but does not take away from the overall seriousness of the Holocaust.

The style in which Spiegelman draws the scenes, really capture the theme. He uses very bold and expressive black lines with no color added. This helped understand the feeling he was trying to portray and really emphasized the story more. Also, we are able to get a sense of hopelessness from the characters just from the use of line thicknesses and simplicity of the drawings. There are moments where we can see bleakness just from the darker and sketch like strokes. Spiegelman paints a clear image of the character’s actions and personalities.
Maus was an interesting read as it approached a biography through a new lens, specifically as a graphic novel. It allows the reader to understand the Holocaust through a new perspective with the use of interesting visuals and storytelling. Overall, I enjoyed reading this graphic novel and would be interested in reading more similar to Maus. 

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