I read a series of books called Maus (I & II). They are labelled 'graphic novels' and are called such because they disclose a more heavy historical background (the holocaust) as opposed to a 'comic'. Regardless, they both tell stories using pictures and illustrations to portray the story. While this is a true work of nonfiction, it is an interview between a man named Art Spiegelman and his father Vladek Spiegelman, it fades in and out of his fathers story about being a well off Jew; hiding; being caught; slowly losing his wealth, family, and possesions; and his love for his wife Anja. One thing that makes this books so strangely alluring to me is the fact they portrayed different types (ethnicites, races) with different animals: Jews being mice, Poles being pigs, Germans being cats, and so on and so forth. Along with that, they have little to no expression, yet you can feel every part of their emotion. While having a conversation with my teacher, she brought up the question, "Why did they simplify these humans into animals instead of just using actual people?" Some guessed lack of talent on the artists end, and some guessed things more on the more thought provoking side like the mice live in fear of the cats, but then you ask what about the other animals. One thing that is for certain is that once you simplify a character from a real-life looking portrait to a simple quick sketch of a mouse it becomes easier to relate to because it essentially has no face. A few students argued that they really still couldnt connect with the character because he was already given a name, Vladek. This is indeed true but so is the fact that a real living man's story of surviving such a brutal thing such as the holocaust can easily be simplified to a mouse metaphor baffles me. Going back to my teacher's question about why he chose mice and cats and pigs, I bought his third book that explains everything (MetaMaus) and has the actual tape recordings of the interview and he said it basically derived from him trying to draw people with darker skin color and one of the comics had a "cat and mouse" metaphor & it made him realize his ancestors had their own "cat and mouse" metaphor on a bigger scale. You probably didnt read all this, especially because it was just jabber that interests me.
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