Maus

Maus follows two timelines. The first is Vladek’s survival story as a Jewish man in World War II Poland. The second is the book’s framing device in the 1970s, where Art visits his father to record his tale while dealing with everyday conflicts. This narrative choice grounds the book in reality: The reader learns the story as Art hears it in his father’s accented English.

The graphic novel format complements the narrative by making it easier for Spiegelman to jump between the two time periods and distinguish between characters even with only minor differences in clothing and facial features. Spiegelman uses the layouts to accentuate the story, such as tilting panels where Anja experiences an emotional breakdown and juxtaposing Anja’s flight to Sosnowiec with Vladek’s march toward the frontlines.

Unique to Maus is Spiegelman’s depiction of the people in the book as animals, or more accurately, humans with animal heads. This technique allows Spiegelman to infuse the visuals with further meaning. Various races and nationalities are depicted as distinctly different animals. This approach allows readers to know, just by looking at the visuals, what race or nationality a character belongs to. It also draws attention to the way that race is, in part, a social construct based on physical and external differences, which is meant to question both how humans categorize one another and the degree to which such categorizing is innate and natural or learned.

Each animal carries distinct connotations. Depicting Jews as mice is analogous to the way in which Adolf Hitler referred to Jews as vermin. Thus, the Nazis’ negative beliefs about Jews as dirty, sneaky, and disease-carrying apply. Because cats are natural predators of mice, the use of cats to depict the German Nazis logically follows. Cats’ penchant for not merely catching mice for food for survival but, instead, as sport and, further, torturing mice for their own fun reinforces the treatment of Jews by Nazis. Non-Jewish Poles are depicted as pigs, which is both an allusion to Hitler’s terming the Poles “swine” and a nod to the unkosher aspect of pork. In this way, non-Jewish Poles and Jews do not mix, and readers are reminded of the ways in which Germans rewarded non-Jewish Poles for their relinquishing of Jews in hiding. Other animals, such as dogs to depict Americans and fish to depict the British, reinforce global notions as well.

Further, as a cartoonist, Spiegelman is keenly aware of the way animals are innocently used in cartoons. The narrative echoes famous cartoons such as “Tom and Jerry” and Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. However, Spiegelman’s characters have human limbs and other body parts, while Tom, Jerry, and Mickey are entirely cartoonish. In using animals, Spiegelman also invites the reader to consider the ways that racism and “othering” have operated throughout history and reminds readers that, in order to exterminate a person, that person must be dehumanized.

Spiegelman begins Maus with a short story from his own childhood, where Vladek teaches him an uncomfortable lesson about friendship that can only come from someone who knows about life-or-death struggles. He also includes a preface quote from Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler that the Jewish people are “not human” (10). Spiegelman does not depict Hitler himself or cover the origins of Nazi ideology, but Nazi propaganda frequently dehumanizes the Jewish people by calling them rats or vermin. This is the reason Spiegelman depicts different groups of people as animals: Jews as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, and Americans as dogs.

The opening chapters focus on Vladek and Anja’s courtship and family life before the war. They depict several of Vladek’s traits that would equip him for Survival in the Face of Adversity in the future, including his versatility, quick-thinking, and multilingual education. They also contrast the younger Vladek—who likens himself to actor Rudolph Valentino of the silent film The Sheik and implies that his sexual life is “so much like the youths here today” (17)—and the older Vladek, who has a glass eye and follows a constrictive diet and exercise regimen. However, his early reactions to Anja’s pills and her communist friends foreshadow his suspicions about Mala later in life.

Vladek’s account gives a close-up view of these political events. The Jewish train passengers fear the prospect of another war. National events are in the background for Vladek’s family between the communist incident—another political threat following the recent establishment of the Soviet Union—Richieu’s birth, Anja’s depression, and the factory. Vladek plans to escape to Sosnowiec if necessary under the misguided belief that Germany only wants the former portions of its empire. Anja scoffs that “the Poles don’t NEED much stirring up” when it comes to antisemitism (39), which offends her Polish governess.

In the background is Vladek and Art’s relationship, which swings between subject–interviewer and elderly father–adult son. As Art interrupts Vladek’s account to clarify details, such as whether the factory robbery is due to antisemitism or why any part of Poland would appear safe, he confronts the complexities of Preservation of History and the Subjectivity of Historical Records: The story he tells will inevitably be shaped by Vladek’s imperfect, subjective memories and by his own interpretations of Vladek’s stories. Vladek interrupts his story with asides and complaints about his health. While the initial meetings are amicable, Art makes it clear from the first panel that their relationship is difficult, and the fact that the first chapter exists despite Vladek’s protests demonstrates Art’s desire to depict the emotional casualties of the war and provide a complete picture of his father.