Maus: The struggle of a struggle (6 Points)

 Maus is a groundbreaking work for the medium of the graphic novel. Universally praised and considered a legitimate work of literature even by those who normally condemn the entire medium of comics as worthless lowbrow garbage. But all this praise doesn't come so easy to its author, Art Spiegelman. Early on in the second book, he depicts himself being overwhelmed by the spotlight that comes with having a renowned work. Constant questions about the deeper meaning behind the work are bombarded at him all the while he needs to deal with the guilt he feels for having an easier life than his parents, and ultimately profiting off of their personal struggle. 

I would first like to argue for Maus’ legitimacy amongst all the other holocaust survivor tales, most of which are autobiographical of the people who lived through it. It's not really necessary to make this argument considering Maus is literally the Posterboy for comics as a legit form of storytelling, but I will make it anyway to address Spiegelman’s concerns from back when he was writing it. Having the story in comic form adds quite a bit to the emotion and comprehension of the story. While there plenty of holocausts films that attempt to construct a vivid and brutally accurate depiction of the torture Maus offers a more emotional take on the scenery as imagined by a man being told the story. The Jews being as helpless as mice as they are corralled further and further into the corners, slowly being picked off by the Nazi cats, it makes the reader really understand the thoughts of the people who lived through the war. Even Art questioned his father if the Jews ever revolted and seeing them as cornered mice, you really get a feel for what it must have been like to be Jewish during Hitler's reign. Other pieces of imagery also really stick in comic form thanks to artistic liberty. One that sticks out to me personally is the scene where the mice who dug the mass grave for the victims of the gas chambers were forced to jump in alongside the dead bodies as they were burned alive alongside their fallen brethren. Their screams and expressions are really powerful, and part of that has to do with their exaggeration and depiction as mice, something not likely to happen in a regular holocaust movie or book.

I would also like to argue for the value of Art’s input and the exchanges between him and his father. Seeing not just Vladek’s story during the war but also what he was like afterwards is a really great side of the story to have. It's an honest and real depiction of an old and broken man, one who still holds racially charged prejudice despite being one of the hardest hit victims of widespread prejudice in the world. One who holds onto every scrap of food he is ever given despite none of his fellow survivor friends doing the same. It is rare that we ever see a survivor of the holocaust depicted in a negative light, but it adds a layer of realism to the story. He is not a character, he is not perfect, he is a person.

In the story Art struggles with how much of a pass he should give his Vladek not just given his history but also (I think) as his son. Parents getting old and dependent on their now fully grown children for support is a relatable concept. It happened to my parents, and in another 40 years or so it will happen to me. It adds a layer of relatability to a story of a situation that is normally so horrible it's almost unbelievable.