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The Complete Maus Study Notes

“But in some ways he didn’t survive.” – Art

Overview

In Maus, Vladek Spiegelman’s story of sur-

this challenging is the visual symbolism

viving the Holocaust is told in tandem with

that is most striking about Maus: The Na-

the story of his post-war relationship with

zis are cats and the Jews are mice. It

the author of the book, Artie. Although Art

would be easy because of this to reduce

Spiegelman emphasises the resourceful-

Maus to a cut and dried metaphor about

ness of Vladek to survive and his capacity

the evilness of Nazis and the innocence of

to overcome the dreadfulness of feeling

the Jews. While there is clearly a strong ele-

abandoned by God (“But here God didn’t

ment of this in the graphic novel, we need

come. We were all on our own. p. 189”),

to remember that writing this book for

Maus is just as much about surviving life

Spiegelman represents a struggle to create

after the Holocaust as it is about experienc-

meaning out of both the Holocaust and

ing the Holocaust itself. Art says to his

what happened to his father afterwards.

wife, Francoise towards the end to book,

Art says to Francoise at one point: “I can’t

“But in some ways he didn’t survive” (p.

even make any sense of out my relation-

250). Certainly, for Vladek, the Holocaust

ship with my father...How am I supposed

seems to have been an emotionally crip-

to make any sense out of Auschwitz?...of

pling experience, reducing him to what Art

the holocaust?” (p. 174).

says is a “caricature of the miserly old jew” (p. 133) who is concerned more with

While seeing the Jews as mice and the Na-

“things than people! (as Mala says). The

zis as cats is one to make “sense out

need to constantly be resourceful and pragmatic has apparently, for Vladek, over-

of...the Holocaust” - there isn’t really any easy resolutions to the questions of why,

whelmed other - less material - ap-

how and what in Maus. Yes, Vladek may

proaches to life.

have been emotionally deadened by the Holocaust and his interactions with his son

But as readers we need to be careful

may be a reaction to guilt and grief, but he

about how we might seek to simply the

also clearly cares about his son. He also

message of Maus. One thing that makes

clearly loves Anja. And on this point, some

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things from the novel remain deliberately veiled. Why did Anja kill herself? Why was Art being treated for mental illness just before her death? How can all of this be Vladek’s fault? What we can safely say about Maus is that the images belie the complexity of the psychological pathology that was a result of the Holocaust both for the survivors and the generation that the survivors gave birth to. What’s also true in Maus is that the characters - at least Vladek and Art - are burdened with feelings that they don’t always understand and are often in conflict with each other. If there’s any message in Maus it’s this: people are complex and nothing is simple.

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Graphic novel language

One of the things that’s important in writing about Maus, is to write about it as a graphic novel. In otherwise, how does Art Spiegelman use the elements of the graphic novel to tell the story of Maus in a way that’s distinct from the medium of the novel or film? On the next page is an illustration of some of the basic terms used to describe different elements of the graphic novel. Below is a more detailed discussion about the effect with which Spiegelman uses some of these elements. The panel: Just as the paragraph and sentences within the paragraph are the basic way of dividing up parts of the narrative in a novel, so too is the panel (and the bubbles with the panel) the basic way of organising the story in a graphic novel. Spiegelman uses panels in a number of different

designed to be read from left to right, top

ways throughout Maus. In the opposite col-

to bottom. This is a standard way of split-

umn is a picture of the typical way Spiegel-

ting panels on a page in order to develop

man employs panels through Maus. On

the narrative. However, not all panels are

this page we can see that all of the panels

boxed on this page - two of them are bor-

are the same, that most of the panels are

derless. When a panel is boxed within a

boxed with a black border and that they’re

border it conveys the sense that these

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Maus as a graphic novel - some basic vocabulary Caption

A long shot

A text only panel

A close up A panel

A gutter

A speech bubble

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words, or actions or feelings are happening at this exact point and no other. When there is no border a sense of space or freedom is created - that the words, actions or feelings might link to more than just this point in time. In the example page shown, we could say that the panel where Vladek says “we were happy only to be together” has no border because it something he feels is always true about he and Anja (and certainly something he says later on: “We were both very happy and live happy, happy ever after” p. 296). Spiegelman also changes the size of panels in order to emphasize the significance or impact of the feelings, words or events within the panel. He does this often at crisis points in the novel - such as in the example pictured in the next column which shows the arrival of Vladek at Auschwitz. Panels can also overlap with other panels as it does in the example to the left. This shows how the words, feelings or events in that panel overlap, impact on or link to the surrounding panels. Gutters: The space in between panels known as the ‘gutter’ - might not initially strike us as important. But it is. It’s in the gutter space that we need to infer what’s happened - to almost quite literally ‘read between the lines’. In many cases, this

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doesn’t require much effort, because what’s depicted in one panel can come almost directly after what was in the previous panel (as occurs in the very first example shown at the start of this chapter). However, sometimes there is a space between panels - either in terms of place or time. In the example below, from the end of Maus, there is a leap in time between when Vladek goes to sleep and the final panel of his tomb stone. We are left to wonder what happened in between. If we were talking about film we would call this ‘editing’ - how scenes can be cut, or cut from point to a next and create a particular effect. In Maus, Spiegelman can use his gut-

In the scene above, we don’t see Tosha administer the poison to the children - we’re left to fill that blank in ourselves based on the image of the small, innocent children looking up.

ter editing to a very moving effect.

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The characters

Vladek:

for Anja might be, there was a calculating side to it for Vladek. When Vladek is first

There are many qualities about Vladek

dating Anja he shows the pills Anja takes

which are admirable. He is represented as

to a friend to ascertain her health: “If she

both courageous and resourceful in the

was sick, then what did I need it [her] for?”

way he survives the Holocaust. While dis-

(p. 21). He can also be dictatorial in his rela-

guised as a Pole, for example, he rides in

tionship with her: “I told her Anja, if you

the section of a tram reserved for Nazi offi-

want me you have to go my way...” (p. 31).

cials - put himself as close as possible to

The resourcefulness that helped him sur-

the Nazis in order to avoid detection. In

vive during the Holocaust, is no longer

Auschwitz, when he comes under the pa-

such a positive quality outside of it. Both

tronage of a powerful Kapo, he remembers

Mala and Art himself repeatedly complain

his friend with the one shoe and the baggy

about how “cheap” Vladek is and how he

pants and ensures this friend gets clothes

values material things above people. Mala

that fit. On other occasions he gets fellow

comments acidically at one point that it’s

prisoners things - such as lice free shirts

this attitude of Vladek’s that probably

and spoons - that help them survive. Dur-

drove Anja to her suicide. We don’t know

ing his time in Auschwitz he scrapes to-

why Anja committed suicide (we’re told

gether rations for bribes to get Anja an eas-

several times that she left “no note”), but

ier job in the women’s concentration

what we do know is that Vladek’s version

camp. Clearly Art Spiegelman is proud of

of their life after the war - “We were both

this selfless, practical and heroic part of

very happy and live happy, happy ever af-

his father.

ter” (p. 296) - can’t possibly be true. So we

But there are also many aspects of Art Spiegelman’s presentation of his father

can probably add self deception to Vladek’s roll call of failings.

that leave us thinking about Vladek in a

Ulimately, as long as the list of complaints

less than positive light. As great as his love

about Vladek might be, Maus is an empa-

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thetic story about him. As bitter as Art

about having had an easier life than they

Spiegelman might be about some of the

did” (p. 176). It’s instances like the one Art

attitudes Vladek has, it’s impossible to

Spiegelman begins Maus with that leave

judgmentally dismiss someone who has ex-

his character in the graphic novel feeling

perienced what Vladek has. Vladek’s final

“guilt” about a life that doesn’t involve

words in the story are addressed not to Art

starving and watching everyone around

- who he has spent the last few years tell-

you die.

ing his stories to his, but his other son who died in the Holocaust - Richieu. The only thing we can feel at this - as Art Spiegelman must - is sorrow.

Art sees his childhood as characterised not only with guilt, but also with inferiority. He feels that “No matter what I accomplish, it doesn’t seem like much compared

Art:

to surviving Auschwitz” (p. 204). Further, he feels that Vladek made it clear as he

Art Spiegelman is a character who has

grew up that “I couldn’t do anything as

been profoundly emotionally impacted by

well as he could” (p. 204). Art’s pyscholo-

the Holocaust - not because he lived

gist says that Vladek’s need to be “always

through it, but because his parents did.

right” may be a reaction to feeling “guilty

This much is clear from the panels Spiegel-

about surviving” (p. 204). Characters need

man opens Maus with. They recount a typi-

to find a way to endure after the Holo-

cal childhood experience of falling over

caust. Being right is Vladek’s. So too does

and friends not being overly sensitive

Art need to find a way to survive Vladek,

about it. “I fell and my friends skated away

which is why he chose to be an artist:

w-without me,” Art complains to his father.

“One reason I became an artist was that

Vladek’s response to his child’s sorrows is

he thought it was impractical...it was an

this: “Friends? ...If you lock them together

area where I wouldn’t have to compete

in a room with no food for a week...Then

with him” (p. 99).

you could see what it is, friends!” (p. 6). Later on in the book Art says to Francoise

What is it that Maus, in the end, is about

that, “I know this is insane, but I somehow

for Spiegelman? He says to Vladek that he

wish I had been in Auschwitz with my par-

wants to tell his “story.” But later on, talk-

ents so I could really know what they lived

ing to his psychologist, he says “I tried to

through!...I guess it’s some kind of guilt

be fair and still show how angry I was” (p.

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205). This second quote is getting closer

get to feel that he’s been “fair” in telling

to it. Maus isn’t just about Vladek’s story

their story.

but about how Spiegelman feels about Vladek’s story. The visual medium of the graphic novel becomes the perfect foundation for exploring the complex nature of Speigelman’s feelings towards his father and to counter (because Vladek has destroyed Anja’s diaries) the fact that Vladek is the only voice in the narrative of how he and Anja survived the Holocaust. The medium of the graphic novel means that instead of just words to represent his feel-

Mala: Sometime after Anja’s suicide Vladek remarries to Mala. Their relationship is a combative one. Vladek complains that she is constantly badgering him to change his will to make it more beneficial for her, Mala’s riposte is that he is cheap and miserly. “He’s more attached to things than people!” (p. 95), she says.

ings, Spiegelman can manipulate pictures.

Mala shows us that Vladek’s particular

So in the scene with the pscyhologist,

emotional pathology impacts more than

Spiegelman’s feelings of inferiority are visu-

just Art. Talking to Art about one of her ar-

ally reinforced through his illustration of

guments with Vladek about money, she

himself as a child. The surreal, exagger-

says, “I feel like I’m in prison” (p. 132). She

ated style of Prisoner On The Hell Planet,

feels as if Vladek manipulates her, every

captures in pictures what Spiegelman felt

time she argues with him, “he moans like

to be the emotional grotesqueness of the

he’s going to have another heart attack”

events surrounding Anja’s suicide - the

(p. 132). What’s interesting about this is

fact that it’s in a completely different style

how Vladek’s dependency towards Mala

to the rest of the book highlighting how it

(the sicker he gets, the more he wants her

stands out on its own in Spiegelman’s per-

to look after him) - and the emotional ma-

sonal narrative.

nipulation he uses to get what he wants

Maus isn’t a book in which the character of Art finally comes closer to his father or gets closure about the suicide of his mother. He doesn’t stop feeling guilty or inferior or blaming his father. But he does

(and the consequent feeling for Mala that she is a “prisoner”), mirrors Art’s feeling of being a prisoner because of his mother’s emotional dependency-manipulation towards him. There’s a further link provided between Mala and Anja when Mala says at

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one point that she can see why Anja com-

threw tantrums or got in any kind of

mitted suicide.

trouble...It was an ideal kid, and I was a pain in the ass. I couldn’t compete” (p.

Like Vladek, Mala is a survivor of the

175).

camps, but however she has been impacted by that experience, it manifests it-

Anja:

self in a different way to Vladek’s response (“All our friends went through the camps.

It’s clear that Anja is an emotionally fragile

Nobody is like him!” p. 133 she says). Mala

character that experiences depression. Af-

is a character in the graphic novel that cor-

ter giving birth to Richieu she has what ap-

roborates Art’s representation of his father

pears to be post-notal depression and she

and provides a parallel for Art’s own experi-

goes with Vladek to a sanitarium. Through-

ences with his mother.

out the war she remains a character who is dependent on Vladek and terrified of being

Francoise:

left alone. At least that is how her story is presented in the eyes of Vladek. We know

Art needs characters in the novel that can

that Anja kept diaries after the war - and

both help him explore how he feels about

Art is desperate to read these diaries to

his father and provide context for those

hear the story from her perspective. But

feelings. Art’s conversations with Mala of-

Vladek destroyed her diaries after her sui-

fer points of comparison in how she feels

cide, claiming “I had too many memories.

and how Art feels about Vladek. Francoise,

So I burned them” (p. 161). Art is incredibly

Art’s wife (a Frenchwoman who has con-

angry at this and calls Vladek a “mur-

verted to Judaism so is consequently repre-

derer!” (p. 161). What he means by this is

sented as a mouse in the graphic novel),

unclear. Does he mean that Vladek drove

operates chiefly as a character that Art can

Anja to her suicide so was a murderer? Or

reveal his most problematic (and what he

does he mean it more metaphorically - that

might feel are shameful) emotions to. He

he destroyed her story when he burned

says to her, for example: “When I was a

her diaries, so figuratively has murdered

kid I used to think about which of my par-

her? It’s this second possible use of mur-

ents I’d let the Nazis take to the ovens if I

der that is most likely to be true - because

could only save one of them...” (p. 174)

Art uses ‘murder’ figuratively elsewhere.

and that “The photo [of Richieu] never

The only reflection we get about Anja from

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Art’s own perspective is the chapter Prisoner On The Hell Planet. In this section of the graphic novel, where people are represented in caricatured and grotesque form, Anja is represented as a “bitch” who “tightened the umbilical cord” around Art. Through her suicide she “murdered” him, because he is imprisoned with guilt: “the guilt was overwhelming...They think it’s my fault” (pgs. 104-105). This guilt and bitterness is compounded by the absence of a suicide note - something that is commented on several times throughout the graphic novel.

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Themes

Resourcefulness and surviving:

some kind of guilt about...