MAUS: Mary McPheely 809

I’m currently reading “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale”  by Art Spiegelman. Art Spiegelman’s father tells the story of his experience living in the slums during world two. His father, Vladeck was a Jew in the holocaust. He experienced horrifying images and violence towards others and himself from the Nazis. His mother, Anja also has a story. She is suffering depression and in the middle of the book actually commits suicide. The holocaust was a time that Jewish people were treated awfully. They were thought as bad people and worthless. Nazis used them to do hard and dirty work, but a lot of time, they were taken a way to prison or killed. Spiegelman portrays the character’s by different types of animals. The drawings are also in black and white and simpler.

The Jewish are portrayed by Mice and the German’s are portrayed by cats and the Polish are portrayed by pigs. I noticed that it’s sort of like the class they are all looked upon as. Like the Jewish were considered easy prey and worthless people. When Spiegelman uses mice it shows easy prey. And then when the German’s are cats it’s like the Germans were after the Jew’s. Cats eat mice, Germans killed Jews. I think it was really smart for Spiegelman to use animals. It might have been for less confusion, but I think it really lets the reader experience what it feels to be prey. It shows how differently the Germans thought of the Jews. Its like they were different species. I also noticed that the pictures are all in black and white. I think this really sets the mood. The happiest pictures are lighter lines, but they are still in black and white. This makes me think that even happy moments are never really happy. I think the point Spiegelman was trying to make is that, no matter what good happens the fact that this is happening to Jews it affected life in all ways. It put a cloud over every spot the sun could shine.

I am not Jewish and I don’t think I have much history with the holocaust, but I think that I can still connect to it. I think the holocaust was a time when every Jew felt small. They felt worthless and powerless. There have definitely been moments when people have made me feel small. The worst scenario is when someone is judging you on something that you can’t change about yourself and isn’t necessarily bad. The Jews weren’t bad people because they were Jews, but people still felt the need to try and prove the point they were. Sometimes I wonder what the point is of making someone feel small. I guess it is the desire of feeling more powerful. Maybe Nazis needed the feeling of superiority and this is the way they got it.