Hamilton: An American Musical was written by Lin Manuel-Miranda and is a musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton. What makes this so unique is how it is presented in the form of rap and even has hip-hop references to go with it. Most of the play is historically accurate which makes learning history very simple for the listeners, even if they don’t realize that they are learning. With this recipe, Hamilton is able to connect with audiences of all ages and more importantly, keep them hooked. On the other hand, Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale and Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began is a graphic novels by Art Spiegelman. It is about Art meeting with his father and interviewing him about his experiences during the Holocaust. The characters are displayed as different types of animals, such as cats, mice, and pigs. The Jews are the mice, the Nazis are the cats and the Polish are the pigs. Both of these books are able to connect with the audience through the use of allusions. Allusions allow the reader to make certain connections without the author ever having to specifically mention it. Hamilton: An American Musical uses many auditory allusions, while Maus I & II: A Survivor’s Tale uses visual allusions, and both works use historical allusions.
Alexander Hamilton was born around January 11th, 1755 in the British West Indies. His father’s name was James Hamilton and his mother’s name was Rachel Fawcett Lavien. Hamilton’s father abandoned his family when Alexander was a young boy (“Alexander Hamilton”). This is the basis for a few of the auditory allusions found in Hamilton. There are auditory references to rappers The Notorious B.I.G. or Christopher Wallace, and Eminem or Marshall Mathers. Both of these musicians experienced a childhood in which their father just walked out on them while they were young. An example of an auditory allusion occurs in the song “My Shot” when there is a line that goes, “A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R—we are – meant to be” (Miranda “My Shot,” 0:42). This alludes to “Going Back To Cali” by The Notorious B.I.G. in which he states, “N-O-T-O-R-I-O-U-S—you just—lay down slow” (Smalls “Going Back To Cali,” 2:18). By throwing in these references, the listener is able to make connections between the lives of Hamilton and Wallace. There is another allusion to a rapper with a similar childhood as Hamilton. During the song “Cabinet Battle #1” Jefferson says, “Oh if the shoe fits, wear it. New York’s in debt, why should Virginia bear it?” (Miranda “Cabinet Battle #1,” 0:46). This line is eerily similar to a line in the Eminem song Renegade that goes “If the shoe fits I’ll wear it. But if I don’t then y’all swallow the truth, grin and bear it” (Eminem “Renegade,” 1:24). There’s no one that people my age is able to identify with and look up to more than Eminem. Anyway, his life also has parallels with Hamilton’s, especially the father that walked out on him and his mom. Interestingly, there are also allusions to the rappers Jay-Z and DMX who also suffered the same childhood fate.
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Maus is a graphic novel created by Art Spiegelman in which he interviews his father about his experiences during the Holocaust and surviving it all. Interestingly, Spiegelman decided to represent the Jews as mice, Germans as cats, and the Polish as pigs. By doing this he was able to use an art style that makes the content seem much less harmless than the matter that is actually involved. The choice to depict Jews as mice and Nazis as cats go beyond the predator and prey analogy. Mice are often seen as dirty and weak organisms that tend to run and hide most of the time. Projecting this translation directly might make Art look like a racist. However, there’s much more behind the symbolism than just that offensive point of view. The Nazis would actually depict the Jews as mice and declare them as a nuisance that needed to be rid of (“Why Mice?”). By depicting the Nazis as cats, Art was able to capture how the Holocaust was similar to cats hunting for mice. Also, Zyklon B was the gas used to exterminate the Jews in Auschwitz. Zyklon B was originally a cyanide-based pesticide used to kill rats and insects (“At the Killing Centers”). This is also alluded to in the panel where Art uses insect spray in an attempt to kill some mosquitoes while vacationing in the Catskills (Spiegelman II:74). Art definitely put a lot of research into this book as well as just interviewing his father. He was interested enough in the topic to actually research everything and not just believe the words of his father.
Moving on back to Hamilton, there is little known about Hamilton and Eliza’s marriage shortly after she found out about his affair. There have been assumptions and guesses as to what happened, but no one is certain. Miranda alludes to this in the song “Burn” when Eliza writes to Hamilton: “I’m erasing myself from the narrative. Let future historians wonder. How Eliza reacted when you broke her heart” (Miranda). Miranda did research this topic but there is a lack of primary sources available so he could only speculate that Eliza had not wanted to be present during this time. This also speaks volumes about Hamilton as a person. Not only did he betray his wife, more than once, but he also published it all in a pamphlet. This pamphlet included the details about his relationship with Maria Reynolds and how he paid her husband to keep it a secret (“Alexander Hamilton”). Hamilton isn’t perfect and this play makes that known, however, he was an intelligent leader and very good with words. He rose into a position of power on his own, survived a childhood that most wouldn’t have, and eventually is honored on the $10 bill. Hamilton left a legacy behind him that outshines the negative choices he made in his life.
Maus has an important allusion appear about a third of the way through book two when Art is sitting at his desk attempting to work on his book. He tells about how his father died from congestive heart failure and is visually struggling to continue drawing. Art himself is also wearing a mouse mask instead of drawing himself as an actual mouse (Spiegelman II:41). By drawing himself in a mouse mask, he is able to visually show that he can’t truly identify with his father’s tale. There is a pile of dead mice under his desk and flies are buzzing all around him (Spiegelman II:41). A few panels later he is being harassed by the media and it’s immediately noticeable that he doesn’t want the attention. As the panels continue, Art begins to shrink down into a kid. He goes to see his shrink, Pavel, and gradually returns to his normal size as he continues to visit his shrink (Spiegelman II:41-46). To break this down, the bodies under the desk represent Art’s feelings of guilt about profiting off of so many lost lives. He also can still feel the weight of his father hanging over him, making it all the more difficult to continue on. Art begins to shrink back into a kid under the pressure and even quotes, “Sometimes I just don’t feel like a functioning adult” (Spiegelman II:43). All of this together alludes to how he himself doesn’t believe he is ready for the challenges he still has to face. On a final note, after he returns back to normal size, there is a panel right afterward where he goes back to listening to the tape recordings of Vladek and he becomes a kid again. This is a way of visually showing that he knows that no matter what he does in life, it will always be overshadowed by his father surviving Auschwitz. Overall, these few pages accurately depict Art and his contradicting emotions towards his father and the past.
Allusions can be very powerful if used correctly. They have the potential to add imagery to scenes and make a more personal connection with the audience. Both Maus and Hamilton rely heavily on allusions for exactly those reasons. Without the allusions thrown into both of these works, they would lose a lot of their meaning and uniqueness. Part of what makes these works unique is how they make a special connection to the audience and throw in subtle references. In Maus, the allusions help the reader gain some insight into the personality and character that is Art. He is accurately able to capture many of his conflicting emotions towards his father and doesn’t hold back on portraying people for who they are. Hamilton, however, takes an approach that makes the main character, Alexander Hamilton, seem much like successful hip-hop artists from this generation. It’s a unique twist that successfully displays his flaws and the legacy he left behind.
Works Cited
- “Alexander Hamilton.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 27 Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/political-figure/alexander-hamilton.
- “At the Killing Centers.” ushmm.org, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/at-the-killing-centers.
- Eminem. Jay-Z. 'Renegade.' The Blueprint. Roc-A-Fella Records, 2007.
- Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Burn.” Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records, 2015.
- Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “Cabinet Battle #1.” Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records, 2015.
- Miranda, Lin-Manuel. “My Shot.” Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording. Atlantic Records, 2015.
- Pruitt, Sarah. “The Sex Scandal That Ruined Alexander Hamilton's Chances of Becoming President.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 20 Apr. 2018, www.history.com/news/alexander-hamilton-maria-Reynolds-pamphlet-affair.
- Smalls, Biggie. “Biggie Smalls – Going Back To Cali.” YouTube, uploaded 7 May 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_P-sP698sA
- Spiegelman, Art. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986-1991. Print.
- Spiegelman, Art. Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991.
- Spiegelman, Art. “Why Mice?” The New York Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2011, www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/10/20/why-mice/.
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