Art Spiegelman’s, Maus

Art Spiegelman’s, Maus

Art Spiegelman’s novel, Maus, uses graphics to pass across some vital information regarding the Holocaust and the Second World War. The author creates cartoons to narrate the events that happened in his life in Poland during the war. It was in the 1930s when the German forces led by Hitler invaded Poland intending to kill and destroy the Jews. In the novel, Spiegelman uses animal characters with him as one of them. That idea was meant to portray the reality of what the Germans perceived Jews during that time. The representations are in line with one of Hitler’s statements that “Jews were indeed a species but not humans.” For that reason, the German government had made it ethical for one to treat a Jew like an animal because, to them, they sure were non-human animals. Spiegelman narrates the events in two parts because the events happened in two periods. One of the periods is in the present while the other is in the past. The first one is in Florida, where Art and his father, Vladek, are having some conversation about the cruelty of the German regime led by Hitler. The father, Vladek, narrates his experiences under the hands of Germans in Poland. In the second part, Vladek tells a story of the harsh conditions he experienced in the concentration camps that were created by the German forces.

The Holocaust had positive long term impacts on some people’s perceptions of their familial relationships, “Anja? What is to tell? Everywhere I look I’m seeing Anja… From my good eye, from my glass eye, if they’re open or they’re close, always I’m thinking on Anja” (Spiegelman 14)The relationship between Anja and Vladek was strengthened significantly beneficial to them during the hard times. Anja helped Vladek get the job of repairing shoes where he could live in a less adverse environment. That factor among other significant positive events could impact on the survivors’ mental experiences after the Holocaust (Spiegelman 64). A person who received somewhat humane treatment during the event developed less adverse psychological problems after liberation. Such a person is similar to those who were close to their families and friends during the war. Other people who were relatively privileged included the ones that were in hiding and those that used the false “Aryan” papers and those who did not directly witness the mass murder in the concentration camps and the ghettos.

Some people struggled to have their families together, rebuild their homes, and to start new lives. It shows that the end of the Holocaust did not mean the end of suffering, but the beginning of another, “I dunno…maybe everyone has to feel guilty. Everyone! Forever!” (Spiegelman 121). The survivors had significant battles to fight in the “free” world. Some survivors lost all their relatives, something that forced them to start new families if they wanted. For those reasons, embracing a new life was significantly difficult because the survivors could hardly forget the trauma they sustained during the war. Many of them would like to “move on” and have a new beginning, but they still had a host of emotional challenges to overcome, something that was never easy.

The Holocaust caused the loss of nuclear families. Anja and Vladek were lucky to reunite even after they were taken to separate camps. However, not all families were that lucky. Some became separated permanently even after the liberation. It means that also though some Jews escaped death, they still experienced a difficult time creating new connections similar to those of their lost families. Besides, the idea that Jews were just races that were inferior to real humans (Spiegelman 1) had become so popular among the German community. Therefore, they struggled significantly in their bid to overcome the dehumanization.

Many families that survived the Holocaust were still unable to live life to the fullest. That is because the event made some permanent changes to their perception of life and everything, something that eliminated their connection with life. “No matter what I accomplish, it doesn’t seem like much compared to surviving Auschwitz” (Spiegelman 126). It shows that for the survivors, no significant success is equivalent to coming out of the Holocaust alive. Such a mentality can only emerge if the situation during the war was comparable to death or beyond, but one is still alive for reasons they can hardly explain. However, the adverse effects of the war among the Jews varied significantly depending on the geographical location and the people that Jews interacted with after the Holocaust. Those who went to places where they could interact with other people who experienced similar problems were better because they could share the story and make each other feel better at least to some extent. It would be difficult for the people who lost social connection with fellow Jews because they could hardly express their challenges to anyone at any time.

Permanent loss of family trust was a significant long-term effect of the Holocaust. “At that time, it wasn’t any more families. It was everybody to take care of himself!” (Spiegelman 15). The author of Maus tries to show that the long term effects of the Holocaust did not include unification alone, but permanent severance relationships as well. “Friends? Your friends? If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week…Then you could see what it is, friends! …” (Spiegelman 5). This is a point where everyone fights for their survival. The person who shows interest in helping another during such moments is a true friend. If they do not, then blood relations lose meaning in familial relationships. In that statement, the author uses the term “food” to represent various factors for survival. He also uses the word “friends” to mean people that one relies on assistance during times of lack. Among them is family. Spiegelman shows that the only person one can call a true friend is the one that one can keep the trust even during times of difficulty. Anja and Vladek are, without doubt, real friends for many reasons, among them the significant support they offered each other during the Holocaust.

The Holocaust caused long-term trauma to families, but the people who did not get a first-hand experience of the event could hardly believe because of the secretive strategies that were employed by Hitler and his German forces. For that reason, the survivors could scarcely explain the exact experiences during that time (Spiegelman 4). Spiegelman’s novel shows that the effects of the Holocaust were felt by not only the people who were directly involved but their relatives and friends as well. The novel shows that the survivors experienced significant emotional problems that they could have avoided if they got killed in the event (Spiegelman 143).  The author’s tone indicates that he is saddened by some events that happened, including the loss of his son, Richieu. That part alone shows that the German forces did not spare anyone, including children and other hopeless people in the Jewish community. “But here, God didn’t come. We were all on our own.” (Spiegelman 126) Such events typically cause significant psychological stress to the parents and other people who are connected in some way with the child and their families. Spiegelman narrates that event to show readers a bit of what his fellow Jews experienced during the Holocaust. Many people could decide to kill their loved ones to save them from a harsher experience only if the anticipated problem is worse than death. That event shows that the Jews were exposed to conditions that were extremely unfriendly to human survival. By reading that story, readers can conclude that the events that took place during the Holocaust created long-term psychological stress. That shows that most survivors were not entirely “free” even after the event.

Spiegelman’s novel shows that the degree of psychological stress resulting from the loss and separation of families during the Holocaust varied from one person to another. One can conclude that based on the fact that the feeling of loss is directly proportional to the degree of connectedness between the survivors and the family members that they lost (Spiegelman 31). The effect could be significantly higher if the survivor lost more than one person with whom they had a healthy relationship.

Conclusion

Spiegelman family are among the many Jewish survivors who experienced significant changes after the Holocaust. They might have entered into the event with all the organs but came out without some. For that reason alone, things could hardly be the same. Vladek and Anja lost a son at the beginning of the Holocaust. That is a significant loss that no single family could wish to experience. The psychological problems encountered during that time were so much that one could hardly equate the success of surviving to any other, including creating a new family.

Works Cited

Spiegelman, Ert. “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale.” n.d.