Reaction Essay to Art Spiegleman's Maus by: Nicole Page

Art Spiegelman was brilliant in creating a comic that portrays a survivors tale of the Holocaust. Although Vladek's story told in Art Speigelman's Maus is similar to many survivor stories of the Holocaust, it is portrayed in such a different and intriguing way. Ultimately, the use of the comic book format helps to make this work a tremendous success, both historically and culturally. What makes Maus so interesting compared to traditional oral history or story …

…name and dates. What does this suggest? Is the entire family now dead? The artist's name and the dates which presumably refer to the writing of Maus, like a painter's signature at the bottom of a painting, are one last reminder that what we have been dealing with is a fiction. What is its relationship to the truth symbolized in the grave stone--the reality of his parents' lives? That's up to us to sort out.