Anna Lacy Maus I

Anna Lacy
February 1, 2014
Trauma in Film and Literature

Maus

Maus combines comics and the devastation of the holocaust in a way that allows the reader to imagine what Art Spelgelman's mother and father, Anja and Vladek Spegleman, experienced during World War II. In the first book in the Maus series, Spelgelman portrays his father's experiences and actions leading up to being sent to Auschwitz. In order to give the reader a break from the horrors of the holocaust and insert some humor into the story, Spegelman also portrays the moments he spent with his father while getting the story. The cut aways to his father also show that the frugal habits his father had during the holocaust that allowed him to survive are still present.  His father was lucky to have been well off at the beginning of the holocaust because he was then able to trade and barter his way to food and shelter for his family, wife, and himself. Even though Vladek Spegleman and Anja Spegleman were the only ones who survived, Vladek did what ever possible in an attempt to save a many members of his family as possible.
The portrayal of the different races as different animals is relevant too. The jews are portrayed as mice because of how their race had to hide often in holes in the wall in order to survive the war. The jews could also be seen as mice because the Nazis's saw the jews as pests and attempted to exterminate them. Nazis's are cats because the cat is often seen as the natural predators of jews. The Poles are seen as pigs because the Nazi's often referred to them as such. While the American's are rarely seen in the first book, they are seen as dogs. Dogs are often portrayed as friendly to all animals except cats. The dogs are also a reference to the American point of view of the war and how the American's entered the war and saved everyone. Dogs are seen as protectors of people so the American's 'saving' the world fits with the image of the dog.