The author wrote Maus in an unconventional way of a graphic novel, using animal characters instead of human ones.Does this form effectively tell a Holocaust story? How does it differ from a conventional Holocaust story?
I like the approach Art Spiegelman took because it was a very unique way to talk about the Holocaust. The fact that he used cartoons made the story look a lot less gruesome and less serious than most recounts I’ve read before. Instead of focusing on the bigger picture, he told the story through a family lens, which made it much more personal and easier to resonate with. The fact that Speigelman portrayed the Jews as mice and the Nazis as pigs was strong symbolism that helped demonstrate how he viewed society during this time The drawings/depictions also help readers get a sense of what was going on, rather than having them create the whole story through imagination. I read Night by Eli Weisel and I think the two are pretty similar in terms of the way they recall the horrors of the Holocaust.
