Maus_Week 7

Before I read Maus by Art Spiegelman, I have never heard of it. Going into it, I only knew what was said on the assignment page for this class. But after reading the first few pages, I was able to tell quickly why this comic novel was viewed with such a positive light.

The work itself is very well conveyed with a visual styling that helps bring attention to the work and what it stands for. Classifying each race a different animal, helps the reader tell who is Jewish, German, or Polish. The reader wouldn't be able to tell these races apart if they were normal humans, and the segregation of race in ww2 was a large part of the story. If the reader wasn't able to tell the difference with each race instantly, it could cause much confusion that could be avoided.
Another side effect to classifying the races as animals, causes the reader themselves to racially separate them. Just reading the book you can very easily tell the difference between a pig and a mouse, which could be a good and bad thing.

The way he sets up the story is different than most stories that start in the present, and then rewinds to someone's past. More times than not, the movie, book, or comic would start with the character talking in the present. When the character speaks of his past, you are able to only witness past events. The story rarely breaks the past tense until the end, after their story has been told. This story has the father taking breaks because of his health, he starts rambling, it gets late, many things that brings us back to the present. Because of this the story is helped, You are reminded that he lived through the WW2, and is able to talk about it now. It causes you to wonder, what did happen to his family, his son, when did he meet his new wife? Because you know these questions will be answered because the story is constantly progressing, you keep reading.

I can understand how this story is much more a personal one, rather than a historical novel. The break in it to describe current events is very personal. With him and his father talking about his father's death and their rocky relationship. His struggle in writing the comic as well, the story is much more intimate than a typical historical novel, which would be only about the concentration camps.