Vanesa Alejandra Martín Calabró

María Jesús Hernáez Lerena

Facultad de Letras y de la Educación

Grado en Estudios Ingleses

2013-2014

Título

Director/es

Facultad

Titulación

Departamento

TRABAJO FIN DE GRADO

Curso Académico

Past, present and the dilemmas of writing art

Spiegelman´s Maus

Autor/es

© El autor© Universidad de La Rioja, Servicio de Publicaciones, 2014

publicaciones.unirioja.esE-mail: publicaciones@unirioja.es

Past, present and the dilemmas of writing artSpiegelman´s Maus, trabajo fin de grado

de Vanesa Alejandra Martín Calabró, dirigido por María Jesús Hernáez Lerena (publicado por la Universidad de La Rioja), se difunde bajo una Licencia

Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada 3.0 Unported. Permisos que vayan más allá de lo cubierto por esta licencia pueden solicitarse a los

titulares del copyright.

Trabajo de Fin de Grado

PAST, PRESENT, AND THE DILEMMAS OF WRITING ART SPIEGELMAN'S MAUS

Autor:

VANESA ALEJANDRA MARTÍN CALABRÓ

Tutor/es: MARÍA JESÚS HERNÁEZ LERENA Titulación: Grado en Estudios Ingleses [601G]

Facultad de Letras y de la Educación

AÑO ACADÉMICO: 2013/2014

2

“No, darling! To die, it’s easy…but you have to struggle for life! Until the last moment we must struggle together! I need you! And you’ll see that together we’ll survive.”

(Spiegelman 2003: 124)

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

I am heartily thankful to my tutor, María Jesús Hernáez Lerena, whose

unconditional encouragement and support guided me to devote myself to this paper

body and soul. I also would like to say thank you for all her magnificent knowledge that

transmitted me during all these for years.

Moreover, I would like to offer my special thanks for the opportunity provided to

do this final year dissertation.

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all those teachers whom I had the

pleasure of meeting, to other relevant staff, to my parents and my partner who supported

me in any respect during the completion of this project.

4

5

ABSTRACT.

The aim of this paper is to achieve a deep understanding of MAUS: A

SURVIVOR’S TALE.

To start with, there is a detailed analysis of past and present as two relevant topics

of the novel. Due to their importance, this paper presents the criticism of Maus because

of the combination of both tenses, an incoherent resource for the critics. For this reason,

in order to achieve the aim of this paper, I suggest different reasons to distinguish

present and past. Moreover, taking into account the fact that this graphic novel is a

testimony, its complexities are studied in depth: the influence of the past upon the

author and his father’s present, the possible distortion of history and memory.

The second part of this paper is entirely devoted to the most important parts of the

second volume of Maus. This second volume shows in few pages the dilemmas the

author has to deal with. Bearing this in mind, the caricaturization is perhaps what most

catches the reader’s attention. For this reason, I include a broad study based on the

author’s contribution through the novel and the comparison of Maus with the world of

Disney. The dehumanization of the characters was a problem for the author: he needed

the readers to be able to identify the rest of the characters thanks to the identity that they

apparently represent. However, the dehumanization does not only help to soften a

Holocaust account, but also it guides the reader to recognize those identities.

Finally, there is an analysis of the serious depression the author suffers as another

dilemma which derives from writing and drawing the experience of his father. The

causes of his feeling of guilt, inferiority and incompetence are analysed, and this final

part pays close attention to the visit of the author’s psychiatrist.

6

RESUMEN.

El objetivo de este trabajo se centra en mejorar la comprensión de MAUS:

RELATO DE UN SUPERVIVIENTE.

Inicialmente encontramos el análisis detallado de presente y pasado como dos

temas predominantes en la obra. Dado su relevancia, se expone la crítica que Maus

recibe por la combinanción de ambos tiempos, un recurso incoherente para los críticos.

Por ello, para alcanzar el objetivo de este trabajo, se proponen diferentes razones por las

cuales es posible la separación de presente y pasado. Además, teniendo en cuenta el

hecho de que esta novela gráfica es un testimonio, se estudia en profundidad sus

complejidades: la influencia del pasado en el presente del autor y su padre, la posible

distorsión de la historia y la memoria.

La segunda parte del trabajo está enteramente dedicada a las partes más relevantes

del segundo volumen de Maus, en donde se exponen los grandes dilemas a los que el

autor debe enfrentarse. Teniendo esto en cuenta, la caricaturización es quizás lo que más

llama la atención de esta novela gráfica. Por esta razón, se realiza un amplio estudio

basado en los aportes del autor a lo largo de su obra así como en la comparación de la

novela con el mundo de Disney. La deshumanización se convirtió en un problema para

el autor ya que debía hacer que el lector fuera capaz de identificar al resto de los

personajes por la identidad que supuestamente representan. Sin embargo, la

deshumanización no solamente permite suavizar una historia como la del Holocausto,

sino también guía al lector para reconocer esas identidades.

Finalmente, encontramos el análisis de la grave depresión que sufre el autor como

otro de los dilemas que surgen por escribir y dibujar la experiencia de su padre. Se

analizan las causas de su sentimiento de culpabilidad, inferioridad e incapacidad, y se

presta gran atención a la visita de su psiquiatra.

7

INDEX.

1. INTRODUCTION. .................................................................................................9

2. TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME TO THE HOLOCAUST: THE PRESENT THAT HOLDS A PAST. ........................................................................................................ 13

2.1. The reasons ....................................................................................................... 16

2.1.1. The strategy .................................................................................................. 16

2.1.2. In black and white ......................................................................................... 20

2.1.3. The language................................................................................................. 24

2.2. The third level of the narration .......................................................................... 24

2.3. Past and present ................................................................................................ 28

2.4. The possible distortion of history and memory .................................................. 29

2.5. Types of memory in Maus ................................................................................ 32

3. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN: ARTIE THE SON, AND ART SPIEGELMAN THE AUTHOR. ................................................................................. 43

3.1. The caricaturization .......................................................................................... 43

3.2. The dilemmas experienced as the author of Maus: a survivor’s tale................... 49

4. CONCLUSIONS. ................................................................................................. 67

5. REFERENCES..................................................................................................... 71

8

9

1. INTRODUCTION.

Through the voice of a mouse, Art Spiegelman brings to life the testimony of his

father Vladek as a survivor of the WWII Holocaust. Although Spiegelman wrote Maus

of three pages long in 1972, Art decided to visit his father when he was in New York.

These visits made that Maus: A survivor’s tale was completed, a creative graphic novel

that is considered to be a hybrid. Different genres such as fable, autobiography,

biography or Historical Metafiction have been attributed to this acclaimed work.

Despite being a fictional novel, it is true to say that the protagonists of this comic

are anthropomorphically drawn mice. At a glance, its resemblance to Mickey Mouse

cartoons seems to be addressed to children. However, as the story progresses the

narration of the consequences of the WWII is clearly an inappropriate topic for them.

Certainly, the figure of Vladek inspired Spiegelman to write his most famous

graphic novel. For this reason, it is worth making a brief introduction of the character of

Vladek because after surviving the Holocaust, he changed drastically. Vladek is an old

man who has rebuilt his life with Mala, another survivor of the Holocaust. He is clearly

the representation of some of the consequences of the WWII, and as such, he has not

recovered either physically or pshycologically. Apart from this, his personality changed

to the point of changing also his way of speaking English; now, he speaks a broken and

worn English.

I consider it necessary to introduce Vladek to the reader initially so that the

interpretations of the novel become clearer. In this way, in the following sections of this

paper it would be possible to better understand this character who seems to be simple at

first sight but is deeply complex as the story progresses.

The complexities of this character are many and varied. For this reason, I decided

to focusing on Vladek in the first part of this paper.

Moreover, when it came time to analyse this character I also took into account two

facts: firstly, Vladek as the main protagonist of the novel, and secondly, Vladek as part

of the post-war period collective suffering.

10

It all begins with the narration of Vladek’s story. As I will mention in the

development of this paper, Vladek narrates his story in a disorderly manner, which

irritates Art. To some extent, this way of narrating was important for the author because

it would give authenticity to the novel. Despite this, the author provided a narrative

order to Maus because it was needed for the reader.

The difficulties of Vladek made the task of writing the novel harder for the author,

and the language is one of them. As I mentioned before, he now speaks a broken

English, which is not a difficulty for the reader, but certainly it is a disadvantage for the

character of Vladek because it only shows his weakness to the audience. Nevertheless,

the positive side of this negative feature is the fact that it is one of the characteristics

that help the reader to differentiate the past and the present:

As I will explain at the very beginning of the second part of this paper, Maus does

not only narrates the experience of Vladek in the Holocaust , but it also portrays their

present lives. Due to the combination of past and present at the same time, Maus was

criticised for this characteristic, because according to the critics it is impossible to

distinguish both tenses. Owing to the fact that I did not have that experience when I read

it, I decided to analyse the reasons why it is possible to separate the past from the

present.

Another complexity provided by Vladek is the possible distortion of history and

memory. His way of narrating the story provokes instabilities in the past, causing the

possible distortion of history. As a consequence, the audience constantly doubt on the

veracity of Vladek’s accounts.

Then, the third part of this paper is focused on the figure of the author and his

dilemmas when writing Maus, as the other main protagonist of the story.

It is in the second volume of the novel, And here my troubles began, where

Spiegelman portrays himself playing the role of the son and the writer at the same time.

At the time when he finished the first volume, he ended up as a witness of the story of

his father leading him to a serious depression. This depression together with his feeling

of inferiority, guilty and incompetence were combined with his impression of being

writing a moneymaking story.

11

This mix of feelings gave way to a very sad psychological condition. This makes

the author devote several pages depicting himself wearing a mouse mask, sitting on his

worktable above a pile of dead corpses, and more scenes in a similar vein. In fact, he

talks about this depression with his psychiatrist Pavel, whom he visited frequently,

trying to find the origin of his condition. Hence, his depression is one of the dilemmas

Spiegelman has to face.

This is not the first time in which the author’s health is affected. In the first

volume Prisoner on The Hell Planet is presented to the audience. In this brief comic

which was written in 1972, the author, after suffering a mental breakdown, he falls

again after his mother’s suicide. This is what this comic portrays, a moment in which

father and son seem to be too distant.

Despite all these problems, perhaps, what really attracts the reader’s attention is

the caricaturization. Why cats and mice? For Spiegelman, depicting cats and mice was a

relative easy task. In fact, at the beginning of each volume Spiegelman presents to the

readers two excellent resources. These resources are two statements disseminated by

Hitler and the German community in which the Jews are treated as vermin. In my view,

these declarations perfectly fit into his novel, putting his word against the Hitlerian

community.

However, the real dilemma was the challenge of providing identities to the rest of

the characters. For instance, in the first chapter of the second volume, the author and his

wife Françoise argue about how he should draw her. Although this is a particular case,

this scene also represents the difficulties of the caricaturization and how the author had

to deal with it when he was writing the novel.

This paper is divided into three parts. Due to the criticism, the first part of this

paper (section 2) is devoted to the study of the possibility of distinguishing past and

present. Moreover, the character of Vladek is also studied in this part of the paper

because of his complexities. The second part (section 3) introduces the figure of

Spiegelman as son and writer. This section studies how the author had been affected by

the worst momemts of his life and how these moments also affected his novel.

Furthermore, the caricaturization and his dipression are the most important topics which

are deeply studied in this part. Finally, in the third part (section 4), I conclude by

offering several ideas that this novel has transmitted me.

12

13

2. TRAVELLING BACK IN TIME TO THE HOLOCAUST: THE PRESENT

THAT HOLDS A PAST.

Figure 1. Art and his father introducing Maus (Spiegelman 2003: 3)

14

Thanks to this introductory scene (figure 1) that shows an everyday situation (a

conversation between father and son), the audience is able to visualize the suffering

undergone in the past by our protagonist, Vladek. This prologue, as Spiegelman claims

in MetaMaus 1 “[…] ya es una forma de sumergirse en el pasado […]” 2 (2012: 209).

As if the scene were recorded with a movie camera, there is a focus on Vladek’s

face showing surprise: “He stopped sawing”; 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 2003: 6). Similarly, using a nearly bird’s eye view, the last

panel gives the feeling that Vladek is going to start telling his story to his son, the story

of the Holocaust.

Although this prologue reveals that the novel is going to be focused on the past, it

is possible to know in a few pages that the present also plays an important role.

The novel has been criticized because of the ambiguity of using the past and

present at the same time, which causes confusion for the reader. This is noticeable from

the very beginning of Maus: A survivor’s Tale. From this moment, the reader is able to

find a resource that provides complexity to the story: the flashbacks and flashforwards.

The non-linear temporality, therefore, could affirm what the critics have claimed: the

confusion between past and present.

Despite this difficulty, there is a temporal order that helps to leave behind that

possible confusion originated from the combination of present and past.

It should be mentioned that the past conveys plenty of unbalances because of the

way by which Vladek tells his past. In MetaMaus, Spiegelman (2012: 28) admits that

“La memoria es efímera. Era consciente de ello, lo consideraba parte del problema y del

proceso. No era como si hubiera un texto y Vladek solo quisiera leer ciertos extractos en

momentos determinados. Mi impresión era que me permitía accede a aquello a lo que él

tenía acceso.” 3

1 Spanish version of MetaMaus. It is the only copy available in the library of the university. 2 “[…] it is already a way of immersing yourself in the past […]” (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró). 3 “Memory is brief. I was aware of that and I considered it as part of the problem and the process. It was not as if there was a text and Vladek only wanted to read certain extracts in certain moments. I was given the impression that I was allowed to come into everything he had access to.” (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró).

15

Therefore, Art was only able to show those chosen memories by his father, and

he, the author, had to impede the distortion of his father’s past. Moreover, he (2012:

206) points out that if he had written the story in the same way as his father told it to

him – that is, without a temporal order – the novel would be interesting but it also

would cause problems to the audience. For this reason, in order not to transform his

novel into a fraud, Spiegelman adds the difficulties of writing it into the novel.

Accordingly, he “[incluyó] la narración además de lo narrado. […] Todo lo dibujado en

el supuesto pasado de la historia que cuenta Vladek es a todas luces un intento del hijo

de mostrar lo que narra el padre.” 4 (2012: 208-209).

As a cause of his old age, Vladek narrated his story as important anecdotes for

him, jumping from one year to another; he was not analysing a historical event

thoroughly, he was merely remembering. And so, Art reproaches the way of narration to

Vladek: Art considered that his father was using the wrong way to narrate his story; it

was hindering the continuous process of the narration (Hathaway 2011: 260) (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The disorderly narration of Vladek (Spiegelman 2003: 49)

Due to his old age, Vladek probably ignored Art’s reproaches and he continued

narrating the story in a disorderly manner. However, although the author did not want to

eliminate the authenticity of the account, he needed to create a narrative order.

4 “[included] the narration and the narrated. […] Clearly strong, everything which was drawn in the assumed past of the story told by Vladek is the son’s attempt to show what his father is narrating.” (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró)

16

In order to achieve this narrative order, Spiegelman tried to avoid the influence of

the unsteady past upon the present.

Nevertheless, critics deny the existence of a temporal order. They defend the idea

of the fusion of the two times. This fusion is not to be positive, but negative: by their

statements, the union of present and past is said to be something incoherent rather than a

beneficial mechanism for the novel. Dominik LaCapra, for instance, claims that “the

past not only interacts with, but erupts into, the present, and at times the present seems

to be only a function of, […], the past” (1998: 155); or, James Young who points out

that “In Maus, not only are past and present linked, but they constantly intrude and

occasionally even collapse into each other” (1998: 682).

Some would say that these criticisms by themselves are sufficient explanation in

order to stop the study of the combination of present and past. However, those criticisms

are not totally accurate. In my view, there are several reasons by which the author

allows the reader to differentiate the past and the present:

2.1. The reasons

2.1.1. The strategy

The first main reason is the method used by the author: when Spiegelman begins a

chapter, he normally uses the same strategy, which is accompanied by four stages that

may vary its order.

In the first stage, he depicts a present with the same intention, which is Art

visiting his father in order to get information about his story to write the book: “For the

next few months I went back to visit my father quite regularly, to hear his story.”

(Spiegelman 2003: 28); “I visited my father more often in order to get more information

about his past.” (45); “Another visit…” (132).

17

The second stage portrayed a daily scene. They have lunch or they walk together:

“Another time I’ll again look. But now better we go to the bank.” (Spiegelman 2003:

107); “Um…I can handle it alone. Why don’t you both go out for a walk?” (183); “Such

a good girl- with my special bread she knew to make…Mala wouldn’t have done such a

good sandwich.” (229). Sometimes in these routines Vladek starts telling Art his

experience as part of the conversation.

Furthermore, these moments surpass some opposite scenes. These opposed scenes

are the third stage, in which telling the story seems to be a ritual: everything is fixed,

there is no spontaneity. Vladek has his position (the sofa or the static bicycle) as if they

were competing in a race, and Art is ready to write in front of his father.

Figure 3. “The third stage” (Spiegelman 2003: 86, 137)

18

And finally, there is a fourth stage that introduces the idea of their stressed

relationship - as Art has suggested since the beginning of chapter one 5 - with a little

quarrel between father and son: “Look, Dad. You can’t do this to me. I’m over 30 years

old. I choose my own clothes!”; (Spiegelman 2003: 71); “God damn you! You-you

murderer! How the hell could you do such a thing!! (161).

The following figure summarizes this strategy:

Figure 4. The strategy followed by the author

Therefore, taking into account this method there are no possibilities for the

audience to be unable to follow the narrative.

Figure 5. A photograph of Richieu, a map of Poland and a graphic of a bunker (Spiegelman 2003: 62,

112, 165)

5 “I went out to see my Father in Rego Park. I hadn’t seen him in a long time- we weren’t that close.” (Spiegelman 2003: 13).

Art visits his father

A daily scene

The ritual

A quarrel

THE STORY

19

Moreover, as you can see in figure 5, the past is always prominent by means of

references such as graphics, maps or photographs. This visual material – sometimes

drawn or real – is of utmost importance to the author because it gives the authenticity

he was pursuing.

Furthermore, this material is a powerful tool in order to differentiate past and

present; they may help the readers not to be lost in the reading if they are confused by

the temporal frame.

Accordingly, it was absolutely vital for the author to include these references

because

[…] [le] daba la verosimilitud y autoridad necesarias para que la tira se

entendiera como una historia real. En una época en que no abundaban los cómics

autobiográficos, parecía importante encontrar el modo de decir <<Esto pasó de

verdad>>. […] Yuxtaponerla a ese estilo de dibujo expresionista consigue que la

fotografía transmita la <<autenticidad>> característica de las instantáneas […] 6

(Spiegelman: 2012: 218).

6 “[…] it gave the required authenticity and authority in order to make that the comic trip was understood as a real story. At a time in which the autobiographical comics were not plentiful, finding the way to say <<This really happened>> seemed to be important. […] Juxtaposing it in that expressionist drawing style enabled the photography to transmit the <<authenticity>> , characteristic of the photographs […]” (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró).

20

2.1.2. In black and white

The second powerful reason is clearly seen in the following vignette (figure 6) that

shows a division between both tenses.

21

Figure 6. Past and present (Spiegelman 2003: 54, 86)

In these examples, a stressed black hue depicts the past; while the present is

represented by using less amount of shading.

From my point of view, by selecting this painting style the aim of the author was

to perform a sense of change. It is not only a change in time, but also a change in

feelings because both time and feelings are undoubtedly related. Taking into account the

content of this story, black and white drawings offer a high level of drama and art to the

novel.

22

The key lies in the shading. The amount of shading varies depending on the drawn

scene. When Art represents any scene from the past sadness, anger or frustration is

involved in that moment. The level of shading rises when the portrayed scene is about

the concentration camp or shootings; but its level lowers when depicting his parent’s

past.

Psicología del color (Cañellas, 1979: 1) exemplifies the relationship between the

black colour with a negative feeling as Art’s drawings symbolize. The following case

supports this idea:

1.1.-El color de la tristeza.

Pedro, cinco años, sale de la clínica después de un episodio convulsivo que ha

precisado numerosos y dolorosos exámenes. Ha estado sometido durante muchos días, y

ha sufrido al encontrarse solo en medio de un hospital y separado de su madre. Algún

tiempo después de regresar a su casa, el dibuja tranquilamente; su caja de lápices de

colores delante de él.

Levanta la cabeza y dice: -¿Cuál es el color de la tristeza? La respuesta inmediata es:

-¿Tu cua1 crees que es? El niño responde entonces trazando un pequeño garabato

completamente negro y embarullado en el centro de un corazón dibujado sobre el papel.

Mientras dibuja va diciendo para sí mismo: Yo le pongo un poquito (de pena) en su

corazón porque ha estado enfermo y lo han llevado al hospital. 7

Therefore, there is a kind of oxymoron which is illustrated by two colours that

lead to the distinction between past and present.

7 The colour of sadness Pedro, five-years-old, he left the clinic after a convulsive attack that needed from a great amount of painful checks. He has been under treatment during a lot of time. He suffered because he was alone in the middle of the hospital without his mother. After coming back home, he is calmly drawing; his colour pencils box is in front of him. He raises his head and says: -Which is the colour of sadness? The prompt answer is: What do you think? The little boy answers drawing a little scrawl all in black and messed. While he is drawing he says to himself: I put a little of it (sadness) into his heart because he has been ill and he has been brought to the hospital. (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró)

23

Moreover, in order to support this view, figure 7 also shows the opposition

between black and white, and therefore, their opposite meanings.

Figure 7. The colour scale8

Assuming that the black colour represents a period of time full of shadows and

death, the white colour does not only represent the present of the novel, but also it gives

the reader’s eyes a break and a positive feeling.

8 Parris, Nadine. “Inside our right (and left) brains: The color of Inspiration.” <http://blog.sangereby.com/2011/12/the-color-of-inspiration/>. (Accessed 21 June 2014)

24

2.1.3. The language

Furthermore, another reason to dismantle the misreadings of Maus is the way in

which Vladek speaks in English. Due to this fact, it is possible to make a division

between both worlds: past and present. In The Language of survival, Alan Rosen (1995:

122-130), claims the English language in Maus has several senses: a survival language

during the Holocaust, a language that enables Anja and Vladek to have their first

conversations and a foreign language, and “[…] this "foreignness" is the means by

which English can become a language of testimony […]” (129).

She also suggests that the language was another resource for the author in order to

make distinctions between past and present. In this way

[…] for episodes in the past, Spiegelman uses fluent, colloquial English to represent the

languages of Europe as spoken by their native speakers; for episodes in the present, Vladek’s

broken, accented English serves as a constant marker […] Vladek’s broken English becomes

the means by which Spiegelman articulates the incommensurability between present and past.”

(130).

In fact, it is from the very beginning of the story where the reader can appreciate

the fluent English of Vladek, as an English language’s enthusiast: “You know, you

should be careful speaking English- A “stranger” could understand.”; “… But I took

private lessons… I always dreamed of going to America.” (Spiegelman 2003: 18).

2.2. The third level of the narration

We have already seen that the most criticized characteristic of Maus is the

juxtaposition of past and present. In this case, critics have assigned a positive resource

to the novel.

25

Maus is a reproduction of the testimony of Vladek because the author had to retell

the same story. This fact meant the transformation of Art into another witness of his

father’s story. Taking into account this idea, many critics claim that this re-narration has

become the third narrative level of the temporal frame, together with the story and the

discourse.

Although it is possible to encounter a few differences among the descriptions of

the three narrative levels that appear in the novel, Erin McGlothin has summarized them

following the standard narrative models of literature:

Figure 8. The levels of narration in Maus (McGlothin 2003: 184)

There is no doubt that every narrative text always introduces a story and a

discourse, but, in this case, why critics consider that there is a third level involved?

Although it is true that the first and the second levels in Maus are related because

both share the same content, this third level appears due to the format of the comic.

Thanks to this format, it is possible to display another present – which I call “alienated

present” - apart from the present moment in which the protagonists live their present

lives. This is the third level in which Art presents his own problems as an author and

son. Spiegelman calls it “super-present” as he explains in the following statement: “[…]

There was a present with Vladek and me talking and then there was the past with his

story. All of the sudden we now had a kind of super-present. And the super-present is

done with certain devices- […]” (The Complete Maus 1994: 178).

26

In my view, this “super-present” does not have a static position in the temporal

frame of the novel; it seems that it belongs to another dimension: the mind of the author.

However, it is in the second volume of the novel, above all, in which the reader is able

to achieve this dimension. In this part, Art displays his feelings and fears, and therefore,

he is drawing his internal voice.

But it is true that there are signs that reveal that the past lives inside the present.

For instance, in the back cover of the book a map of Poland during the WWII contrasts

with the map of Rego Park, which points out the exact place where their house was. In

this house, the figure of Vladek appears: he is sitting on the sofa and Art, acting as a

child, lies on the floor. Little by little, he is becoming a witness of his father’s story

(figure 9).

Figure 9. A map of Poland and a map of Rego Park (NY) (Spiegelman 2003. The back cover of the book)

Therefore, there is no doubt that the past is part of the present. Another example:

Vladek’s prisoner number tattooed on his arm (figure 10).

27

This vignette is portrayed at the very beginning of the novel, which implies one of

the aims of Spiegelman. That is, by means of clues the reader should become aware that

the past would inevitably be introduced into the present. Certainly, it is going to be

difficult for Vladek to try to eliminate his past. In fact, this survivor is a physical and

psychological victim of the Holocaust, and a printed number on his arm he sees

everyday, will cause the past to revisit the present.

Figure 10. The number of Vladek (Spiegelman 2003: 14)

The interruption of the past in the present is something natural that has its own

position in their daily lives. It does not only affect to Vladek but also to Art who is

becoming a victim as the story progresses. This is something which is clearly seen in

their routines. For example, they are going to the supermarket to give back the

shopping. On their way home, there are four Jewish prisoners who seem to be hanged

from the panel (Spiegelman 2003: 239). These women were representing the common

way of execution of the Jews in the WWII; therefore, they have travelled from the past

to their presents.

28

Curiously, this is an important example. Art had to get into his father’s head in

order to know what he was thinking in that moment. Obviously, that was impossible.

Hence, this is a clear example of the way in which the author explains the past of

Vladek.

By drawing that moment of the past, Art enables the reader to know that his father

had his past in mind. But, at the same time, when the author was writing and drawing

the novel, these kinds of images begun to be part of him, leaving his mind and body

very influenced by a past that he did not live.

2.3. Past and present

Definitely, as mentioned at the introduction this postmodern graphic novel could

be considered as a Historiographic Metafiction, a term coined by Linda Hutcheon. In

her work A Poetics of Postmodernisms: history, theory fiction she gives the definition of

“Historiographic Metafiction”: “[…] By this I mean those well-known and popular

novels which are both intensely self-reflexive and yet paradoxically also lay claim to

historical events and personages […]” (1996: 5).

In this sense, Vladek is the ex-centric focalizer who was part of millions of

marginalized Jews due to their opposed beliefs. This led to what Spiegelman calls “the

central trauma of the twentieth century” (LaCapra 1998: 140) which provoked a raging

past that brought dire consequences to the present.

As the ex-centric focalizer, it is possible to see in Vladek the personification of the

aftermath of the Holocaust because his weakness does not allow him to transform

himself into a psychologically rehabilitated person.

However, that rehabilitation was impossible due to a confrontation with a problem

of identity. There were many times in which Vladek could have said: “Yes, I’m

Jewish”, as another consequence of the past. If someone says the same, we would

directly relate that person or his/her ancestors to the Holocaust. Consequently, although

there were different types of Holocausts during history - such as the Atomic Bombings

of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Spiegelman was true when defining the

Jewish Holocaust as the trauma of the 20th century.

29

In this sense, it is important to bear in mind how Vladek “takes” the present to tell

his past to Art. When Vladek was young, he was brave and strong, but in the present his

personality is totally different. This change could be perfectly related to his old age;

however, taking into consideration that his past is still influencing him, his personality

may also be affected by his experience. Now, he saves more money than before in case

another war came; he has burnt Anja’s diaries as an attempt to forget the past; or that he

is now a racist.

2.4. The possible distortion of history and memory

It is the time when memory comes into play, and according to Eric Berlatsky it is

really important in Maus:

The desire to `remember´ and to construct a Jewish identity from that memory

undoubtedly played a role in Spiegelman’s decision to record and represent Vladek’s

story. It is also this belief in the centrality of memory that leads Artie (Spiegelman’s

autobiographical representation in Maus) to reproach his father, Vladek for destroying

the diaries of Anja, Vladek’s wife. (2009: 4).

Memory plays the major role in the novel. Thanks to it, we know the past, but the

pressure that Vladek receives from his son, is forcing him to doubt when remembering

the worst time of his life.

Absenteeism and treachery are some of the drawbacks of Vladek’s memory.

Going to the example of the Shvartsers – as Vladek called black men. The scene shows

Vladek rejecting the idea of picking him up because of his colour (Spiegelman 2003:

258).

30

It is unthinkable that a victim of racism was unable to look back and remember

why he was rejected. Moreover, in MetaMaus Spiegelman himself explains the reason

of his father’s new attitude:

Era una actitud que compartían la mayoría de sus amistades supervivientes […]

Forma parte de la naturaleza insoportable de Vladek. Pero también fue lo que

degeneró hasta dar pie a la Solución Final; y lo que permite que nuestras actuales

discusiones acerca de la inmigración adquieran tintes atroces […]. 9 (Spiegelman

2012: 36).

As Berlatsky suggests, racism, in this cases, describes “the dangers of

constructing narratives out of memory.” (2009: 9).

Nevertheless, there are other occasions in which logic and memory dominate his

mind. By way of illustration, saving is very important for him: “I cannot forget it… ever

since Hitler I don’t like to throw out even a crumb.” (Spiegelman 2003: 238). In this

case, memory works differently: he just remembers; in fact, his hand upon his face

portrays anguish and pain while he says those words - body language is very revealing

in comics.

The interesting aspect of both opposite examples is that each of them appear in the

same chapter And here my troubles began of the second volume. The title of the chapter

does not only embrace how hard the survival was for Vladek, but it also means the

difficulties that the author had to face in order to complete his work. Therefore,

“troubles” may also refer to the complicated process of working with memory to

distinguish present and past.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, memory is defined as “the faculty by which

the mind stores and remembers information”. 10

9 “This was an attitude shared by most of his friends that were also survivors. […] It is part of Vladek’s unbearable nature. But it was also what led to the Final solution; and what allows that our currently arguments about immigration gain terrible hints […].” (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró) 10 Oxford Dictionaries. “Memory.” <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/memory?q=memory>. (Accessed 14 April 2014)

31

In spite of this definition, when Vladek has to remember his experience, it

sometimes leads to several problems which are going to provoke the instability of the

past.

Some of the problems are already mentioned. Notwhistanding, as I have

mentioned before, Vladek suffers every time he has to remember his experience.

Despite this, the most significant problem that led to that instability is the possibility of

the creation of a distorted history.

Undoubtedly, memories could have had a huge impact upon Vladek when he had

to choose the information he wanted to tell to Art. For instance, when the reader is told

that Vladek had burnt the diaries of his wife, it gives the impression that he burnt them

in order to hide something of his past. There was something mysterious or private in

those diaries that he did not want to tell his son. In this case, Vladek avoids telling his

son where the diaries of his mother are. He simply diverted Art’s attention by

reproaching him that he was smoking too much; in this way, Vladek is able to continue

with the story.

In fact, the burning of his wife’s diaries contributes to the reader’s suspicions

against Vladek and the fact that he was actually hiding important facts. Hence, these

two examples could lead to the distortion of the memoirs that are able to change the

sense of history and memory.

Nevertheless, although the reader is able to understand Vladek’s suffering,

humans are still powerless to go beyond Vladek’s mind so as to grant the veracity of his

accounts as historical events. Therefore, to avoid incredulity among readers, Art

supports the historical sense of this graphic novel providing maps or photographs that

are real references within fiction. Hence, memory is presented in Maus as a dimension

that could not be separated from history as Puneet Kohli claims:

The collapse of temporal space in Maus demonstrates and reinforces a dual

perception: the first is that memory and history are not exclusively divorced and

objective entities—both inform and consolidate the other; the second is that both

memory and history have no definable beginning, middle, or end—one’s story is

continuous and fluid. (2012: 13).

32

Thinking on the possible distortion of history when Vladek is telling his

experience, is it possible for the reader to trust Vladek’s memory?

Writing is the only way to hold the past. For this reason, countries and nations are

interested in narrativising those historical events that have changed the course of

history. This is what happens in Maus: Art considers that when writing Maus he also

was trying to portray his father’s experience as another text being part of a historical

event.

However, as Eric Berlatsky (2009: 10) suggests, Art did not consider his graphic

novel as a truth. By this statement, Spiegelman’s words are not implying that Vladek’s

testimony is not true. But Art thought that considering his father’s past as a completely

true story would be unfair and immoral. This is clearly comprehensible: Maus is not

only a fictional novel, but it could become a distorted history as a result of Vladek’s

way of narration.

2.5. Types of memory in Maus

Richard Terdiman claims that memory is formed by two features: reproduction

and representation, which are explained in his book, Present Past: Modernity and the

Memory Crisis. He points out that reproduction is to retell the historical event in exactly

the same way as it happened; representation is very much influenced by the present

situation, leading way to distort the historical event (1993: 59-60). Without any doubt,

Maus is represented by both characteristics which affect in the way in which Art had to

display the story.

It is true that the historical context in Maus – that is, the Holocaust – also appears

in other stories about survivors.

Nevertheless, sometimes, the author does not clarify to the reader if the way in

which he wrote the story is the same way in which his father remembered it.

33

Notwithstanding, there are other moments in the comic that show the opposite

idea. In the following panels (figure 11), Vladek is able to remember the structure of

their hiding places with every detail.

Therefore, in these moments of the story the reader can undoubtedly trust

Vladek’s memory. This example represents one of the characteristics of the memory

suggested by Terdiman: “the reproduction”.

Figure 11. How the memory acts (Spiegelman 2003: 112, 114)

Nevertheless, on other occasions, the reader has to mistrust Vladek’s words. As

you can see, figure 12 is a clear example of what Terdiman calls “representation”. This

vignette displays the moment when Vladek tells his son that he had destroyed Anja’s

diaries, very useful documents for Spiegelman and his work.

34

Figure 12. How the memory acts (II) (Spiegelman 2003: 160)

Once more, Vladek demonstrates that his memory is active because he perfectly

remembers what happened: he burnt Anja’s diaries as a strategy to forget. However, as

if Vladek were manipulating the audience, this fact acts as a sign of the distortion of

history, and it is also an intention to erase his memory.

As noted in the introduction, Maus is a hybrid text composed by different genres

such as the comic, the graphic novel or the animal fable, but it is also considered to be

testimony writing. In this sense, Liane Gaasendam, suggests that Spiegelman “[…]

includes several instances that indicate how testimonies often lack truth since they are

simply the memories of an individual. In testimonies, the truth is subjective, as it

regards that which someone remembers.” (5).

35

For this reason, the reader is not able to trust Vladek’s memory. Although Art had

to provide the reader with references, we are also witnesses of the story but we do not

have any evidence to prove the truth of Vladek’s experience. Accordingly, remembering

this past might be a hard task in the life of a survivor as Vladek, definitely influencing

their present moment.

The importance of this lies in the fact that we could be labelled Vladek’s memory

as episodic memory:

Episodic memory represents our memory of experiences and specific events in

time in a serial form, from which we can reconstruct the actual events that took place

at any given point in our lives. It is the memory of autobiographical events (times,

places, associated emotions and other contextual knowledge) that can be explicitly

stated. Individuals tend to see themselves as actors in these events, and the emotional

charge and the entire context surrounding an event is usually part of the memory, not

just the bare facts of the event itself. 11 (The Human Memory)

From my point of view, this type of memory of “autobiographical events” is the

main cause of the instability of the past accounts told by Vladek.

As previously mentioned, this instability derives from several reasons. One of

them, apart from the possible distortion of history, was the continuous flashbacks. For

instance: Art, after hearing Vladek talking about his entrance to the army when he was

22 years old, the author replied: “But let’s get back to 1939!” (Spiegelman 2003: 49).

This example does not only represent the lack of chronological order, but also the

difficulties in writing a comic based on a testimony.

However, the major complexity of the past derives from the scenes of which

Vladek was not a direct witness. He just told them in the way in which they had

supposedly happened. In fact, Vladek himself assumes that he is not sure about the

exact actions that took place in that moment.

11 The Human Memory. “What it is, how it works and how it can go wrong: Episodic & Semantic Memory.” < http://www.human-memory.net/types_episodic.html>. (Accessed 16 April 2014)

36

Words and phrases such as those in the following figure (figure 13) “Maybe” or “I

don’t know if this as how it was (…)” (Spiegelman 2003: 195) supports the uncertainty

of the facts; moreover, they reinforce the idea of the veracity of his story and our

capacity to trust his memory.

Figure 13. The common behaviour of the Nazis in the concentration camps (Spiegelma 2003: 195)

Nevertheless, these are the opposed scenes in which the reader is able to believe in

the authenticity of his memory and his testimony. His testimony coincides with the

documented history: the Nazi soldiers killed the Jews without any reason (it was a usual

practice among them).

37

There are other scenes that describe the same historical authenticity such as the

moment of his arrival to the concentration camps in Auschwitz. In this case, although he

is telling Art a real historical event – the crowded cold showers (or as Vladek called

them the “lived showers”) – the reader could still think if Vladek is telling the truth or

not, because he also doubts about the real facts: “Here it was the live showers, not the

dead gas showers that we heard sometimes rumors.” (Spiegelman 2003: 186).

Figure 14. “The live showers” (Spiegelman 2003: 186)

Therefore, there is an important difference between these two examples (figure 13

and figure 14). As the figure 13 suggests Vladek neither did live that moment nor saw it,

but rather, he heard about it. As a result, Spiegelman represents this scene not only

basing on his recollected documentation, but also following his father’s memories about

what he had heard of the death of his friend Mandelbaum. In this case, he is not

representing any truth, but it should be noted that he is representing a text – as

Spiegelman suggested. 12

However, figure 14 provides a huge amount of truth. In spite of the fact that the

first instance clearly shows the narcissistic personality disorder of the Nazis, Vladek is

telling the death of an individual; meanwhile in the first example he is retelling the

moment that affected to a community. Hence, Art needed to be very loyal in the

representation of that event of the past.

Furthermore, the way in which Vladek tells his story offers instability to his past.

Although flashbacks have been mentioned as a resource that provides complexity to the

whole account, there are occasions in which these flashbacks also grant complexity

within the past tense.

12 As Eric Berlatsky suggests Art did not consider his graphic novel as a truth (2009: 10).

38

This resource does not give instability to the past, but, on the contrary, it supplies

coherence because of the “organized” flashbacks within the temporal frame. For

instance, the following vignette (figure 15) introduces the moment in which the Vladek

of the present is remembering the moment in which he saw his friends hanged.

However, this traumatic image of his past is acting as a flashback. Therefore, it is not a

flashback within the present time frame, but a flashback within the past time.

Figure 15. “The past of the past” (Spiegelman 2003: 86)

Therefore, this could be called “the past of the past”, following the Chinese box

narrative frame. The Vladek of the present is remembering himself sitting down in front

of the window.

39

In fact, the position of his hand on one side of his hanging head reveals a

melancholic moment. In this past, another past is introduced in which the figure of his

hanged friends visits the memory of the past. His dead friends are drawn above his head

as ghosts that come directly from his mind.

Then, at the same time, we can see Vladek riding on his static bicycle. This brings

us back to the present of the narration where Vladek remembers that moment.

Hence, this scene is an indication of the present haunted by the past. It is

performed by Vladek riding on his bicycle as if he wanted to run away from that

memory, and it is also performed by the bicycle, that seems to be another resource of

the author to introduce the reader into the past of Vladek.

There is no doubt that the past is part of the present because this fact affects

Vladek in every sense. However, in the way he tells the story is not the same way used

by the author to tell the reader the testimony of his father. In this particular case, I am

not referring to the non-linearity of the story, but the way in which Vladek remembers

it.

Spiegelman integrates the past inside the present in two manners.

One of them expresses how Vladek interprets his past. After telling some part of

the story, the same panel directly shows the present scene where father and son are

together. In this pause, where the reader is able to distinguish both the contemporary

period and the past time, Vladek acts as if he were reviving the same situation portrayed

on the panel. By way of illustration, the panels on pages 53-54 and 124, certainly

capture this idea.

40

Figure 16. Vladek’s interpretation of the past Figure 17. Vladek’s interpretation of the past (II)

(Spiegelman 2003: 53-54; 124)

In the example of figure 16 Vladek is telling to Art the moment when he needed

to be part of the army. During this time, he became a war prisoner posted to Nuremberg

together with more prisoners.

There, on an occasion, one of the Nazi lieutenants approached to Vladek and took

his hands in order to see them. It is commonly believed that shabby and rough hands are

the result of working in very hard conditions for a long time.

In this case, due to the softness and delicacy of Vladek's hands, the Nazi realized

that Vladek had never worked in his life – something which is admitted by Vladek.

This scene is repeated by the Vladek of the present: he took Art's hands as if

Vladek were the German soldier and Art were the prisoner: ¡You never worked a day in

your life! (Spiegelman 2003: 53).

To take yet another illustration, figure 17 portrays the same area where Vladek

lived as a war prisoner. This scene shows the reaction of one of the German soldiers,

which is imitated by Vladek in the second half of the page. Vladek, very angrily

reproached to Art the remains of his cigarettes' ashes that were damaging the carpet.

Lastly, in a different way to the first instances, figure 18 portrays a travel in time

from the present to the past.

41

This journey goes until the moment of the Selektions: “In the whole camp was

selektions. I went two times in front of Dr. Mengele” (Spiegelman 2003: 218).

Specifically, there are three panels entirely devoted to the revival of the moment in

which it was his turn to be checked by the doctor. In these three panels, Vladek exactly

performed the commands: “Face left!” (218) to show to Art how was the procedure.

Then, a last panel appears in which the old Vladek became a brave and young man who

follows the same instructions.

Figure 18. Vladek’s interpretation of the past (III) (Spiegelman 2003: 218)

These three examples reinforce the idea of Vladek as a victim in two senses. In

the first two examples, due to his orders and impositions, Vladek has become a German

soldier whose personality is always firm and dominant. Moreover, although it is not

portrayed in these cases, racism is another feature that Vladek has inherited from the

Nazis.

The second sense of victimization is displayed in the last example, where Vladek

is a victim who derives from a ruling and neglectful system.

Moreover, although the vast majority of Maus offers the possibility of the

distinction of times displayed by the images, these examples represent the reason why

this novel is under criticism.

Therefore, there is a possibility to admit the integration of the past inside the

present. Vladek’s past is on his mind as a story. For this reason, it is possible to suggest

that this situation reaches a point in which the present time is much more significant

than the portrayal of the past. Hence, there is a high probability that the present merges

into the past, creating a unique temporal frame (McGlothin 2003:179).

42

Accordingly, I would say that the impossibility of distinguishing present and past

comes from the amount of feelings and moral issues which are portrayed in the novel.

It is commonly believed that when someone experiences a similar moment as

Vladek did, feelings usually leave a great physical and mental impact on the person,

rather than the historical event itself. Both tenses are physically distinguished but, due

to the influence of feelings, present and past could merge into only one tense.

For this reason, by portraying some scenes with his father, the author implies that

Vladek’s persona has been developed as the novel has progressed, and, at the same

time, reinforcing the idea of the influence of the past upon the present.

The second way is the interpretation of Art as an author and son. Obviously, the

images are the product of the interpretation of his father's story as part of a historical

event.

Simultaneously, Art’s drawings are means to express his feelings about his

relationship with his father. For instance, in figure 16, Art is relating the governing

personality of the soldier to his father's. It is very much related to Vladek's

interpretation, but he is not aware of his mood.

In this case, if the author had not considered the importance of this scene, he

probably would not portray it. There is no doubt that this is a crucial fact for

Spiegelman: he devotes half of the page to portray this moment.

It is possible to say that these scenes reflect two kinds of symmetries. The first

one is the behaviour of the Nazi soldier towards the weak and young Vladek. The

second one is the behaviour of the old Vladek towards his own son. The roles have been

exchanged leading to changed behaviours. Vladek is wrongly relating that precise

moment of his experience as a war prisoner with something insignificant: the ashes on

the carpet.

43

3. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN: ARTIE THE SON, AND ART

SPIEGELMAN THE AUTHOR.

As it was important to know how the past influenced Vladek’s present,

understanding the problems of the present life of the author is also relevant.

In the middle of the first volume of Maus, Art introduces one of his comics called

Prisoner on the Hell Planet. It was published in 1972 where he tells to the readers some

details of his past: he was in a mental hospital because he suffered a mental breakdown.

After his recovery, his mother’s suicide strengthened his ups and downs.

When Anja committed suicide, Art felt a huge feeling of guilt; however, it seems

that Vladek’s behaviour did not contribute to help his son in order to avoid this feeling

on his son. At the same time, this four-page comic suggests the same situation

undergone by his father.

His experience of the Holocaust could be compared to Art’s mental disease.

Father and son had not only suffered in their past lives, but also they have tried to

overcome their situations.

3.1. The caricaturization

In the present life of the author, that is, the moment in which he started to

organize the novel, other problems have risen to the surface. Caricaturization is one of

the dilemmas that highlights among other characteristic of Maus.

In the first chapter of the second volume And here my troubles began the author is

displayed facing a decision that seems to be crucial for him: how he should draw his

wife, bearing in mind her native soil. Françoise is French.

44

Figure 19. The depiction of Françoise (Spiegelman 2003: 171)

As figure 19 suggests, drawing characters as animals was not an easy task for the

author. He needed to choose universally known concepts. He had to allow the reader to

identify the animals with the characteristics of each ethnic that are supposedly

represented by them. Apart from this, another problem was added. As it is supposed that

his wife is French, how he should draw her? As you can see in the figure, in the first

half of the page, Art put different heads of animals to the body of his wife.

Therefore, there is a challenge. He is not sure about what prevails more: a country

or the ethnicity of that country. However, he combined both of them because he decided

to draw his wife physically French (she wears the French fashion of the 60s) but

morally Jewish. Therefore, in this way, he tried to approach to his reality.

As the title of the volume implies, this is one of the dilemmas that the author had

to confront with when he was writing the comic; or rather, when he had to draw the

characters.

45

Perhaps, recognizing the characteristics that were represented by the Jews was an

easy task for him. In fact, this seems to be true. When he and Françoise are talking

about how he should represent her, she suggests that it could be easier for him if she

was born Jewish: “You know, you should have married what’s-her-name? The girl you

were seeing when we first met? ... […] Yes. Then you could just draw mice, no

problem.” (Spiegelman 2003:172).

For this reason, bearing in mind the case of his wife, I guess that he had probably

had more problems when it came to define other characters.

From my point of view, the author is clearly portraying two kinds of

interpretations in figure 19. The first one is that he intended to show to the audience

how complex is the world of literature or visual arts when an author is in the process of

writing. His second aim was to let the reader think about the readable social and

political background of this particular scene.

Accordingly, taking the decision of drawing animals instead of humans could

have led this graphic novel to be under more severe criticisms. Dehumanizing the

characters provides a better comprehension of the whole story. It easily guides the

reader to recognize which identity each character belongs to and it also provides a more

pleasant reading.

There is no doubt that Maus has two main protagonists: cats and mice. But, why

did the author chose these characters?

“The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.” (Spiegelman 2003:

10). Adolf Hitler is the owner of these words that are introduced at the very beginning

of the first volume. The content of this sentence suggests that, apart from the fact that

those words were part of his great power of conviction, it was the excuse to begin with

the extermination of the Jewish race. Hitler, who also implies in this sentence that Jews

were insignificant insects or creatures that could be executed, he achieved that a great

amount of the population supported him.

For this reason, Art took the advantage of this statement in order to confront his

work with it. In my opinion, another of the aim of Spiegelman was to prove the

following: if the entire world had followed Hitler’s beliefs, all races would have been

eliminated. Therefore, to contradict Hitler’s beliefs, Art depicted every character with

the body of an animal.

46

Moreover, this is not the first sign of Jews as the victims of the European society.

For instance, in the 16th century wild rodents were not only pointed out as the main

carriers of a disease that devastated Europe: the Black Death.

It was commonly believed that the Jews also expanded it. Once more, Hitler

provoked the injustices that had to be faced by the Jews: they were treated as if they

belonged to an inferior race.

Nonetheless, this idea is part of a contradiction. During the 30s and the 40s,

Disney collaborated with the government of the United States in order to promote the

national identity through films and documentaries which were mainly addressed to

children.

In this propaganda the protagonist was Mickey Mouse who displayed the perfect

figure of the hero going to war. At the same time, Disney also created Anti-Nazism

illustrations so as to demonstrate the support provided by the United States.

Figure 20. Mickey Mouse supports the war 13 and Disney Anti-Nazi Propaganda14

13 Lesjak, David. “American in WWII: Disney to the Front.” < http://www.americainwwii.com/galleries/disney-to-the-front/>. (Accessed 14 April 2014) 14 Filmaffinity. “El rostro del Fuhrer.” < http://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film134949.html>. (Accessed 19 June 2014)

47

Furthermore, in the second volume of Maus, Art introduces another quote from an

article of a German newspaper of the 30s.

Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed … Healthy emotions

tell every independent young man and every honorable youth that the dirty and filth-

covered vermin, the greatest bacteria carrier in the animal kingdom, cannot be the

ideal type of animal … Away with Jewish brutalization of the people! Down with

Mickey Mouse! Wear the Swastika Cross! (Spiegelman 2003: 164).

This declaration perfectly fits into Spiegelman's work. As Walt Disney did with

the figure of Mickey Mouse, Art also humanizes the figure of the mouse in his novel.

Nevertheless, this statement wanted to end with the political idea of the

representation of the Jews by idealizing them. Therefore, Mickey Mouse was a

character portrayed in the opposed manner to the Nazi's depiction: the rat. Spiegelman

is again opposing his work to these words stated by the German community.

From my point of view, cats are the perfect choice for the representation of the

Nazis. It is commonly believed that, in the animal world, cats normally chase mice

because it is part of their survival and predatory instinct.

As figure 21 shows, cartoons and TV series such as Tom and Jerry or Pixie and

Dixie, have been disseminating this predictable behaviour during a lot of time.

Figure 21. Examples of the predictable behaviour: the cat chases the mouse15

15InsidePulse. “DVD Review: Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures(Volume 2).” <http://insidepulse.com/2011/08/02/dvd-review-tom-and-jerry-fur-flying-adventures-volume-2/>. (Accessed 14June) Yowp, Stuff About Early Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. “Pixie and Dixie – King-Size Surprise.”. < http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2011/11/pixie-and-dixie-king-size-surprise.html>. (Accessed 20 June 2014)

48

Bearing this in mind, is it possible to admit the creation of an instinct against the

Jews?

In 1925 the Schutzstaffel – also called the SS - was established as the personal

bodyguard of Hitler, formed by the youngest Germans who had been trained since they

were children. These young generations were part of a brainwash that consisted on

convincing them about the superiority of the German race in every sense. The increase

of this brainwash led to the formation of an artificial predatory instinct that approaches

them until the extermination of the Jews.

At the same time, there is a third character which is involved in this game of roles:

the dog whose only intention is being territorial chasing cats.

Taking into account these different behaviours, it is possible to make symmetry

between the common behaviour of the real animals and the behaviours portrayed by the

protagonists of the novel.

In an interview made by the NPR (National Public Radio) about his book called

MetaMaus, the author was asked about the reason why he had chosen the mouse as the

main protagonist of his work:

It grew out of just being invited into an underground comic I was working [on]

up in San Francisco as part of that wave of avant-garde comics of the '60s and '70s,

where the only requirement for this particular book was to use anthropomorphic

characters. And I was stuck until a friend of mine was showing films in his cinema

class in upstate New York, Ken Jacobs, and he was showing these old racist animated

cartoons. And he was showing Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie, when he's still a

Jazz Age character rather than kind of [a] square, and then pointed out that Mickey

Mouse is just with funny round ears on top, that it was kind of all a form of minstrelsy

[…].16

By reading Spigelman’s words, it seems that this idea came from a normal

working- condition. This moment did not only provide him with the notion of the mouse

but also with the idea of the anthropomorphic characters.

16 Npr books. “'MetaMaus': The Story Behind Spiegelman's Classic.” <http://www.npr.org/2011/10/05/141085597/spiegelmans-metamaus-the-secrets-behind-maus>. (Accessed 12 June 2014)

49

In my view, taking into account that he was inspired by Mickey Mouse, he was

also influenced by Disney’s cartoons in general – above all, Mickey Mouse’s world –

in order to incorporate the figure of the cat into his work. As the Nazis in Maus, Pete

(also known as Peg-Leg Pete) is one of the enemies of Mickey. In this case, Pete is a

cat, the prideful character whose threatening, dominant and overpowering personality

intimidates Mickey and his friends.

Hence, in spite of the fact that in both cases there are anthropomorphic characters,

in the real world of the Holocaust and in the fantasy world of Disney’s cartoons, the

figure of the mouse is always the victim whose life is in the hands of the cats.

The role played by the dog in Maus has several similarities with other character of

Disney, Goofy the dog. In both cases, this fearless character, share a good relationship

with his friend the mouse. However, in Maus the dog is the hero who saves the weakest;

meanwhile Goofy seems to be another victim of the cat.

3.2. The dilemmas experienced as the author of Maus: a survivor’s tale

Chapter three of the second volume is also entitled And here my troubles began.

Both the volume and the chapter are used for introducing the problems of father and

son, but this chapter is again making reference to their dilemmas. Nevertheless, this part

of the volume gives the impression that the real problem of his father was leaving

Auschwitz. Figure 22 suggests that, although it was in the concentration camps where

there were more possibilities to die, it was the moment in which he was locked in a train

with other prisoners when he was about to die. This scene, which is remembered by

Vladek in the prologue, seems to be the most impressive of his memories.

50

Figure 22. Vladek was about to die (Spiegelman 2003: 246-247)

51

Nevertheless, it is a chapter before when the real problems of the author started.

Auschwitz (Time flies) is the title of the second chapter. Between brackets, Times flies

makes reference to the period of time in which Spiegelman takes a quick look at some

of the relevant moments of his life.

This is making a contrast between his father and him: “Vladek died of congestive

heart failure on August 18, 1982…Françoise and I stayed with him in the Catskills back

in August 1979” or “Vladek started working as a tinman in Auschwitz in the spring of

1944…I started working on this page at the very end of February 1987” (Spiegelman

2003: 201).

From the cover of the chapter (figure 23) some flies come from the Jewish bodies

after being burnt.

Figure 23. “Time flies” (2003: 199)

Then, as you will see in figure 24, these flies seem to leave the framework in

order to approach Art’s worktable buzzing around him. While the scene progresses,

more flies buzz in it. As if he were a Jew in a concentration camp, there is a tower of

control which is in front of him. Later on, we can see Art sitting upon a pile of dead

corpses. This introduction of the inner life of the author leaves an impression upon the

audience, allowing the reader to understand the presence of the past by the depiction of

the dead bodies.

52

As I have mentioned in the second part of this paper, the two levels of narrations

in Maus are accompanied by a third level which is the meta-narrative or the “super-

present” as it is called by the author.

Due to the fact that Spiegelman was drawing his father’s past in the Holocaust,

this third level was needed in order to deal “[…] with the problems of imagining that

experience and transforming it into a visual narrative.” (McGlothin 2003: 184).

Figure 24. The author is working on his worktable (Spiegelman 2003: 201)

53

As you can see, figure 24 clearly represents this moment full of symbolism in

which the author wanted to depict the condition of his present in 1987. In fact, as

Theresa Schneider states “The fact that he chose to not only set himself into a specific

time but this specific time points back to his desire to have been there, to experience the

threat of victimhood in the same way that his parents did.” (26).

Therefore, there is no doubt that it has been since this panel in which the inner life

of the author is being depicted. As Schneider suggested, this chapter will enable the

reader to understand the reasons of his feeling of guilt and inferiority.

As if it were a cameo, Art introduces himself into the comic wearing a mouse

mask. Vladek wore a pig mask in order to hide his identity (figure 25). In this case, Art

is now trying to do the same hiding his author identity acting as Art the character.

However, he was betrayed by his human body and the knot behind his head.

Figure 25. Vladek hide his identity wearing a pig mask (Spiegelman 2003: 66). The author is also trying

to hide his identity (201).

“Time flies…” (Spiegelman 2003: 201) is the introductory phrase that opens this

panel in which success is precisely one of the causes of his depression. According to

Theresa Schneider wearing a mouse mask means Art guilt feeling. This is the result of

the author’s thoughts: the commercialization of his novel. That is, his success at the

expense of telling the story of the Holocaust. (10-11).

54

“At least fifteen foreign editions are coming out. I’ve gotten 4 serious offers to

turn my book into a T.V. special or movie (I don’t wanna.) In May 1968 my mother

killed herself (She left no note.) Lately I’ve been feeling depressed.” (Spiegelman 2003:

201).

These two causes are both together in the same balloon because they are not only

the source of his feeling of guilt, but also his need to see a psychologist due to his

deeply depression. This depression, which is depicted by drawing himself crossing his

arms and laying down his head, is represented by these moments as his present and past

conditions. These two facts are strengthened by his mother’s suicide and the fact that

“she left no note”. This statement, which is repeated every time he mentions her suicide,

also increases his feeling of guilt and his depression.

Moreover, this increase is also affected by the meaning that this sentence implies

for the author. It gives the impression that Art is still thinking that his mother also

thought he was guilty for her death.

Then a voice appears in the panel saying “Alright Mr. Spiegelman… we are ready

to shoot…!” (Spiegelman 2003: 201). This sentence together with the pile of dead

bodies and the tower of control, are the representation of the past which is combined

with the present of the author. In fact, the author is constantly doing flashbacks and

flashforwards: “Vladek died of congestive heart failure on August 18, 1982… Françoise

and I stayed with him in the Catskills back in August 1979” or “Vladek started working

as a tinman in Auschwitz in the spring of 194… I started working on this page at the

very end of February 1987” (201). Hence, the author is undoubtedly doing the same as

he did in the rest of the novel: he tries to emphasize that although he did not live that

past, he is also influenced by it. Now, he is already another witness.

Later on, everything is clarified: Art is part of a publicity campaign in which

interviewers and young businessmen are also part of it (figure 26).

55

Figure 26. The publicity campaign of Maus (Spiegelman 2003: 202)

These characters turn up treading on the dead corpses that now it does not seem to

be a pile. They also wear masks; so, dogs, mice and a cat are all gathered in the same

setting. Certainly, this case has again portrayed identities by wearing different masks of

animals. In my view, by this representation, the author is now contradicting the facts of

the past: although their masks are showing different cultures and races, they are able to

be all together in the same room without misfortunes.

56

Meanwhile, the impatience of the interviewers makes Art feel worried: he does

not want to turn his book into a profitable market, playing with the memory of the

Holocaust. This marketing strategy has become a challenge for him.

Figure 27. Art, the little boy, is crying (Spiegelman 2003: 202)

Due to the interview Art starts to feel desperate becoming a little boy who cries

asking for his mum as you can see in figure 27. The reader does not know if these

panels depict a real moment of his life due to the success of the first volume. However,

thanks to the way Art uses to represent this moment, it gives the impression that he was

living a decisive period as an author in which he asked himself if he should continue

with his work.

Certainly, it is in the middle of this scene when the amount of suffering and

anxiety increases. This increase is caused due to a dangerous combination for the

author: the attractive offers and his awareness of the fact that his novel narrates a past

that is unbearable for the survivors. Figure 28 shows that tittle by little, Art’s body is

being lessened until becoming into a little boy.

Figure 28. Art turns into a little boy (Spiegelman 2003:202)

57

“I want… ABSOLUTION. No… no… I want my MOMMY!” (Spiegelman 2003:

202). These words in connection with his little body, suggest how the author feels. As

if the very same devil tempted Art, the businessman offers him the possibility of a

higher percentage of the benefits.

Apparently, due to the great amount of dead Jews that appeared in Maus,

Spiegelman considered himself as a murderer who was committing a sin when he was

writing this novel.

However, he realizes that he is not able to take his own decisions anymore; he

does not want to act as a responsible adult. In this panel, Spiegelman is representing a

very typical moment of a child: when children are afraid, they normally ask for their

mums. Therefore, he is depicting himself behaving in this way. At the same time, he is

also asking for his mum, due to his inability to solve his problems at this moment.

Nevertheless, her absence makes a connection between “absolution” and “mummy”,

both written in capital letters - as you can see in the figure - , emphasizing their

relevance for the author. Probably, Art is also asking to be forgiven for his mother’s

suicide and by turning into a little child, he is reviving his childhood in order to recover

her. Undoubtedly, although many years have gone by, this metaphorical panel

symbolizes that the author is still feeling guilt for her death.

Furthermore, his low self-esteem is another cause that reinforces his depression.

“Who am I to say?...” (Spiegelman 2003: 202) defines his feeling of inferiority as a

person and author. At the same time, this question and his mouse mask are again

portraying that sense of inferiority of the Jewish race against the superiority of the

Germans, an opposition that appears in the whole novel.

Figure 29 completely emphasises Art's childish behaviour. Now, Art is being

asked if he feels better after writing the first volume: “Could you tell our audience if

drawing MAUS was cathartic? Do you feel better now?” (Spiegelman 2003: 202).

58

Figure 29. “Do you feel better now?” (Spiegelman 2003: 202)

According to the Oxford Dictionary catharsis means “The process of releasing,

and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.” 17

It is possible to say that Prisoner on the Hell Planet could be considered as a way

of catharsis for the author in order to be released from feeling guilt for his mother’s

death. At the same time, the therapeutic sessions with Pavel could also be considered a

solution to overcome his situation. In fact, when he leaves the session, Art turns into an

adult again as a sign of his prompt recovery.

Due to the depiction of the tension between father and son, it is possible to think

that the novel is an attempt to forget his feeling of inferiority and guilt, or to leave them

behind. Nevertheless, as we will soon see, it is at the sessions with Pavel where Art

talks about his inner life, and therefore, about his novel. In my view, this comic was not

written as a way of catharsis for the author, but for Vladek because it was the first time

in which he told his son the entire story.

Taking into account all that has been stated, the author did not feel better neither

when writing it nor after it. In fact, Art answers crying as a child. This is not only a

strategy to make the interviewers go – as he stated in the next panel (Spiegelman 2003:

203) – , but also it is the evidence of the fact that writing it did only reinforce his

negative feelings. This novel has led Spiegelman to think about the possible

consequences of it, because the author’s success comes from the cutting-edge design of

a story about the Holocaust.

17 Oxford Dictionaries.“Catharsis”. <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/catharsis?q=catharsis>. (Accessed 16 April 2014)

59

Figure 30. The incompetence of the author (Spiegelman 2003: 203)

As it is suggested in figure 30 the author does not considered himself as a

competent adult: “Sometimes I just don’t feel like a functioning adult.” This

incompetence is also linked with the fact that he was going to be father in May 1987.

While he is trying to climb the chair, he says: "My father's ghost still hangs over me"

(Spiegelman 2003: 203). Again, the past is influencing upon Art’s present.

At the same time, it gives the impression that Art needs his father in order to

become a competent adult again; something that would ease his rehabilitation.

In fact, during all these panels, flies were still buzzing around the characters.

These flies that come from the dead corpses, also act as a representation of the elapse of

time. It is true to say that the most dramatic panel is when Art introduces his psychiatrist

Pavel to the audience (figure 31).

Figure 31. Pavel the shrink (Spiegelman 2003: 203)

60

Now, the author is looking out the window. A concentration camp setting is all

gathered in the same scene: the wire fence, the tower of control, the dead bodies and the

mouse mask. His still little body and his worktable are the elements that make contrast,

showing again a present which is influenced by a past that he did not live. Although he

wrote and drew about the Holocaust, it is impossible for him to feel the same as a

survivor during this time.

This is the main reason why he wears a mask: “Tenía que ponerme cabeza de

ratón para entrar en la historia de mi padre […]” 18 (Spiegelman 2012: 148).

Nevertheless, he is influenced by this past which is not only affecting upon his

persona but also upon his work as a writer.

Moreover, when he comes out from the setting of the interview, the image of the

dead bodies are still accompanying him while he makes reference to Pavel as another

survivor of the Holocaust, a fact that contradicts the dead bodies that are spread on the

street.

Art continues with his little appearance, and therefore, with his feeling of

inferiority.

Although the author is introducing his present, he is pretending to be part of the

novel as a character; therefore Pavel also wears a mouse mask because he is also part of

Art’s world.

Once he had entered Pavel’s office, he tries to sit down climbing on the sofa.

Despite being a little boy, he smokes as an adult. Nevertheless, his childish behaviour

does not leave him and it ends with his adulthood: “But when I’m left alone I’m totally

BLOCKED. Instead of working on my book I just lie on my couch for hours and stare

at a small grease spot on the upholstery” (Spiegelman 2003: 203). Therefore, although

he is pretending to be an adult, he is easily distracted with anything as a child, being

unable to concentrate on his work.

18 “I had to wear a mouse mask in order to enter on my father’s story […]” (Translation provided by Vanesa Martín Calabró).

61

During this session with Pavel, Art talks about his relationship with Vladek and

how it has been affecting to him. And as it happened in other cases, Art shows to the

audience his feeling of guilt. This feeling is another of the dilemmas of the author, as he

confessed it to his wife. Due to the fact that he is another survivor of the Holocaust, he

says: “I know this is insane, but I somehow wish I had been in Auschwitz with my

parents so I could really know what they lived through! …I guess it’s some kind of guilt

about having had an easier life than they did.” (Spiegelman 2003: 176).

As Schneider suggests “Art’s very desire to have suffered with his parents is a

reminder that he has had a happy life.” (23). Art regrets having had the opportunities

that his brother Richieu could not have. Therefore, surviving to the Holocaust could

have let him to be under the same conditions.

Perhaps, his parents’ behaviour could have been different towards him, treating

Art in the same way they have treated Richeu: “The photo never threw tantrums or got

in any kind of trouble…It was an ideal kid, and I was a pain in the ass. I couldn’t

compete.” (Spiegelman 2003: 175).

His feeling of guilt seems to enable him neither to represent the Holocaust nor to

represent his relationship with his father: “I mean, I can’t even make any sense out of

my relationship with my father…How am I supposed to make any sense out of

Auschwitz? ..of the Holocaust?...” (Spiegelman 2003: 174).

It is in the first volume when Art defines their relationship when he was a little

boy: “Y’know, Mala, when I was little, if I didn’t eat EVERYTHING mom served, Pop

and I would argue ‘til I ran to my room crying…”; “…Mom would offer to cook

something I liked better, but Pop just wanted to leave the leftover food around until I ate

it.” (Spiegelman 2003: 45).

Therefore, Art suggests that their family consisted of Vladek the bad, and Anja the

good who always rescued his son.

Their complicate relationship, hence, comes from his childhood when Art started

to feel resentment against his father.

62

However, as Sneichder states,

The relationship has been visibly strained throughout Maus, but [...] it is his

own sense of inadequacy, his inability to accomplish what his father did, that

embitters him towards his father. […] By recapturing the moment of Auschwitz, Art

can not only erase his own guilt but repair their relationship. (24).

It is true to say that the reason for Vladek’s behaviour could be explained by his

feeling of guilt. He is another survivor of the Holocaust and this fact has undoubtedly

brought consequences to his life.

As the following statement claims, guilty is the main feeling that appears after

surviving, accompanying them for the rest of their lives.

“Survivor guilt” is the term used to describe the feelings of those who,

fortunately, emerge from a disaster which mortally engulfs others. On an irrational

level, these individuals wince at their privileged escape from death’s clutches. […]

Instead of expressing rage outwardly, the survivor turns it upon himself. Guilt is the

embodiment of anger directed toward the self. […] Guilt is the penance one pays for

the gift of survival. (Aaron Hass) 19

During his session with Pavel, he suggested that the representation of Vladek in

Maus was certainly unfair. Art did not make any attempt to think about the reason why

Vladek behaved in that way.

By his worried face, Art implies his wrong behaviour against his father: the

depiction of Vladek in the novel, has caused that the audience do not consider him as a

hero in the present, but a hero in the past. Due to his old age, Vladek is a quick-

tempered person who easily irritates Art.

19 Hass, Aaron. “Holocaust Teacher Resource Center: “Survivor Guilt in Holocaust Survivors and their Children.” < http://www.holocaust-trc.org/a-global-perspective-on-working-with-holocaust-survivors-and-the-second-generation/survivor-guilt-in-holocaust-survivors-and-their-children/>. (Accessed 14 April 2014)

63

However, in this case, thanks to the representation of his inner life, it is possible to

understand that their arguments were constant during all his life.

“It sounds like you’re feeling remorse – maybe you believe you exposed your

father to ridicule.” (Spiegelman 2003: 204). By stating this, Pavel let the audience to

mistrust the authenticity of Maus.

Probably, when Art was writing it, he was impartial, being carried along with

what he felt after those moments in which he argued with his father. Therefore, Art

made use of this fact, depicting the negative side of his father’s behaviour.

Moreover, the authenticity of his work comes from the difficulties undergone by

the author to write it. Together with his little body, he also admitted the inferiority of his

comic because it cannot be compared to this survival.

Clearly, surviving the concentration camp is beyond our expectations of the

humans’ strengths. But Art is still affected by the memory of his father who doubted

about his abilities. Despite this, it is also true to say that the audience is able to trust Art

again.

“Maybe. But I tried to be fair and still show how angry I felt.” (Spiegelman 2003:

204). When he depicted his father, he was being authentic, but he also needed to be fair

with himself when it came to depict the truth of his persona.

In my view, due to this representation of Vladek and his supposedly bad

behaviour against Art, there are more possibilities that Art’s life has been influenced by

this fact. It prevented him to remember positive things about his relationship with his

father.

Therefore, it is very difficult for the author to remember his admiration for his

father when he was a child. It is in the prologue, when Art introduces a little talk with

him about the Holocaust. Maybe, it is the only moment in all his childhood that could

be considered as a good memory for the author - mainly because they did not seem too

distant as they are represented in the rest of the novel.

His feeling of inferiority, thence, comes from since “[…] being told that I couldn’t

do anything as well as he could.” (Spiegelman 2003: 204). Art has grown up with this

memory, considering himself as a clumsy and useless person.

64

At the same time, the author takes the advantage of the representation of himself

as a little boy. In this way, the author is able to show the audience his depiction as a

misunderstood child.

During the therapy, the reader can see the severe condition of his inferiority. He is

comparing his work with the fact that his father survived to the Holocaust, and it seems

that it is something that cannot be overpassed. Although his father did not support him:

“Better you should spend your time to make drawings what will bring you some

money…” (Spiegelman 2003: 14), Art has been successful in his life.

Figure 32. Art is becoming a little boy again (Spiegelman 2003: 207)

At first sight, when the session finishes, Art feels better and his condition is again

the normal of an adult. However, when he comes back to his work the light of the tower

of control is again shining on him. In figure 32 we can see that when Art is hearing the

recording, his body started to contract turning him (once more) into the little Artie.

Together with the light, these four panels suggest that the world of the Holocaust is

constantly following him as his major weakness.

“Prisoners what worked there poured gasoline over the live ones and the dead

ones.” (Spiegelman 2003: 232).

Those flies that were buzzing out from the framework of the cover of this second

chapter came from this panel, one of the most painful frames of the entire book.

65

This panel is matched with the next one, in which a temporal connection – that

derives from a flashback in the moment in which Art is again ready to work in his

worktable (figure 32) - is established between both vignettes.

Figure 33. A temporal connection (Spiegelman 2003: 232-233)

In figure 32 Vladek is looking the wall clock, and he says: “Ach! It’s 2:30. Look

how the time is flying. And it’s still so much to do today…” (Spiegelman 2003: 233).

As Erin McGlothin claims “[…] by ironically referring to the verbal phrase `time flies

when you’re having fun´, […]” (2003: 186). Therefore, although Art and Françoise

faces suggest the contrary, Vladek seems to enjoy when he was telling the story. He

only seemed to be really affected by the broken plate: “OI! You see how my head is?

It’s my favourite dish now broken!”; “Don’t throw away! I can glue still together that

plate.” (Spiegelman 2003: 233). While they are picking up the pieces, Vladek is still

telling the story as something without importance. Hence, this is another example that

supports the idea of the presence of the past inside Vladek’s life. He lives with it as if it

were another characteristic of his life and his personality.

That night is again dominated by flies that are buzzing around Art and Françoise.

Although it is the only moment in which the couple could rest sitting on the porch, flies

are representing the inability of the author in his attempt to leave that past.

“Sigh. It’s so peaceful here at night. It’s almost impossible to believe Auschwitz

ever happened.” (Spiegelman 2003: 234). Françoise has inherited this past from his

husband; therefore it is totally comprehensible that she is also affected.

It gives me the impression that, due to the fact that flies symbolize the past, these

protagonists only can be seen by Art. Nevertheless, Françoise who is able to see them, is

also complaining about their annoyance (figure 32).

66

Figure 34. Françoise, also affected by the annoying flies (Spiegelman 2003: 234)

As I have mentioned before, Art is unable to get rid of this past. This past is

hurting him: “Uh-Huh. OUCH”; “But these damn bugs are eating me alive!”

(Spiegelman 2003: 234). This past does not try to fly away from this place although Art

tried two times to eliminate it.

This last statement together with the pesticide is getting the reader back to

Auschwitz. It is true to say that each time the author writes an ‘S’, he always uses the

runic alphabet in which this letter is represented in this way , that undoubtedly comes

from the abbreviation of Schutzstaffel (SS)

Figure 35. Examples of the letter “s” written in the runic alphabet (Spiegelman 2003: 25, 137)

In this case, the pesticide’s onomatopoeia “Psht” is a product of the Holocaust that

seems to be a remedy to kill these insects. Although it could be considered that Art has

been defeated by his own past, leaving the porch is the most effective way to fulminate

it.

67

4. CONCLUSIONS.

This study on Maus: A Survivor’s Tale does not only show the complexities of

writing a story of the Holocaust in the format of the comic, but it also shows the

originality of Spiegelman’s work, which obtained the Pullitzer Price in 1992.

This originality mainly derives from the juxtaposition of past and present. This

juxtaposition was generated by Vladek’s disorderly manner of narrating his story.

Although the author wanted to preserve the authenticity of the account, he needed to

create a narrative order. Despite this, critics deny the existence of a temporal order,

defending that the combination of past and present was something incoherent and

negative for the novel. Nevertheless, as I explained in the first part of this paper (section

2) there are several reasons by which the author allows the reader to differentiate both

tenses. I would say that the impossibility of distinguishing present and past comes from

the amount of feelings and moral issues which are portrayed in the novel. Both tenses

are physically distinguished but, due to the influence of feelings, present and past could

merge into only one tense.

The originality of this graphic novel also comes from the use of the comic.

Spiegelman did not follow the standard parameters used by other authors to tell a story

about the Holocaust, such as The Diary of Anne Frank or Viktor Frankl Man’s Serach

for Meaning. It is true to say that the author is deeply rooted in the genre of the comic.

His first job was as drawer in a company called Topps Gum Co. and, at the same time,

he started writing comics belonging to the Underground Comix movement, wich

appears in the 60s as “a new wave of humorous, hippie-inspired comic books that dealt

with social and political subjects […]. For this reason, these new comics became known

as “commix” to set them apart from mainstream comics […]”. 20

When writing Maus, Art was complying with his mother’s request: telling her

story. In order to write it, the comic was the more natural way for him to do it.

(Spiegelman 2012: 165).

20 Lambiek Comiclopedia. “Comics History: Underground Comix and the Underground Press.” <http://www.lambiek.net/comics/underground.htm> . (Accessed 18 April 2014)

68

Consequently, following another format would mean changing drastically his

authenticity as the author suggests in an interview for the “New York Voices”: “MAUS

was done in comics form because I make comics and so it was the natural language for

me to speak. Comics have to do with art like Yiddish has to do with language; it’s a

kind of vernacular. And so MAUS was essentially a natural means for me […]” 21

Thanks to the format of the comic, a third narrative level appears together with the

story and the discourse. In this level, which Spiegelman calls “super-present”, Art

shows his own problems as an author and son. This “super-present” does not have a

static position in the temporal frame of the novel because it seems that it belongs to

another dimension: the mind of the author, that the reader is able to achieve in the

second volume.

However, the complexities of the novel are perhaps most remarkable. For

instance, memory plays the major role in the novel. Thanks to it the reader knows the

past, but the pressure that Vladek receives from his son forces him to hesitate when

remembering the worst time of his life. Memory is also responsible for other problems

such as the possible distortion of history as a result of Vladek’s way of narration. For

this reason, the reader is not able to trust Vladek’s memory because we are also

witnesses of the story but we do not have any evidence to prove the truth of Vladek’s

experience.

The caricaturization is another complexity. Taking the decision of drawing

animals instead of humans could have led this graphic novel to be under more severe

criticism. The dehumanization of the characters provides a better comprehension of the

whole story, it easily guides the reader to recognize which identity each character

belongs to and it provides a more pleasant reading.

And finally, his depression was the hardest opponent to defeat. His feeling of

guilt, inferiority and incompetence invaded his mind preventing him from concentrating

on his work. He was pursued by a past that he did not live considering himself a

murderer of millions of Jews that appeared in his novel.

21 New York Voices. “Healing Images: Transcript.” <http://www.thirteen.org/nyvoices/transcripts/spiegelman.html>. (Accessed 18 April 2014)

69

All this artistic and philosophical nuances provide this graphic novel with a range

of complex interpretations which superseed the mere revitalization of the comic as a

reading option for young generations.

70

71

5. REFERENCES.

Berlatsky, E. 2003. “Memory as Forgetting: The Problem of the Postmodern in

Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Spiegelman's Maus”. Cultural

Critique 55: 101-151

Cañellas Martínez, A. 1979. “Psicología del color”. Maina 0: 35-37.

Filmaffinity. “El rostro del Fuhrer.”

<http://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film134949.html>. (Accessed 19 June 2014)

Gaasendam, Liane. “The Graphic Novel as Testimony: Truth, Present, Past and

Witness in Art Spiegelman’s Maus.”

<http://cuspsoftea.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/mausandtestimony_gaasendam.pdf >.

(Accessed 14 April 2014)

Hass, Aaron. “Holocaust Teacher Resource Center: “Survivor Guilt in Holocaust

Survivors and their Children.” <http://www.holocaust-trc.org/a-global-perspective-on-

working-with-holocaust-survivors-and-the-second-generation/survivor-guilt-in-

holocaust-survivors-and-their-children/>. (Accessed 14 April 2014)

Hattaway, V. R. 2011. “Reading Art Spiegelman’s Maus as Postmodern

Ethnography”. Journal of Folklore Research 3: 249-267.

Hutcheon, Linda. 1996 (1988). A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory,

Fiction. Newy York: Taylor & Francis Group.

InsidePulse. “DVD Review: Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures (Volume 2).”

<http://insidepulse.com/2011/08/02/dvd-review-tom-and-jerry-fur-flying-adventures-

volume-2/>. (Accessed 14June)

Puneet, K. 2012. “The Memory and Legacy of Trauma in Art Spiegelman's

Maus”. Prandium The Journal of Historical Studies 1: 1-23

LaCapra, D. 1998. History and Memory After Aushwitz. Ithaca: Cornell Univ.

Press.

72

Lambiek Comiclopedia. “Comics History: Underground Comix and the

Underground Press.” <http://www.lambiek.net/comics/underground.htm>. (Accessed

18 April 2014)

Lesjak, David. “American in WWII: Disney to the Front.”

<http://www.americainwwii.com/galleries/disney-to-the-front/>. (Accessed 14 April

2014)

McGlothin, E. 2003. “No Time Like the Present: Narrative and Time in Art

Spiegelman’s Maus”. Narrative 2: 177- 198.

New York Voices. “Healing Images: Transcript.”

<http://www.thirteen.org/nyvoices/transcripts/spiegelman.html>. (Accessed 18 April

2014)

Oxford Dictionaries.“Catharsis”.

<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/catharsis?q=catharsis>.

(Accessed 16 April 2014)

Oxford Dictionaries. “Memory.”

<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/memory?q=memory>.

(Accessed 14 April 2014)

Parris, Nadine. “Inside our right (and left) brains: The color of Inspiration.”

<http://blog.sangereby.com/2011/12/the-color-of-inspiration/>. (Accessed 21 June

2014)

Rosen, C. A. 1995. “The Language of Survival: English As Metaphor in

Spiegelman's Maus”. Prooftexts 3: 249-262

Schneider, Theresa. “Missing The Moment: Time and Trauma in Art

Spiegelman’s Maus.” < http://schneidertm2.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/missing-the-

moment-time-and-trauma-in-art-spiegelmans-maus.pdf>. (Accessed 10 April 2014)

Spiegelman, A. 2003. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale. London: Penguin Books.

Spiegelman, A. 2012. MetaMaus: Una Mirada de Art Spiegelman a su clásico

moderno, Maus. Barcelona: Mondadori.

73

Spiegelman, A. 1994. The Complete Maus. New York: Voyager. CD-Rom.

Terdiman, R. 1993. Present Past: Modernity and the Memory Crisis. New York:

Cornell University Press.

The Human Memory. “What it is, how it works and how it can go wrong:

Episodic & Semantic Memory.” <http://www.humanmemory.net/types_episodic.html>.

(Accessed 16 April 2014)

Young, J. E. 1998. “The Holocaust as vicarious past: Ar Spiegelman’s Mauis and

the afterimages of history”. Critical Inquiry 24: 666-99.

Yowp, Stuff About Early Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. “Pixie and Dixie – King-Size

Surprise.” < http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2011/11/pixie-and-dixie-king-size-

surprise.html>. (Accessed 20 June 2014)