Week 7 - Maus (6 points)

In the second part of Maus, Speigelman expresses frustration at external journalists and companies wanting to monetize his book. One of these company personifications asks, “What’s the message?” in regards to the story he tells. I think it is futile to try and find a fable-like takeaway to the story he tells, but inevitably I will attempt to do so.

I do not believe there is a “lesson” to this story so much as finding meaning in trauma as a way of providing closure. In many ways, it feels like the author seeks to tell his father’s story as a way to get closure with the strained relationship between him and his father.

There is another question on my mind. Why cats and mice? In many ways it feels diminutive to visually represent Jewish people as mice. But I think that is me taking the allegory too far. I believe that it is the natural relationship between cats and mice, of predator and prey, that Speigelman wanted to portray. The Nazis literally hunted Jewish people like prey. Representing this dynamic visually with animals makes it easier to understand the fear that Jewish people had during WWII. The animal representation of people throughout the work in general is also an interesting choice, especially for such a serious topic. Like Scott McCloud said in Understanding Comics, a simplified character is easier to relate to than not. Abstracting a person to an animal figure is simplifying them. One cannot consider a character’s appearance, age, etc. if they are represented by a cartoon mouse, thus making the character much easier to empathize with.

Overall, Maus was an excellent read and I appreciated the quality of writing and storytelling. I did not know what to expect going into this book, but I found myself surprised at just how much I related to Art Spiegelman and his family. Very good read.