A Brief Review Of Art Spiegelman's Maus

The time of the Holocaust was a very brutal for not just Jews, but for other minorities in Europe and Russia. Over 11 million people died at the hands of Germany and its allies. Maus is a novel describing a fictional person’s account of the days of and before the Holocaust. The author (and narrator), Art Spiegelman, has a father named Vladek that lived in Sosnowiec, Poland. Vladek has a wife, Anja Spiegelman, that has a condition that makes her need emotional support more than normal. He is a Jew and is transported to different concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz and Dachau. He then reunites with his wife, who is in critical condition. After they escape and a few years later, Anja commits suicide. The novel is written based around cats and mice so that it would appeal to children on a different level. Because of the fact that the book contains real places, includes characters that seem like they would fit in that time period, and consists of actual events and happenings, Maus is a good historical fiction novel to teach about the Holocaust.
The setting(s) of Maus is appropriate for a historical fiction novel, due to them being actual places in the real world.
Maus is a novel in the form of a flashback, with the actual setting taking place in Rego Park, New York. Vladek Spiegelman flashes back to the days of the Holocaust in his then hometown of Sosnowiec, Poland. The book Tell Them We Remember includes a map of the countries during the timeframe of the Holocaust, and Poland is indeed a country during the Holocaust (Bachrach 3). The settings of Maus are real places, and due to this fact, the setting is appropriate for a book depicting this specific
timeframe. The novel Maus does indeed include fictional characters, but they fit into the timeframe of the book excellently. The main character, Vladek Spiegelman, is telling his son, Art Spiegelman, about the days of the Holocaust through his eyes. The other main character, Anja Spiegelman, also had to endure actual events in history, such as Concentration Camps and the SS. The SA, or the Sturmabteilung (Storm Division), were people who were given jobs by the Nazi’s to enforce their cruel policies (Bachrach 10). Because the characters had to endure trials and tribulations by real beings, as well as fitting into the timeframe of the Holocaust, the characters add value to the teachability of this book about the Holocaust. The events of the book are also a key contributor the the reliability of the novel Maus. There are actual conflicts and events included in the novel. For example, Vladek is transported to Auschwitz. His wife Anja is transported to Birkenau. According to TTWR, “Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest of the Nazi death camps, located near Cracow, Poland. More than one million people lost their lives at this camp, nine out of ten of them Jewish” (Bachrach 54). Vladek also ends up at Dachau, the first concentration camp of the Nazis. Because there are real events and camps, Maus has events that are beneficial to a book that would teach about the Holocaust. The theme of the novel Maus is not about just the Holocaust, but it is much more. The theme is centrally about Art’s relationship with his father and how his father’s memories affect him and his life. The statement that your past affects your future is the case in this novel. Art has a shaky relationship with his father mainly due to the fact that his wife committed suicide. Vladek is in a sad state and is taking it out on Art. Many victims of the Holocaust never fully recovered from the pain and suffering of that time. Because of its harsh reality that the victims never fully recovered, Maus has an appropriate theme for an educational novel about the Holocaust. In summary, Maus would be a good novel to teach young people, and even older people, about the Holocaust and its brutal consequences. Maus would teach someone about the Holocaust but in a less horrific manner than actual textbooks such as Tell Them We Remember. Maybe if people know about the dreadful, horrendous time of the Holocaust, this world could sympathize and help victims of the Holocaust recover some 72 years later