Maus

Whenever a Holocaust story is heard, a certain respect for the survivors fill the air. It is almost impossible to think about the hardships millions of survivors and non-survivors were forced to face many years ago. In The Complete Maus, renowned author and cartoonist, Art Spiegelman, creates flashbacks and real time dialogues that flow smoothly as he paints an ideal picture of the horrific events of Holocaust. Maus is a story written in present tense with past events retold through conversations between son and father, Artie and Vladek Spiegelman. Realities of the Holocaust are seen firsthand when Art, an aspiring artist, interviews his father about the Holocaust in an obvious attempt to seek answers to the mysteries of his father, suicidal mother, dead brother, and his life in general. Spiegelman fills his story with two main parts; the true story of a Holocaust survivor, and how the survivor progressed. The first explains Vladek Spiegelman’s experiences as a young Jewish man leading up to his imprisonment in Auschwitz. The second, references Vladek as an old man recounting his history to his son, and the complicated relationship between the two. It is a difficult process for both father and son, and through their progression, both men were dramatically affected by the Holocaust. Change in guilt and personality traits are seen throughout the story. While Maus is the story of Vladek Spigelman’s experiences in the Holocaust, it is also much more. In many ways, the relationship between father and son is the central narrative in the book, and feelings of guilt are dealt extensively. Of the particular relevance in Maus, guilt is associated with the members of family. To begin with, Art does not expose any feelings toward his father. As we read the beginning of Maus we see that their relationship is quite complex. It is obvious that Art loves his father very much, but yet we notice there are times that the only reason he is visiting his father is to gather