Disney

Maus II!!!

In the article “On Spiegelman's Maus I and II” by Ian Johnston, discusses controversial issues about Maus (http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/introser/maus.htm).  He wants to “stress that Maus I and II are not another Holocaust-survivor narrative, but are rather an attempt to confront a collateral issue: How does one make sense of a Holocaust narrative? Or, more particularly, how does one, as an artist and the child of Holocaust victims make imaginative sense of the Holocaust?”

He tries to found out who is the main concern of the essay, or who is the “hero”.  He debates between Vladek and Artie.  He argues that Vladek doesn’t have the characteristics of a main character.  The fact that he can’t emotionally survive or grow through out the novel shows this very fact.  He holds little concern over Artie and letting Artie cope with the loses.  He has become in some ways desensitized by the whole experience.  Artie on the other hand is much more complex than his father.   In the article talks about how there is a major undercurrent of the “artist striving to give symbolic shape and narrative form to his family's experiences in order to cope with his own pain”.  Maus II focuses on Artie’s struggle to “cope with his pain” by pointing out how he found it difficult to retell his fathers story with out under stating what truly happened there.  Readers also see his pain as his work gained praise of people.  He almost felt guilty over his accomplishments. All this points to the fact that Artie is the main character.

The article also talks about the “objection that a comic book is not a suitable artistic form for such a serious subject is a point of view we can (and should) respect, but not one we have to agree with.”  It describes how we should not discount this as art work or literature just because it is a comic.  It points out that it is a good way to keep past and present alive.  It also helps us shape our responses toward the text.   He can leave certain images to the readers, while he can also directly depict the images he wants readers to see.