When most people refer to literature that concentrates specifically on the Holocaust as the subjects, the first thought usually isn’t in the form of a graphic novel. Most people would believe a graphic novel is something only a child would read or someone to the same educational equivalent. Due to their engaging stories and appealing visuals though, graphic novels are idea for visual learners, inexperienced or unenthused readers, and just about anyone else who may not find traditional print books enticing. Graphic novels tend to show a relationship between the images and the text that makes for an experience in itself (1.). Sometimes even taking on a difficult subject, an example being the Holocaust can make for a different kind of experience. In Maus I & II, the author chose graphic novels as his medium. For that, “Maus shines due to its impressive ability to ‘speak the unspeakable’ by using the popular maxim, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ to perfection” (3).
As mentioned before, graphic novels can be great tools for some, if not all, readers. As well the holocausts can be a difficult subject, not always easy to read about. Using graphic novels, which often is associated with children, to represent a traumatic event can be problematic: “The enormity of atrocity is such that the very act of representing it risked trivializing or over-dramatizing it,”(2). In other words, the author has to be very cautions when writing serious graphic novels not to get too creative and dramatize the situation even more than what already was. Spiegelman presents his vision of the legacy of the Holocaust in a new and innovative way—through images and words simultaneously.
Spiegelman uses many different strategies to keep his graphic no...
... middle of paper ...
...us subject such as the Holocaust can entice all types of people, so the readers should be just as broad in a sense. By using many different strategies, Spiegelman creates a bonding relationship between the image and the text unlike any other graphic novel of his time.
Works Cited
1. In Schools and Libraries, Graphic Novels. 18 Apr. 2011 http://www.ipl.org/div/graphicnovels/gnsSchoolsNLibs.html
2. “Visualizing Memory in the Graphic Novel.” Concordia Undergraduate Journal of Art History 18 Apr. 2011 http://cujah.com/publications/volume-vi/visualizing-memory-graphic-novel/
3. “The Unusual Structure of MAUS.” American Literacy Traditions 18 Apr. 2011
4. “The Comic Book Style.” American Literacy Traditions 18 Apr. 2011 < http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/introser/maus.htm >
In this essay, the author
- Explains that graphic novels are ideal for visual learners, inexperienced or unenthused readers, and anyone else who may not find traditional print books enticing.
- Opines that graphic novels can be great tools for some, if not all, readers, but the holocausts are a difficult subject, not always easy to read about.
- Analyzes how spiegelman uses different strategies to keep his graphic novel unlike the others while still remaining true to the subject.
- Analyzes how maus ii depicts mice being undressed, beaten, and threatened. the text gives a description to the frame in telling what was going on as well as what people were saying.
- Analyzes how maus ii uses graphic novels to take on a serious subject.
- Analyzes how maus ii depicts the underweight and skinny mice in a line with two areas on the sides of them.
- Analyzes how spiegelman creates a bonding relationship between the image and the text unlike any other graphic novel of his time.
- Describes the sources of information on graphic novels in schools and libraries.
Related
- argumentative
- analytical
- opinionated
- Comparison between Maus & Anne Frankargumentative essayWhat if you were a holocaust survivor and asked to describe your catastrophic experience? What part of the event would you begin with, the struggle, the death of innocent Jews, or the cruel witnessed? When survivors are questioned about their experience they shiver from head to toe, recalling what they have been through. Therefore, they use substitutes such as books and diaries to expose these catastrophic events internationally. Books such as Maus, A survivor’s tale by Art Spiegelman, and Anne Frank by Ann Kramer. Spiegelman presents Maus in a comical format; he integrated the significance of Holocaust while maintaining the comic frame structure format, whereas comic books are theoretically supposed to be entertaining. Also, Maus uses a brilliant technique of integrating real life people as animal figures in the book. Individually, both stories involve conflicts among relationships with parents. Furthermore, Maus jumps back and forth in time. Although, Anne Frank by Ann Kramer, uses a completely different technique. Comparatively, both the books have a lot in common, but each book has their own distinctive alterations.
In this essay, the author
- Compares how the two books, maus, a survivor’s tale by art spiegelman, and anne frank by ann kramer, have a lot in common, but each has their own distinctive alterations.
- Analyzes how the books maus and anne frank suppressed the horror of the holocaust. both focus on their personal experiences with the holocaust.
- Analyzes how maus uses animal figures in the form of cats and mice. in anne frank, kramer uses the names of real people.
- Compares the characters of maus and anne frank. both have conflicts in their relationships with one of their parents.
- Compares how maus and anne frank are similar in certain ways, but they still have their own unique differences.
1040 wordsRead More - The graphic novels Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman possess the power to make the reader understand the pain and suffering that takes place during the Holocaust. Spiegelman uses animals instead of humans in his graphic novels to represent the different races of people. The use of visual mediums in Art Spiegelman’s Maus enhances the reading of the narrative. The graphics throughout the novel help the reader fully understand everything that is happening.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how spiegelman's inspiration is from hitler believing that jewish people are not human and he wants to represent that belief in his novel.
- Analyzes how spiegelman demonstrates how identities function during the holocaust through vladek.
- Analyzes how hathaway believes that spiegelman does not use graphics of animals without a background reason. the representation of the characters through specific animals is nothing short of genius.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman portrays his characters in his graphic novel maus to help the reader understand what people go through during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman uses animals instead of humans in his graphic novels to represent the different races of people during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how rosemary v. hathaway discusses spiegelman's use of graphics animals instead of humans in her article "reading art spiegelmann’s maus as postmodern ethnography".
1227 wordsRead More - A Comparison Of The Life Of Maus By Vladek Spiegelmananalytical essayThe Holocaust is one of the most horrific and gruesome events in world history. It took a great toll on millions of lives in one way or another. One person in particular is Vladek Spiegelman, a Holocaust survivor. Maus, by Art Spiegelman, consists of two main narratives. One narrative occurs during World War II in Poland, and the other begins in the late 1970s in New York. In relation to each other these two narratives portray the past and present.Throughout the novel, we often see Art Spiegelman questioning why his father acts the way he does. Although the war is over, the events of the Holocaust continue to influence the life of Vladek. Why do we allow the past to effect the present? Vladek's personality is largely influenced by his Holocaust experience. In Maus I and II, Vladek was stubborn, selfish, and cheap because of his experiences in the Holocaust.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the holocaust took a great toll on millions of lives, and vladek spiegelman's personality is influenced by his holocaust experience.
- Analyzes how vladek's relationship with his second wife, mala, is strained and lacking love from both ends. he is kind, caring, wealthy, and charming.
- Analyzes how vladek shows that he is not a compassionate and understanding person. he manages to make it through the holocaust experience with luck and his wits.
- Analyzes how vladek became cheap and stingy with food, money, and other valuables during the holocaust. he was a wise businessman who kept everything and put it to good use.
- Analyzes how vladek has never fully recovered from the horrors of the holocaust. the holocaust affects each survivor differently.
717 wordsRead More - Maus Two by Art Spiegelmananalytical essayArt Spiegelman's Maus II is a book that tells more than the story of one family's struggle to live thought the Holocaust. It gives us a look into the psyche of a survivor's child and how the Holocaust affected him and many other generations of people who were never there at all. Maus II gives the reader a peek into the psyche of Art Spiegelman and the affects of having two parents that survived the Holocaust had on him. Spiegelman demonstrates the affects of being a survivor's child in many ways throughout the book. Examining some of these will give us a better understanding of what it was like to be a part of the Holocaust.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how spiegelman's maus ii is a book that tells more than the story of one family’s struggle to live through the holocaust.
- Analyzes how spiegelman believed that his parents thought that richieu was the perfect child; unlike art, he would have made all the right choices. pavel is a survivor like his father and mother.
- Analyzes how art has a hard time dealing with the feeling that no matter what he accomplishes it will never equal the fact his parents survived auschwitz.
- Analyzes how vladek calls art richieu because he is proud of what his son has done and sees no difference between the two.
444 wordsRead More - Relationships and Stereotypes in Mausanalytical essay“I'm not talking about YOUR book now, but look at how many books have already been written about the Holocaust. What's the point? People haven't changed... Maybe they need a newer, bigger Holocaust.” These words were spoken by author Art Spielgelman. Many books have been written about the Holocaust; however, only one book comically describes the non-superficial characteristics of it. Art Spiegelman authors a graphic novel titled Maus, a book surrounding the life a Jewish man living in Poland, named Vladek. His son, Art Spielgelman, was primarily focused on writing a book based on his father’s experiences during the Holocaust. While this was his main focus, his book includes unique personal experiences, those of which are not commonly described in other Holocaust books. Art’s book includes the troubles his mother, Anja, and his father, Vladek, conquered during their marriage and with their family; also, how his parents tried to avoid their children being victimized through the troubles. The book includes other main characters, such as: Richieu Spiegelman, Vladek first son; Mala Spiegelman, Vladek second wife; and Françoise, Art’s French wife. Being that this is a graphic novel, it expresses the most significant background of the story. The most significant aspect about the book is how the characters are dehumanized as animals. The Jewish people were portrayed as mice, the Polish as pigs, the Germans (Nazis in particular) as cats, and Americans as dogs. There are many possible reasons why Spiegelman uses animals instead of humans. Spiegelman uses cats, dogs, and mice to express visual interests in relative relationships and common stereotypes among Jews, Germans, and Americans.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how art spiegelman's graphic novel, maus, describes the non-superficial characteristics of the holocaust.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman's use of animals in the story maus represents the relationships associated with certain ethnic groups during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how the use of cats, dogs, and mice relates to how germans and americans related to one another during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how spiegelman uses animals as representations of humans to address stereotypes. the most allegorical animals are cats, mice, and dogs.
- Analyzes how the use of animals in art spiegelman's maus expresses relationships and stereotypes of jews, americans, and germans during the holocaust.
1210 wordsRead More - The Use Of Humor In Art Spiegelman's Mausanalytical essayIn Art Spiegelman’s Maus, the audience is led through a very emotional story of a Holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with the author, who is his son, and his wife. Throughout this novel, the audience constantly is reminded of how horrific the Holocaust was to the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the novel finds very effective ways to insert forms of humor in the inner story and outer story of Maus. Although the Holocaust has a heart wrenching effect on the novel as a whole, the effective use of humor allows for the story to become slightly less severe and a more tolerable read.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how spiegelman's maus is an emotional story of a holocaust survivor’s life and the present day consequences that the event has placed on his relationship with , who is his son, and his wife.
- Analyzes how spiegelman's humor helps detach the reader from the tragic events of the holocaust.
- Analyzes how vladek tries to keep as much humor as he can for his family, even though their situation could be so much better.
- Analyzes how vladek's inner story and his outer story are humored by the relationship between his father and , art.
- Analyzes how humor displays outer story relationships between vladek and his second wife, mala.
- Analyzes how spiegelman manipulates the inner and outer story to allow glimpses of humor to break up the horrendous events that happened during the holocaust.
1269 wordsRead More - The Holocaustargumentative essayToday, the most common definition of the Holocaust is the Nazi genocide of the Jews. Different genres of literature have been used thematically by students to get a better and broader understanding of the story of the Holocaust. Holocaust is one of the major events of history that has had a huge effect on the whole world generally and on the Jews and the Germans specifically. The people who survived the Holocaust are the reason behind our knowledge of it. Without those people we would not know much about the Holocaust. I have read three of the different genres. First, the Maus by Art Spiegelman was based on a survival of the Holocaust. It was a biography depicted as a cartoon. Second, The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, which was a book that contained two short stories about six selected poems, and a Holocaust survival. Lastly, The Routledge Atlas of the Holocaust by Martin Gilbert was a straightforward historical text. Indeed, all of these texts can be used for educational purposes. Each one of them has a different drawback. Moreover, students will be able to experience and discuss how the choices of genre has effects on the tones and messages of the texts, and the impacts that it might have on the reader.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that different genres of literature have been used thematically by students to get a better and broader understanding of the story of holocaust.
- Analyzes how the story of maus is nonfiction, unlike the shawl, which is a fictional story. the illustrations make stories seem vivid and pungent.
- Compares the shawl and the routledge atlas of the holocaust. both are based on fiction and are written in a poetic way.
- Compares the routledge atlas of the holocaust to maus, which only talked about vladek's life.
- Analyzes how maus of spiegelman has succeeded in writing his novel on his dad during the holocaust. he used humor and irony throughout his book for the purposes of entertainment.
- Compares the characters of maus and the other stories. s wanted to make us learn and have some knowledge on the holocaust.
1210 wordsRead More - By means of comic illustration and parody, Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about the lives of his parents, Vladek and Anja, before and during the Holocaust. Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II delves into the emotional struggle he faced as a result of his father’s failure to recover from the trauma he suffered during the Holocaust. In the novel, Vladek’s inability to cope with the horrors he faced while imprisoned, along with his wife’s tragic death, causes him to become emotionally detached from his son, Art. Consequently, Vladek hinders Art’s emotional growth. However, Art overcomes the emotional trauma his father instilled in him through his writing.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how vladek's behavior leads him to become emotionally disconnected from his son. in flora hogman’s “trauma and identity,” the first generation of holocaust survivors transfer their struggle to express pain on to the following generations.
- Describes spiegelman's maus ii: a survivor’s tale: and here my troubles began.
- Analyzes how art spiegelman wrote a graphic novel about his parents, vladek and anja, before and during the holocaust.
- Analyzes how art's emotional growth is shattered because of his father’s behavior.
1130 wordsRead More - The Night and Fugitive: Two Impressive Booksanalytical essayTo sum up, World War II is the most destructive human endeavor in history. Battles are fought on every continent and involved more than sixty countries, affecting about three-quarters of the world’s population. Six million Jews are murdered by the Nazis from all of the civilians in Europe for extermination. The memory of Holocaust has made the world more sensitive to genocide. The Holocaust has a particular impact on the Jewish people, who vowed never to allow such a thing happen again. The Night and Fugitive Pieces are two impressive books which show readers a fact of Holocaust and tell the world even the situation is worst, love from families and friends, faith and intension of alive may ensure them alive.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the nazi party, led by adolf hitler, wants to set up the perfect nazi state. the holocaust is the greatest single case of mass murder in history and is difficult to ignore.
- Analyzes how love plays a big role in both night and fugitive pieces. elie and jakob are encouraged by their families.
- Analyzes how athos's love is not only keep jakob alive but also teach him to learn the world. friends would stay with you and face the difficulties together.
- Analyzes how elie, a devout jew, is taught that god is everywhere in the world, and that nothing exists without god.
- Analyzes how religion gathers people together. in the fugitive pieces, jakob does not believe god but his sister, bella. faith is a powerful weapon to go through hardship and purify soul.
- Analyzes how churchill's words represent a strong and positive attitude toward life. elie learns that he is capable of doing whatever it takes to survive.
- Explains that world war ii is the most destructive human endeavor in history. the holocaust has a particular impact on the jewish people, who vowed never to allow such things to happen again.
1273 wordsRead More - The Holocaustopinionated essayThe world that people lived in during the Holocaust is described by the personal experiences of the oppressed throughout the story Jack and Rochelle, written by Jack and Rochelle Sutin, and the memoir by Alexander Donat titled The Holocaust Kingdom. The horrifying mindset of the oppressors, particularly the Nazi`s, is illustrated in both books. The vicious and relentless emotional, physical, and psychological abuse the Nazi`s targeted at their victims is depicted in detail. The unspeakable cruelty received by the Jews dramatically altered their state of mind and how they lived their lives. The emotions of despair, distress, depression, hopelessness, helplessness felt by the Jews eventually turn to hate, anger, hopefulness, faith, and ultimately revenge against all oppressors.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the holocaust experience is described by the personal experiences of the oppressed in jack and rochelle and alexander donat's memoir, the holocaust kingdom.
- Explains that the holocaust was a traumatic and tragic time in history. jack and rochelle, both families were used to some form of oppression.
- Opines that hitler is coming and hell off the heads of all you jews. jack and rochelle would tell them that it was worth losing their independence just to get rid of the jews
- Narrates how jack experienced mistreatment even before the germans came. he attended a grade school where he was singled out for special criticism.
- Explains how jack and rochelle knew that they couldn't stay in poland. they knew there was no freedom, no future for them.
- Explains that they knew jews were hated in poland from the time they were two, three years old.
- Explains how the soviets invaded poland on september 1, 1939, and turned on their russian allies who were caught by the nazi blitzkrieg and did not put up much fight.
- Illustrates how jack's mindset changed him into a braver individual who would try to take some control of his life.
- Explains that the group was doing their best to survive, even to resist, but no one expected to come out alive from that hell. the main thing was not to be taken alive by the germans.
- Illustrates how jack and the rest of his group would go on food raids to stay alive. they would pick farms owned by nazi sympathizers and located only two miles from german police headquarters.
- Analyzes how donant and others described the horrors of the german occupation in the holocaust kingdom.
- Opines that the jews fought back against their enemies to a degree no other community anywhere in the world would have been capable of.
- Opines that no quote can even illustrate the horrible things experienced by the unfortunate victims during the holocaust, but this quote seems somewhat adequate. the jewish people were heroic during this embarrassing time for the human race.
- Opines that the traumatic experience of the camps has deeply scarred many unfortunate prisoners during the holocaust.
1569 wordsRead More