Maus is an illustrated interview of the author, Art Spiegelman, asking his father about surviving the Holocaust. It's gripping, emotional, and dramatic. Everything about the comic mentally places you in Poland during the Nazi reign, even if all the characters are animals. One of my favorite parts of the graphic novel is when Vladek, Spiegelman's father, and his family have to hide in a non-Jewish friend's basement while her husband comes home from a business trip. In the basement they find a rat scurrying around, and even though they're anthropomorphic mice, the rat is depicted as not having human characteristics. It's just a rat.
Besides the events of the Holocaust, Maus also delves into Spiegelman's relationship with his father, and his father's relationship with his new wife after his first wife, Anja, who survived the Holocaust, commits suicide. It's interesting to see that Spiegelman's father is split into two separate characters: the young, spritely man doing everything to keep him and his family alive, and the grumpy (almost neglecting) father.
The comic deeply explores anti-semitism, survival during war, persecution, and the many things people will do just to survive. In a way, I think that's why Spiegelman decided to depict everyone as animals. Yes, obviously the horrific torture and murders carried out by the Germans/Cats against the Jews/Mice are inexcusable. But as illustrated in Maus, sometimes survival means betraying those who are suffering just as much as you. Is Maus effective? Of course. Reading it, you can't help but laugh at older Vladek's marital and health issues compared to the day to day struggling survival of young Vladek. His older self seems caught up in almost frivolous problems compared to what he dealt with in his younger years. The entirety of Maus reads like war, which is why I believe it became so popular. Whenever the reader meets a new character, they shouldn't expect them to last very long.
Yes, Maus is a comic book, but why can't comic books discuss real life issues as well? That's the exact question Maus challenged, and we can thank Spiegelman for all the mainstream comics today that would be considered "underground" years ago. I find it very interesting how we're reading Maus now, where the comic might be one of the most relevant to our time. Literal pogroms and attacks against Jewish communities have been rising in popularity in France over the last few years, and many are considering the new hyper conservative party, the Alt-Right, who are supporters of President Trump, to be a group of racists and anti-semites.
I remember being bullied as a little kid for "looking too Jewwy" to be a Catholic, and my older brother went through similar torment for having "Jew curls." While I don't necessarily fit the typical "Jewish" look, I do have Jewish ancestry and family members who are practicing Jews. My father, who very much fits the typical "Jewish-looking" stereotype, is constantly stopped at airports and travel destinations for no reason other than supposed "suspicious activity." It's scary thinking that roughly six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, with so many novels, stories, and historical texts teaching us how horrifying and inhumane the Holocaust was, yet there are Nazi sympathizers and anti-semites out in the world.
While my childhood torment is nowhere near what the Jews in Europe faced during WWII, the fact that people make still make Jew jokes, as if the Holocaust never happened, is frightening. If Maus was made to be relatable, it sure is relatable now. Spiegelman perfectly blended history and art to create an outstanding piece of fiction that not only redefined comics, but redefined literature.
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