Harrowing. The first book to give me nightmares. If you’re a visual person interested in personal accounts of significant events throughout history, this is for you. Maus is a graphic novel survivors tale of Vladek Spiegelman’s experience during WWII and the Nazi-Jewish Holocaust.
Father Versus Son
It’s honest. Art Spiegelman does not hide his fractious relationship with his father, Vladek. There is a ‘breaking the fourth wall’ moment of reflection, when he draws himself with a mouse mask, where he discusses the struggle with keeping the book true to his perception of his father and portraying him as a caricature miserly Jew. If one were to be empathetic to Vladek, his character and behaviour is a combination of different experiences and values. Judging Vladek’s actions by what our generation deems acceptable will see us view him as strange. For example, Vladek does not waste food, a commendable value, right? So why is Art embarrassed when his father wants to return food in the supermarket? In the West today, if food goes off, we throw it away. If we don’t like a purchase, we buy an alternative. We have the means and it’s easy. Shaped by his experiences during WWII, Vladek tries to get the maximum return out of his possessions because he understands the value of things, which we often take for granted. Whilst he does have the means and options now, it is evident WWII had a lasting impact on his approach to life. And it poses a question about the wastefulness of our generation.
Or he could simply be a miserly person.
Animal Kingdom
The obvious feature of the book is Art’s portrayal of people as animals. Germans are cats and Jews are mice, an ostensible play on the order in the animal kingdom, cats chase mice. Hitler is the conniving fox (see cover). Americans are dogs, who chase the cats away. The Tom & Jerry parallels still holds true. The issue comes when he draws the French as frogs and Poles as pigs. Both derogatory portrayals. Calling the French frogs isn’t a positive or neutral reference. And labelling someone a pig is offensive because we often associate the animal with adjectives such as filthy, lazy and gluttonous. This reminds me of a former colleague who bred pigs. She’d buy them as piglets, fatten them up and then eat or sell them. It appears Spiegelman is insinuating that Poles were the pigs of war. It’s an unfair portrayal on three accounts.
- Germany invaded Poland at the start of WWII and the Polish did try to (unsuccessfully) fight back. Historians estimate a fifth of the pre-war population perished during the war.
- Whilst some Poles did sell out Jews, some did try and help them. It would be unjust to tar all Poles with the same brush. Worth noting, prior to WWII, a third of Poles were Jewish.
- It’s ironic victims of racial discrimination are racist to others. Nazi’s hated Jews and referred to them as rodents. By purposefully drawing an entire nation as pigs applies the same racist logic. There’s even a cameo of a monkey, who Vladek thinks is going to steal his groceries. Guess which race the monkey represents…
Final remarks
I grew up in a Muslim household where I was taught, out of respect, not to call my parents or elders by name. This appears to be true also for other non-whites I’ve met. It’s always strange to me when I hear non-Muslims call parents by their name. I’ve always felt the small things have a butterfly effect on our character and actions. Art calls his father by name. At one point I thought, is this Art’s twisted revenge for the way his father treated him? I doubt a Muslim, attached to deen (Islamic creed), would ever create a book and portray his father in such a manner.
I would recommend this book for two reasons. One, it would unite us against human suffering and oppression by building empathy for victims. No one should be hunted and treated like Jews during Nazi-rule. Two, it would help us understand the psychological impact of genocide. Post-WWII, genocide continued to occur in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia etc. In 2018, people are still dying unnecessarily due to an unwillingness to co-exist, a mindset of racial superiority and incumbent rules addiction to power.
I will end with a quote from Ali (RA), the Fourth Khalifah in Islam, and let you judge what the great Muslim leaders views were racism.
“People are of two types; they are either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity” — Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA)