Maus: a surviver's tale by Art Spiegelman

     As the first graphic novel to receive the Pulitzer Prize, Maus has a uniqueness which made it stands out from the rest of the comic books. It truly is an amazing work both on its symbolism and the story itself. The story is based upon a real personal experience, dating back to a dark period of human history. As students, we only had brief knowledge of the events that happened a long time from today. We read it from the textbook, the words are cold, and explanation are blurry. It's never as real as when a person who really experienced the history, teaching you the history.

     Art Spiegelman depicted the characters as animals, the symbolism used in the book is very similar to those used in the "Animal Farm" both serve the same purpose. In this case, Jews are represented by mice, which are the creatures living underground, away from the light. These symbolism are the exaggeration of different ethnicities.

     Art Spiegelman narrated the story from his point view, rather than from his father, who's the real protagonist. He told the story the exact way he heard it from his father, and invite us - the readers, to listen with him. The past and modern intertwined, shifting with one another. Thus we are constantly comparing Art's father in the past with him in the present, who survived after the Holocaust. From the beginning, Spiegelman already addressed his father's personality, he is not kind. He taught his son the cruelty of life when he was only a child. "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!"Just imagine, what kind of parent in the world would tell that to his son. Throughout the book, this unfriendly character of the father start to show more and more clearly. He always think that his wife is watching for his money, he didn't trust anybody, he save as much as he can - just like the way he did during the Holocaust. It's probably still in his mind that maybe one day, the nightmare is going to come back. However, as I read on, after witnessing the father's experience during the Holocaust,  I start to understand why. Valdek although survived, but he has never gotten out of it. That's because his survival was built upon the deaths of the others, he has to take away other people's chance to live!

     Art showed vaguely his relationship with his father in the first book, it has gotten clearer in the second book of his disdain toward each other. Art was only a shadow of his brother, who died at a young age. He was constantly compared to his dead brother Richieu. The picture hung on the wall of Valdek's bedroom was Richieu's rather than Art's, it's understandable because he always live in the beautiful memories before the Holocaust. Valdek has never gotten rid of his past, that's why at the end of the book he said they live happily ever after - in his memories.

     The story is not just about violence of Holocaust, but rather the human nature. Beginning as the victim, Valdek gradually turned into a killer as well. He witness people as they died one after another. What is more scary than waiting for death? People lost their faith, lost their love, they can abandon and betray just to live. Half way through the book, all I can feel is Valdek's dispair. Is it really lucky to survive? That's why even after he gained freedom, he could never be the same.  His body is free, but his spirit still remain in the camp.