Week 7: Maus & the legitimization of the graphic novel

            Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer-winning Maus is a memoir of his parents’ struggles during the Holocaust, and that of the relationships and habits his father held to his final years. The novel begins as a project to document the experiences of surviving father Vladek, but conflicts involving his new wife, Mala, and the absence of his first wife, Anja, often interfere. For Spiegelman, who often depicts himself becoming irate with his father, seems to use this project to reflect on the hardships in his life that he can’t change – the Holocaust, his mother’s suicide, his father’s obsessive rationing habits, and eventually his father’s death.

            Last year I took an extensive course over the Holocaust, its causes and effects (some of which are still current), its infamous but notable figures, and its roots in antisemitism  (which I’ve learned is one non-hyphenated word) and eugenics. However, despite the overwhelming wealth of information I’ve acquired, I feel there is much more to discover. That’s what I find most interesting about the Holocaust – countless stories have resulted from this calamity, from survivors to SS guards to German and Polish citizens that were kept unaware of the death camps.

            While reading Maus, I kept in mind the stories I have heard before. Vladek’s account actually had the most parallels to a guest speaker that presented his story to the aforementioned class (which has been recorded and is now kept on closed reserve in Kimbrough Library) – not just because both are survivors, but both seemed to keep their emotions to themselves. That’s not to say both survivors became cold and unfeeling in the camps, they were just too focused on outliving the camps, despite the various unknown probabilities - not everyone knew of the gas chambers and other atrocities at first, this information circulated by word of mouth. Both still took the time to give to others, and were able to take advantage of their situation while hurting the least people possible (working with Kapo, escaping during the long walk out of the camps).

            What I found the most intriguing about Maus was how Vladek was forever affected by the Holocaust. He could not bring himself to part with his belongings. He would reuse teabags and glue broken dishes back together, regardless of his wealth, which actually aided him and his loved ones many times throughout the Holocaust. His first wife (and what may be his one true love), Anja, who suffered with him, may have contributed to this habit. She committed suicide about 20 years after World War II ended. I think this devastating loss may have prompted or accelerated Vladek’s need to keep things for as long as possible. However, he destroyed almost all evidence of Anja because his memories of her were too strong for him to deal with properly. Vladek did not seem to show much remorse for his actions, which infuriated Art. The first half of the story ends with this, and the mood carries until the end, when Vladek finishes his story abruptly with the very moment he and Anja are reunited after being kept in separate camps.

            Maus ends with Vladek’s death, even though it is addressed in the middle of the second installment. At that point, Art is depressed by not having Anja’s side of the story, and how he was angry with Vladek. However, this does feel resolved at the book’s end, as Vladek finally does get to finish his story, albeit suddenly.



***On a separate note, I did want to point out that I made the connection as to how the Jewish characters are drawn as mice because antisemites really referred to them as vermin, but that didn't really play a part in the narrative, except to distinguish Jewish characters from Poles and Germans. For me, the story would have come across the same, wether the characters were animals or humans.