Maus by Art Speigelman

         "Maus" is very interesting on multiple levels. It brought the graphic novel into mainstream literature, while also transferred the Underground Art Movement from being just comics to being Literary "Art" comics. It puts on display a man's recollection of his life in Poland during the war- the Holocaust- therefore dealing with the experience of time and the nature of memory. To soften the hard truth of the man recollection, Art Spiegelman illustrates this work using mice, cats and pigs. I believe this is so that we can read about a tough subject without completely putting ourselves in  the situation. By using animals instead of humans, I believe our view of the work changes greatly. Some might say it degrades the war and what happened by using animals, but I believe it is just to make a subject most would rather not talk about more bearable.
        It is also interesting that this comic was not originally written in English and therefore we read it differently, as well, because of this. For example, one translation reads, "Lived happy happy ever after" instead of the phrase we all know to be "lived happily ever after".  Another would be "I ran out to my friend what introduced us" instead of, "I ran out 'on' my friend 'who' introduced us".
        Also, this graphic novel has chapters which also makes it seem more like a novel rather than a ordinary comic. Each chapter is highlighted by a stand alone spot illustration panel that seem almost like mini book covers.
      I think, going back to the idea of having mice, cats and pigs, that it is interesting and something to discuss about the roles in which these animals play. The book is called "Maus" meaning mouse, so obviously the main characters are mice. The story begins with a son asking his "poppa" to tell him of his past. This goes into talking about the war and how Poppa, also know as Valdek (a jewish mouse), became a solider. During his time he became a captive by the German Nazi's who are depicted as felines. This is fitting because cats eat mice, mice run from cats, cats are in control. Therefore in the story as well, the cats being Nazi soldiers is seen as natural. Then you have the pigs. The first pig we encounter is a train man. He ends up helping Valdek escape the German's only because Valdek himself is disguised as a pig. So the pigs are somewhat neutral in the story.
      Spiegelman's art is also not to be forgotten. In this graphic novel he chooses to use pen and ink with no color. His characters are somewhat simple in their line work to contrast with the rough topic. He uses a lot of hatching to shade both the background but also to darken a figure in the foreground to bring attention to a figure in the back. He also uses many patterns on shirts on wood, etc to give the images a little more to look at. But in scenes with crowds he does not use much detail in describing the forms. He just uses squiggles or rough shapes to indicate their presence. For example, look at the panels from "Maus" below.

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          All in all, Maus is nice also, because not only does it recount a tough subject, but it also tells a story about a man and his fight to survive and what he does on his journey to being who he becomes. For example, he tells of how he met his wife, when he had his first child, etc. He also tells of how he was forced to sleep in the cold, eat almost nothing, choose between staying in these poor conditions or helping the Nazi's by volunteering for labor work. At least in doing this he kept himself alive.