Why is maus a biography

In , it became the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize. The layered storytelling of this novel creates interesting discussion. What does it mean to survive a trauma? Does one have to experience the trauma first-hand to be a survivor? The comic panels share a unique story that reveal the power of images, images that speak when sometimes words cannot.

The metaphor of the novel represents Jews as mice, Germans as cats, Poles as pigs, French as frogs, and Americans as dogs. The present moment has humans wearing these animal masks, while the past depicts the animals as themselves.

To die it's easy But you have to struggle for life! It was random! I guess it's some kind of guilt about having had an easier life than they did. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

The ways in which this generation pays homage are quite diverse. Many sites on the web, like Aragorn 's, are virtual shrines to the memories of their ancestors. Others are fully dedicated to the organization of campaigns in order to procure justice in the name of Jewish families whose possessions were seized by the Nazis during WWII and stored in Swiss banks.

Click here for an example. Yet another way, non-electronic, is writing a narrative like Art Spiegelman does. MAUS is a splendid graphic novel, drawn and written by Spiegelman himself, that narrates his father's life during the Holocaust. His memories come to life in the pages of the book, although they are intertwined with another account.

This second narrative, Art's, complements his father's by presenting a portrayal of the life and struggles of a second generation of Jewish people whose existences are extremely influenced by the Holocaust despite not being born during its occurrence. This trait separates MAUS from other Holocaust narratives whose limits can only offer one side of the story, one view of the event, one version of the pain.

Art's obsession with saving Vladek's story for posterity is met with some opposition by his father, especially in the opening sequence. Neither Vladek nor Art are able to understand what the other is feeling due to their inability to relate. Art wonders why his father is so hesitant to allow his life to be the subject of a novel; he is unable to put himself in Vladek's position.

He is often frustrated due to this limitation, and often presses his father for answers he is unable to provide. At times he shares this frustration, which is sometimes met by sympathy from his father. This situation is portrayed splendidly by Spiegelman in the panel below:. Art is dumbfounded by this particular morsel of his father's narratives. He attempts to use logic to understand it, but finally gives up when he realizes he just does not understand.

His father's final commentary on the strip, " nobody can understand" shows how difficult it is not only for the second generation, but also for the survivors themselves, to understand the events that transpired in the Holocaust. The evil of the Holocaust is unspeakable, unexplainable, but above all, unforgettable. Art realizes that no matter how hard he wishes he had been at Auschwitz to experience the horrors first-hand, he is unable to do so. Committing his thoughts and emotions to a written narrative, the graphic novel MAUS, is the best course of action for him, especially since it allows him to combine his story with his father's.

The graphic novel genre is one of the most fascinating in literature.