Week 7: MAUS and legitimation of the Graphic Novel

The way Spiegelman presents the heavy hearted topic of the holocaust is honest and approachable. If he had chosen to depict the characters as human instead of animals I would have been less intrigued and probably be more inclined to pause the reading after the more violent scenes. Even if this reading wasn't mandatory I would've read its entirety because of how compelling and well illustrated the story was. I wanted to know what happened and I cared so much for the Vladek the mouse. The characters were beyond believable, and the transitions between the present time of the story and the historic flashbacks made the heaviness of the story balanced and bring a second interesting narrative between the cartoonist's relationship with his father. Though the style was charming it did not take away from seriousness of the situation, and instead made the event more palatable for younger or light hearted viewers.  The story played out as real life would and I was surprised and upset when Valdek passed away in Maus book 2, but I ended feeling satisfied as the book closed with Valdek reuniting with Anna. I enjoyed having an open window to these peoples lives and I loved being able to be sympathetic towards what are essentially drawings of mice, cats, pigs and dogs.  I had never read a biography told through a lense of visual fiction, but I would love to read to more books that take this approach.