Art Spielgelman's Maus was probably one of the first
publications to shed light on comics as a respectable medium - and even one of
the first to give way to the idea of the graphic novel, particularly as a more
popular method of storytelling. The story Art tells the reader is
essentially a memoir from two people: the first belonging to his father,
Vladek, and his life leading up to and during World War II; the second
belonging to Art himself, as he deals with his father during the time working
on the comic, as well as the aftermath of Part I's publication and his father's
eventual death.
While Artie shows how difficult his relationship
with his father was throughout the comic, a point of contention between father
and son I particularly glommed on to was Vladek's need to continuously hoard
things. While Vladek claims it’s due to his experiences during WWII, we
see other examples of people who endured experiences like Auschwitz and the
concentration camps, and came out without developing similar habits (this is
even pointed out by several characters in the story). We see how Vladek’s tendencies to keep what
possessions he could out of practicality and caution serve him throughout his
experiences during WWII, and I found it interesting that none of the characters
seem to catch on to this. This type of
attitude, along with a little luck, are essentially what saved him and his
wife, Anja, during the Holocaust, and later show to serve how, mentally, Vladek
never really came out of the War (and possibly Anja, although we are never
given the chance to hear her side of the story).
Artie’s inability to deal with or completely
comprehend his father’s almost survivalist mentality is interesting because it
shows how disparate their experiences have been – the fact that Artie acknowledges this, saying he has “Some
kind of guilt about having an easier life than they did,” reinforces this, and further
emphasizes how Vladek’s experiences shaped him, versus Artie’s experiences. Artie’s oscillating desire between wanting to
have experienced Auschwitz alongside his parents, versus being grateful for his
life as it occurred, is another interesting aspect of the story touched on
throughout the comic, albeit not as conspicuously as it could have been. The fact that Vladek accidentally calls Artie
“Richieau,” the name of their son who didn’t survive the Holocaust, also hints
at a particular guilt he might still be feeling about the boy’s death, and
subsequently why he and Artie have had such a difficult time ever making a
close connection (and why Artie feels like he’s always been competing with
Richieau, despite the boy’s death).
There are many good reasons why Maus won a Pulitzer prize, and just as
many more why the stories held within its pages are just as important as
similar memoirs like The Diary of Anne
Frank. Although the mediums are
different, the poignancy of each work and the characters’ experiences are
incredibly memorable, and the simplistic visuals found in Maus make it all the easier to be touched by said experiences.
