Mice Versus Cats: The Verisimilitude of Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale

A Survivor's Tale

Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale unconventionally presents the Holocaust in the form of a cartoon, but, as eerie or even impossible as it may initially sound, the book manages to be truthful and remarkably tasteful. The plot revolves around two young Polish Jews, Vladek and Anja, the artist's father and mother, as told by Vladek to Artie, the author's book character form. Vladek and Anja endure Nazi wrath at ghettos and concentration camps, but ultimately persevere, come to America, and give birth to Spiegelman.

After Anja commits suicide, Artie must learn to cope with his mother's sudden death and his aging father, as frustrating as the latter often proves to be. The story's strength then lies in Artie coming to terms with his father as he gradually discovers more and more about Vladek's Holocaust ordeals through a series of interviews. In other words, the book is as much about father-son relationships later in life as it is about Jewish tribulation during World War II.

Spiegelman's opus succeeds because he emphasizes that the comic is a comic, but, even so, his father, Vladek's story is true. What makes the book so convincing as a Holocaust story is that Spiegelman recognizes the limitations of his art form and chooses a heavily stylistic rendering of his father's story over a blatant attempt at realism that would ultimately cheapen his father's experience. Taking a highly realistic approach would perverse his work, as his choice of medium would seem totally inappropriate if not shockingly irreverent.

In an effort to theatrically "break the forth wall," Spiegelman makes the stylistic choice to portray his personal writing and drawing process for the book. The process is so dramatic that it even comes across as more of a journey than the stereotypical book brainstorming production, making it the perfect skeleton for a comic book because it is action-packed. This story-telling device of incorporating the author within the text reminds the reader that all of Vladek's horrifying adventures really happened.