Maus by Art Spiegelman

A Brief Summary

Maus: A Survivor's Tale is unique from the other books mentioned so far because it is, in fact, a graphic novel. Also I should say that this is only the first volume of Maus, subtitled My Father Bleeds History, while the second is subtitled And Here My Troubles Began. Maus follows a pair of time lines, the first being Art's interviews of his father Vladek and the second being the stories themselves. Through the stories, the reader comes to see the early events that would later lead to World War II. The initial gains by Nazi Germany, the ways in which Jews were forced to hide and try to survive in a place that wanted them gone. Vladek and his family go through much, narrowly avoiding catastrophe from most of the first book, and only at the end being caught and sent away to Auschwitz. That is where the second volume picks up on the action.

Aside from the tales of Vladek's life in Poland and his trials and tribulations, the reader learns more and more about his interactions with Art, his first wife (Anja), and his second wife (Mala). Vladek is only human after all (though he is a mouse in the narrative, just like all the other Jews.) and Art has to come to terms with his father the the events of their lives. Anja's suicide and its effects on Vladek and Art are explored during these sections, as are Mala's interactions with Vladek and how their relationship is. This moments do a wonderful job of capturing the feeling of humanity, both good and bad, and how even people that we love are as flawed as ourselves.

Thematic Elements

Terror and suspense are the name of the game for large sections of the historical accounts in Maus, as Vladek and his family have to evade capture by the Nazis and attempt to make a life for themselves under less than ideal conditions. In the present day, there are elements of discovery and family, as Art tries to learn more about his parent's time under Nazi rule and to learn something of his family history. The dysfunction between him and his father, between his father and his mother, and between his father and Mala all play a counterpoint to the love and friendship they may show to one another at different points in the narrative.

Analysis

Maus is exceptionally good, with a wonderful use of art to support the dialogue. While students are going to need some instruction in the best way to read a graphic novel (as they have to get used to reading the text, looking at the art, and considering the arrangement of panels on the page) this is something that students from sixth grade on up to seniors in high school and read and enjoy. There is a lot there and the read is not as fast as it might seem, as special attention needs to be given to arrangement and style. The use of a single animal to represent all members of a nation (which Art uses to characterize just how absurd it is to portray the people of a culture as all looking the same) being one of the more telling features.

A Little Something More

Maus is ideal for two kinds of units, those that focus on World War II or the Holocaust (much like The Book Thief despite their wildly different approaches and styles) and for a unit that focuses on the ways in which graphic novels serve as a valid medium for telling stories. As most teachers are going to have a fair bit of experience with the former, I will be focusing on the latter. Graphic Novels are a unique form of entertainment, because of the way that they blend art and word together—not unlike The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which would make for a good companion piece in such a unit. Their unique elements make them suited for telling stories both in the fashion of books and the style of movies, meaning that a lot of attention has to be spent on both aspects. Maus is a good first introduction to the unit, as it does not go overboard with the possibilities of the medium. For that, books such as Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes would be the graphic novel of choice.