Maus Essays

Among the numbers of literary offerings about the survivors of the horrors of the Holocaust that decimated not only Jews, but also, the disenfranchised, and marginalized minorities deemed worthless among the human race by the Nazis, Art Spiegelman has provided a distinctly different account via his graphic novel “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History’. The focus of the following is about the insert story (the story within a story) standing alone but aligned to the characters in “Maus” called “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” (pages 104-105, 158-159). In the following, this section provides the framework of answering how the audience sees the suicide of the wife and mother—Anja—of the husband (Vladek) and son (Art/Artie) from a different perception. This new perception from the suicide affect on the husband and son in the “Maus” story in general is completely different than what has been revealed in “Prisoner” and this is the underlying reason for a better understanding of Art that comes from reading “Prisoner”.

‘Maus” by Spiegelman first introduces the audience to the suicide of Art’s mother Anja, who is also the wife of Vladek. It is not until reading the insert/imbedded portion to the graphic novel that it becomes a different perception. In the following investigation, analysis, and discussion this is outlined and underpins how both father (Vladek) and Artie (son) portray Anja in the “Prisoner” portion of the “Maus” story.

The suicide of the wife and mother of two of the main characters in both “Maus” and “Prisoner” takes on two different perspectives. There is an understandable void left with the suicide of Anja when read in both of these stories and the important thing is how this void affects the character Art in “Maus” and his counterpart “Artie” in “Prisoner”. A deeper understanding emerges after reading “Prisoner” that effectively gives more substance to understanding the characterization of Art.

Elmwood has aptly described what is revealed in the Spiegelman “Maus” concerning the suicide of Anja and its effect on assumptions developed by the audience (694).

Art, the character, becomes integrated into the Spiegelman family as esteemed chronicler, and also introduces elements of his own trauma—Anja’s suicide— which establish an indirect link between Art, the Holocaust, and its after effects. From the fragments of the familial ties that remain, Art Spiegelman sutures together his own set of familial relationships, including the dead in the piecemeal family portrait that we glimpse throughout the two volumes of Maus. (Elmwood 694-695)

In “Maus” Art emerges less than traumatized by the stories of survival of the camps yet, in “Prisoner” it is clearly apparent his counterpart Artie (representing the author in both characterizations) cannot emotionally hold up to her suicide because he is wracked by memory and guilt. At the same time, both “Maus” and “Prisoner” have demonstrated how Spiegelman has aptly created what Øverås (9) calls:

… a truthful Holocaust memoir, which represents both emotional and factual authenticity. The graphic novel permits the layering of both narrators and narratives, which is thoroughly used by Spiegelman to tell multiple stories and perspectives at once. This allows him to visualize the challenging hunt for an accurate memory. (Øverås 9)

Further, with both Artie and Vladek having a voice, Spiegelman allows the audience with interpretations in revealing the past through these two characters through their dialogue—spoken and unspoken. The graphics in this novel visually give substance to interpreting the past as well because the viewer can observe how the characters’ memories are both processed and understood (Øverås 9). Further explanation Øverås shares how memory is never a finished subject, nor is it objective or unanimous but exists as a question of individual perspective as well as politics as has been aptly portrayed in “Prisoner (9)”.

Artie and Vladek serving as Spiegelman’s “narrators and focalizers (Øverås)”, the author has successfully visualized and portrayed artistically struggle for power that was involved in recreating the specific past of the Holocaust, its survivors, and what surviving has meant individually and collectively. As importantly, it is also how this has affected the children of survivors (Øverås 9).

Anja’s suicide for Art is not as apparent to the reader until they delve into “Prisoner” and how this becomes like a guide for understanding the effect this personal act of self-destruction (final solution) has on the woman’s son via the characterization of Artie. Art now has more substance in his own dealing with the death of Anja because understanding the depth of the grief that Artie undergoes is a clearer realization of the meaning of this tragic loss and its effect on Art (Tabaechnick 12).

The selfish nature of Vladek may be interpreted as an insight to his survivor instincts but at the same time, the negative aspect of this character is evinced with him purposefully destroying Anja’s journals. By doing so, that look into the past has been annihilated so Vladek and his stories of the past is all that is left of their experiences. This means that he is the “voice” of the past in “Maus” and in “Prisoner” (Tabaechnick 12).

Artie in “Prisoner” has allowed an entirely different perspective on the mindset of Art. Art does not understand his mother’s suicide and somehow Artie believes “he” is the cause. The guilt experienced by Art and Artie about experiencing the loss of Anja has become imbedded in both their memories about their mother.

Art is crippled by his reaction to this loss in the way his father treats him. Artie is crippled because the suicide has made him a prisoner of his own kind of hell. The significance of Spiegelman creating this story within a story but paralleling the suicide of Anja is about the author evidently dealing with his own loss in characterizing himself in both Art and Artie. Again, it is Artie and how “Prisoner” unfolds that has made Art a deeper kind of character than he was before reading “Prisoner”.

Exploring, analyzing, and discussing how “Prisoner” has become a guide for the reader of the “Maus” graphic novel in understanding one of the pivotal character’s layers of feelings about the loss of his mother Anja to suicide. It is easy to understand how the “Maus” novel without the inclusion of the “Prisoner” would be a different reality when it comes to engaging with the characterization of Art because the audience is already has experienced it. Moving from the “Maus” reality into that of “Prisoner” has meant the audience has an experience with the story that has become “more”. It is an interesting paradox.