Maus: A Reader's Tale

Maus I: My Father Bleeds History written by Art Spiegelman, published by Pantheon Books on August 12, 1986 approx. 159 ps.

Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began written by Art Spiegelman, published by Pantheon Books on September 1, 1992 approx. 144 ps.


I think it would be incredibly difficult to generate some form of work about the Holocaust simply for the fact that the general public assumes that they know all that they need to about the matter. They have been informed of these events almost entirely through what was deemed appropriate in junior high textbooks from the fine editors at McGraw-Hill.

Now, calling the Holocaust an "event" is a vast understatement. It is not merely an event. It is in fact one of the most horrifying examples of human nature ever to be displayed. But perhaps even that is an opinion that limits the scope of the Holocaust as subject matter. A blanket statement such as that, while very accurate, denies the notion that the Holocaust was not just a moment in history, but an actual experience that actual people endured.

Art Spiegelman's Maus is one such work that aims to tell the story of his father Vladek with the Holocaust as a backdrop as opposed to the crucial story element. Granted, the Holocaust shapes the story as it is being recounted, in the end, it is a story about a man. Or in this case, a mouse.

Spiegelman tells the story in 2 narratives. The frame narrative is that of Art visiting his father to record the story of his life in the concentration camps in order to write the memoir you are reading. The other narrative is from Vladek's point of view and his direct experiences in Poland and Germany. While these two perspectives seemingly blend into one another, there is no mistaking the distinction in tone between the two. Art views his father in a very subjective way. He finds faults in Vladek's frugality and stubbornness and, at times, seems to even disdain the man his father has become. While this may sound like a harsh judgement on Art's part, a lot of it stems from his inability to impress his father. As far as Art sees it, "nothing can make him happy." Along with that, part of Art's narrative deals with the mental stress from writing and collecting his father's story.

On the other end of it, readers are given a glimpse into Hitler's Germany and the lengths that both of Art's parents go to in order to escape and reunite. It is through these sequences that readers get to know Vladek and how he became who he is. Where Art's portrayal is that of a senile old man, the readers get to see the clever and resourceful man he was. Whether it was utilizing his experience in different occupations to avoid the gas chambers, or trading food for clean clothes to survive the conditions, Vladek had an answer for almost everything. While much of his experiences had to do with luck, his quick wit kept him alive on multiple occasions.

In Steven Wu's review of the book, he mentions the inability of the text to do anything "beyond merely representing the raw historical material" and how small of a reaction Vladek's experiences elicited. I can't disagree more with this opinion. I feel that the representation of Vladek is the one thing that separates this graphic novel from an encyclopedic recounting of the times. His story gives the readers something personal to attach themselves to when reading the story. Statistics go a long way to express the extent of the Nazi's actions, but does little to accentuate individual stories. Personal experiences can only be found in firsthand sources such as these and this is one of the most redeeming qualities of the book.

The graphic novel gets its namesake from the way the characters are portrayed. The Jews are mice, the Germans: cats, Polish: pigs, Americans: dogs, and so on and so forth. While somewhat inconsistent (Anja is terrified of rats? The Germans (cats) have dogs (not Americans though?), I think this portrayal works well. Going into reading this novel, I assumed the animals would take on a manner similar to Orwell's Animal Farm. That is, operate as animals (albeit talking animals) in an ultimately human world. Instead, the characters represent their nationalities through their depictions as animals rather than just being different looking humans.

At first, I was a bit upset that they were not more like the animals on Manor Farm. In my quick reaction, I couldn't quite identify why this portrayal would be needed if the characters were essentially human anyway. While I'm not entirely sure how the other countries fit in, I do, however, find the cat-mouse dynamic a very important piece in telling the story. As mentioned earlier, the Holocaust is more of a backdrop to this story and the motivation behind the events that occurred are not really touched upon. In a sense, the dispute between the Germans and the Jews seems as natural as the dispute between cats and mice. Throw in the Americans (dogs) for good measure, and you essentially get the food chain that shows just how much the Jews mattered during this time period.

A representation such as this would only be possible through Art's chosen medium: the graphic novel. This choice alone demands a great deal of praise considering the widely held opinion of comics as 'low art.' For Spiegelman to bring such a weighty topic and profound memoir to this art form is nothing short of impressive. If this style puts off any potential readers, you can definitely put those apprehensions behind you.

There is little 'comic' in this comic. The art style is appropriately sketchy and foreboding which, for me, help to convey the atmosphere of the times. Similar to Schindler's List, the chosen color scheme is black and white. Maus even avoids the obligatory 'girl in red' to alert its viewers that there is imagery afoot. Instead, Art uses clever images within his own drawings (hidden swastikas, animal masks for disguises) that would make even the most articulate novelist blush. I think this is a great example of how to really utilize a graphic novel to tell a story.

This book should be applauded for its ability to transport its reader both historically and emotionally. By placing the reader's focus on a specific person's story during this treacherous time, one can get a sense of both the overall scope, and the individual struggle. The Holocaust brings about all sorts of evocative images when even mentioned and Spiegelman continues that trend within his graphic novel. But rather than hammer in just how terrible it was, Spiegelman delivers a narrative that has as much heart, as it does horror.

Matty Sung is an English Education major at San Francisco State University. This is his first review.

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrisons book Jazz is categorized as contemporary fiction and more specifically drama. The plot of this book revolves around an older couple, Violet and Joe, and the ups and downs a marriage can take over time. The back of the book describes it as "...a story of passion, jealousy, murder and redemptions, of sex and spirituality, slavery and liberation, country and city". Reading this very long sentence one would think that this book is going to be extremely intriguing and would be as inspiring and deep as Morrisons previous work. Morrison is well known for her writing in period pieces that mainly have to do with racism, love, and death. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1993. She is most well known for her amazing work in The Bluest Eye, Song of Soloman, and Beloved. Although Morrison is a very talented writer this book fell short of her normal stature. As the back of the book reads there is a lot going on in this book but unfortunately it is all just barely touched upon and leaves the reader confused. There is also no original storyline to keep the reader intrigued. I chose to read this book because of Morrisons reputation of fantastic writing but was sorely disappointed in the quality of this story.

To start with, this book is very stereotypical; husband and wife don't talk anymore therefore husband cheats on wife with a younger woman and small town gossip ensues. Don't worry I am not giving anything away, the reader finds all of this out on just the first few pages. It is then slowly explained in detail throughout the entire book but you get the main parts of the drama at the very beginning. Violet and Joe are the married couple that this story revolves around, even though there were corks in their personality they seemed very generalized as a boring old couple. Violet comes to a realization early on that she is not the woman that she once was, saying "She[Herself] didn't used to be that way. She had been a snappy, determined girl and a hard working young woman, with the snatch-gossip tongue of a beautician" (page 23). For such a well-known writer I was hoping for a more original plot, although there were some parts that I thought were unique there were not enough of them to sway me from being bored at the basic love story plot. I will give her credit in the fact that both Violet and Joe had twisted minds; Joe killed his lover because he knew he couldn't keep her and Violet mutilated the body of her husbands mistress at the public wake. But still this wasn't enough to intrigue me to read more; she did not delve enough into their psyche to explain anything.

Flashing back and forth in time and changing narratives every few pages without any notification to the reader was the basis of this book that made me go "what the heck?”. There were far too many times when I did not know who was talking or where in time we were. It was extremely distracting and would take several pages to figure out. There was an entire 20 pages devoted to a time period before either of the two characters were alive and as the reader I was not able to decipher who the narrator was or their purpose in the story until the entire section was done. This background would have been helpful if it were more clear but as it is written it was just frustrating. The reader will spend more time trying to figure out the timeline of the story then actually reading the pages.

As I mentioned before the book was supposed to be about "passion, jealousy, murder and redemptions, of sex and spirituality, slavery and liberation, country and city". I can see why this was advertised because that is what the entire book was about but at the same time it never fully dove into any of the subjects. Morrison just barely skimmed the surface with all of those issues so that it was there but not developed. I never cared or rooted for any of the characters because none of them were talked about enough for me to have a strong hold on who they were and what they wanted. The narrator jumped around so much that it never fully went into who each person was and why I should care which is the main reason why we read! We read to learn about other people and be a part of their story; we read for anticipation and anxiety; we read for romance and friendship. All of these vital aspects of a good story were just barely touched upon; it was there but not developed enough to become a real story.

Overall I would not suggest this book. Yes, there were a few interesting parts but not enough to waste time reading the entire 229 pages. Morrison is normally an extraordinary writer but this book just didn't have her heart in it. Stereotypical, confusing, and underdeveloped are not words normally used to describe her books but for this one they are exactly the right fit.

Sierra Baxter is graduating in May 2011 from San Francisco State University with a Bachelors Degree in Communication Studies.

I forgot!

to post earlier! I was out of town and was too swept up in it to remember my homework! My apologies. I also am not quite sure what I am supposed to write about... I guess about the book I am reading but since the others in my group aren't reading the same book as me I guess I will use this time to talk about what has happened thus far in my book.

I am about 100 pages into my book and still pretty confused about what is going on. The basic premise of the book is that there is a man (Joe) and woman (Violet), they have been marries for a long time and in the last few months Joe has strayed away from his wife and was sleeping with a younger woman (Dorcas). Joe recently murdered Dorcas because he knew they could never have a life together and the love for her hurt too much. As you may guess violet was not too thrilled about this and after her death became somewhat obsessed with the woman his husband liked better than her. Violet doesn't seem to harbor any hard feelings or fear towards her husband which I think is weird. In the part I am reading right now Violet is befriending the diseased aunt who she was raised by.

Basically I am confused because they keep switching back from future to present tense with no distinction between them and also have no idea who is narrating. I hope it clears up soon...