Week 7 

For week 7, I read the graphic novel Maus.

Having already read this piece in high school as a required reading, and then reading the sequel on my own, I was more than happy to revisit the work and to see what I remembered from the last time I read it.  I found that rereading all the way through the second time, I found it even more enjoyable than the first time.

The book is very much written in a style of writing that sounds like your sitting with Artie as he asks his father, Vladik, about what happened to him and where he was when WWII started.  The whole book breaks in and out of the story, and you get in bits and pieces, just like if you were asking your own family member about a complicated and long story.  Some people find this boring, but I still find it strangely therapeutic to just "listen" to a story, and having it being told in this way.  And with the difficult subject of WWII I think its handled amazingly.

The art style is very unique and simple, and with all the people being portrayed as animals helps with a disconnect to reality, and lets the author get away with more graphic or striking imagery for a younger audience.  I distinctly remember a scene in the sequel where Vladik and all the other men around him in the concentration camp where striped of their clothing and forcing into the massive shower system and how dehumanizing it was.  And I don't think the author could've really pulled that off for a younger audience if they had been portrayed as regular humans, as the disconnect to reality lets readers get the story and understand what happened and how horrible it was without all the graphic details.

 (Although these details are very important to document and eventually to see so that we may not repeat these mistakes in the future, for younger audiences I think its important to teach without scarring them and making them adverse to the subject entirely.)

The subplot of Artie just wanted to know more about his mother and how he copes with her death is also interesting, as you see on many occasions as he comes up in conversation. As much as Artie just wants to get a story from his father, you can tell he wants to more about his mother as well. And while her stories are gone, you can tell he has gone to great lengths to make sure his father's story is preserved.