Why did Spiegelman write Maus?

Running head: SPIEGELMAN MAUS
SPIEGELMAN MAUS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

SPIEGELMAN MAUS1
1. Through most of the book, people are represented as animals (Jewish people as mice,
Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, and so on). On a few occasions, there are photographs
inserted, and sometimes there are drawings of photographs. There are maps and
diagrams, as well as drawings of iconic photographs. How does this variety of graphic
elements form and develop from much of the same sort of information or images you
know through the memoirs, diaries, essays, and documentaries in this course?
With a notable character illustration, Spiegelman represents the picture of absurdity of
dividing unity of the people. In order to reach up to all kinds of audiences, the distorted
reality is conveyed through the comics. As observed, the story does not reveal the reality with
accuracy yet the representation feeds the audiences with the concept of holocaust and other
instances depicted through the characters like frog, mice, cats, pigs and many more. The
characters are developed through Spiegelman’s retelling of his father’s memoirs. The
representation of the characters portrayed Germans as cats, Jews as mice and Polish as pigs
and so on (Spiegelman). Through these characters Spiegelman draws out the Jewish
brutalization. The concept is derived from the second volume where “ Mickey Mouse” is
viewed as miserable idea instead of ideal type, provided with a supporting statement that
bacteria carrier cannot be the ideal type in the animal kingdom (Spiegelman). However, it is
evident enough that Spiegelman is parodies the vision of the Nazi that are based on racial
divisions through the idea of Vladek’s racism and his usage of words like “schwartser”, that
is, certain ethnic slurs are used to pour allegations or insinuations about a person of a given
ethnicity (Spiegelman). As the events and illustrations proceed in the story further, the
Germans are viewed with little difference among them (Spiegelman). But the variety among
the Jews and the Poles are predominantly viewed(Spiegelman). For instance, the characters
representing Jewish councils and Jews are witnessed to be associated under compliance with

SPIEGELMAN MAUS2
the occupiers (Spiegelman). Apart from this, Spiegelman reveals the incidents in which Poles
risk themselves to help Jews and further reveals the incident of Kapos who were depiction as
anti-Semitic Poles (Spiegelman). Spiegelman takes the concept of revealing the reality using
metaphors form the films based on Nazi propaganda in which Jews are depicted as the
parasitic worms, vermins(Spiegelman). In the first volume, that is, the original publication,
Spiegelman introduced a self portrait mouse having a human body, he develops the portrayal
of the character with the progression of his story, meaning, in the second volume the
character was found to be evolved in to a man wearing mouse mask (Spiegelman). In Maus,
the characters being mice and cats embraced the human skills regarding acting, reacting and
speaking (Spiegelman). The animal metaphor represents the stratification of the existing
social world. By providing the deeper instances of the stratification, the story delvers the fact
that the depiction is a manufactured illusion, as illustrated in the second volume of Maus
(Spiegelman). However, the animal characters have been characterized on the basis of race,
but on the contrary, the characters are later appeared to be in masks that are tie to their hands
using strings (Spiegelman). Thereby, through the characters, the idea of race appears to be an
artifice, as suggested by Spiegelman. He further suggests that the soul underneath the mask is
significantly same(Spiegelman). Spielgelman further justifies the use of animal imagery as
significant addition in the course of highlighting the method to hold the originality and its
sympathetic notion (Spiegelman). It is established that through the act of drawing the
characters of Jews as mice, Poles as pigs, Nazis as cats and Americans as dogs, Spielgelman
also prevents the meaning to be over determined that usually occurs in human mind and
imagery (Spiegelman).
2. Both Art and his father are constantly shifting in time references and this is
immediately drawn in the text (from Queens or the Catskills in the present moment to
the First World War and Poland in the 1930s to drawing Maus). What changes have