Week 7

Maus was a really engaging read for me. Just from seeing the illustrations, I was able to identify the inspiration or metaphor for the plot right away. Like every other reader, the first thing I noticed from the art was the fact everyone was depicted as an animal. The Jewish were mice, Germans cats, dogs for Americans, etc. At first, I assumed it was just a gimmick to retell the story of the Holocaust in a more digestible visual representation. Although it might totally be possible, I couldn’t help but think there was a more symbolic reason. So I did some research. As it turns out, it was all very thought out and intentional. Apparently, the reasoning for the Jewish being mice was due to the anti-Jewish stereotypes and portrayal as pests. I also found that there is a German word “mauscheln” derived from”mausche” which is Yiddish, or the Hebrew version, Moscheh, or Moses. The German word, “mauscheln” is a verb that means something like “act like a Jew.” It became apparent Spiegelman had used this metaphor of animals to further his message behind the events of the Holocaust, and the realization made me think much deeper about the comic.