Reading "Maus"

Reading Maus was an emotional rollercoaster. The art style, the symbolism, the motifs, the characters, and the prevalence of animals instead of humans all added to an immersive experience while reading this graphic novel. The use of animals in place of the races was very eye-opening because it showed the relationships between the Pols, germans, Jews, Americans, etc. It established how the holocaust took place and its implications. After analyzing the animals, and the message behind them I had a better understanding of the story overall. Reading about Vladek's life before the war also made him seem more human in a way. Whenever I hear about stories about the holocaust I only hear about the period during the holocaust and because of that I only see them as survivors and nothing else. By Art Spiegelman retelling Vladek's life before the war, I was able to see him as just another human living his life. Speigleman included the not-so-good parts of his life for example when Vladek led on another girl while he was seeing his wife Anja. It showed that holocaust victims and survivors were also just real humans who made mistakes and lived through life. The attention to detail that Spiegelman drew in Maus created a thoughtful and intentional piece that was very eye-opening to analyze. One of the continuous themes throughout the book is the message that you can't escape the past and it will always be with you. One way Spiegelman depicts this theme is with the use of smoke. Whenever he is smoking in real time it turns into the smoke that came out of the chimney that bodies were being burned alive in the holocaust. This goes into another panel and creates a barrier between Artie and Vladek, showing that no matter how much Artie tries, he will never be able to understand how terrifying the holocaust was. That barrier shows that Vladek is stuck in the past and it will never leave him. And at the very last panel in the book Vladek refers to Artie as Richeu, his first son who died during the Holocaust. This again is referring back to the past. 

Overall reading Maus was a very moving experience that made me think about the Holocaust in a very different light, as well as informed me about the horrors that took place. The book also taught me how to analyze different types of textual pieces in a unique way.