Maus volumes 1 and 2

Maus 1, Maus

Art Speigelman's works Maus 1 and Maus 2 serve as an exploration of the father and son bond after an traumatic event, the Holocaust and how it influences relationships. These works act as a way to explore such stereotypes about Jews and the aftermath of the Holocaust especially exploring how it affects the next generation.

Such a situation creates many dilemmas for the offspring of the survivors such as guilt, remorse, jealousy and envy. In the case of young Artie, he seems obsessed by the past as if it will shed some light on his father's thoughts and actions. He is plagued by the shadow of an older brother he never knew yet envies because his parents cannot let him go. It seems ironic, almost sarcastic that such a story should be presented in the form of comics but in this method of storytelling Speigelman is able to present the father's survival of one of history's most horrendous nightmares. He uses the metaphor of the mouse the rodent in his Jewish characters while the Nazis are the cats who hunt them. Nonetheless, this animal imagery does not detract from the serious subject t matter of the horror of the Holocaust but acts an agent to emphasize the familial tensions of the Speigelman family. In this way, use of comics acts as a way of presenting the subject matter for mass consumption. The writer/artist makes the subject matter tolerable or easy to take. Comics simplifies the content for the audience. What the author does well is to establish a crystalline ambiguity (Speigelman 44) as an oxymoron that privileges, preserves and makes clear an ambiguity that maintains the chaos of human relationships more specifically his parents relationship. It is his disastrous history that has a direct influence upon the familial structure and its health. In Maus 1, Speigelman attempts to retell his father's story but he avoids direct articulation of his own pain because he sees his pain as insignificant when compared with his parents. This makes the audience wonder how truthful he is being with not only himself but with the content. This creates more questions for the audience as the comics progress. With this mind, it is possible Speigelman is using this as a literary device to reflect a cultural trait of Jews. This questioning is typical in the Jewish religion and this helps the narrative less predictable.

In Maus 1 Artie is motivated to ask questions about Poland because of his mother's suicide and the shadow of his lost brother. Still he is unable to nail down any conclusive facts about the past. He says to his father "I still want to draw that book about you ... about your life in Poland and the war" ( 12). His father thinks he should draw what makes money and thinks it is a child-like request to write about the old days. One of the reasons his father refuses to discuss the past is that he believes Art has no authority over the subject matter but Art wants the connection to his father a sets up a deposition. He is doing this to be closer, to act out some kind of relationship even if it is made-up. He does this also with the Funny Animals Art and using the mouse as an animal fable through the comics. Art yearns for the relationship that such stories preclude but instead provokes a repeated story-telling of events and experiences that are anything but for children and bedtime. It is his apprehension, his inability to fully tell the story contributes to the audience's empathy but this happens only because he cannot reveal his feelings to his father. This indeed creates an endless cycle of emotional upheaval.

In many ways, the cat/mouse metaphor is effective because it acts as a central signifier. First of all, by drawing the mouse Speigelman is experimenting with realistically draw mice and claims he did not want people to think he could draw well. He uses the stylized mice in picture writing as a means to make the audience unaware of the allegory. Traditionally, the mouse metaphor for Aesop to Disney to the "vermin" that Nazi propaganda intended to exterminate has encrusted the image with conventions that disguise in Maus the loss and pain of the orphan's voice. Still Speigelman's attitude is that of rebellious and self-pitying child who is all too eager to please but who is also consistently depressed. It is continuous emotional story. When Art loses the roller skate, his friends laugh and abandon him. His father is working in carpentry and has Art help him as a means to make him feel better. His father asks "Why do you cry, Artie? Hold on better to the wood" (CD-ROM "Art on Art"). Artie is not interested in his father's work but feels fearful of his father and friendless at the same time. The audience understands that his character seems insignificant even to his father.