IB ENGLISH LANGUAGE 12

NON LITERARY BODY OF WORK: MAUS BY ART SPIEGLEMAN

HIGHER LEVEL ESSAY

LINE OF INQUIRY: In what ways does Maus reflect the human nature of control, pity,

and grief following Vladek's experience in Auschwitz?

WORD COUNT: 968

 Line of Inquiry: In what ways does Maus reflect the human nature of control, pity, and

grief following Vladek's experience in Auschwitz?

Maus, by Art Spiegelman, presents an in depth view of a first hand experience of a jew

during the wwii era. Its representation of these tragic historical events in a similar format to a

comic strip, not only because it is the author's style, but it makes visualization easier and more

accurate. Reading a book it is easy to amplify or reduce rhetorical devices. However, with

graphic novels the visualization is given at the author’s preferred detail. Maus does little

censoring and easily shows radical movements, troubling gore, or simple modern contrivance.

Because a reader may find the imagery enticing, it hooks the reader better and causes the reader

to continue into the book regardless of their aspiration to do so. The dialogue and emotional

appeal of the story not only enhances the reader's experience, but it taps into deeper thought and

more realistic reactions to dark storylines. Prevalent human attributes found in Maus are control,

pity, and grief and though they are relatively unrelated, dreadful situations like war-torn Europe

can magnify these attributes.

Speilmans art style quickly switches from casual comic planes to depressing imagery.

This is done easily because of the absence of color. In lighter, feel-good places he simply uses

less ink and more of the picture is white. The lines are smoother and more relaxing in an ambient

fuz pattern, whereas in somber or miserable frames the lines are sharper, hashed and more black

fills the frame. To amplify feeligs of dillusion rings are drawn around a characters’ eyes or body,

also signifying a disconnection from the terror they are feeling. Spiegelman’s use of animals is

typical among artists but plays a deeper role in Maus, where Jews are represented as mice, which

inadvertently worked well in the name “Mauschwitz”, which is where the book got its name.

Nazis are recognized as cats, signifying a game of cat and mouse, the cat being the hunter and
Jews being the hunted. Other animals are portrayed like Polish pigs, and American dogs. Dogs

are generally a symbol of loyalty, dependability and patriotism. Which is especially seen when

Vladek was rescued by American infantry. Later, they show empathy to the escapees, which can

also be called pity.

Pity overtakes the pure hearted. In Vladek's early military career, during a shootout he

would not intentionally shoot the enemy. However, when his commander forced him to kill,

Vladek being held at gunpoint by his own side, he took a successful kill shot, not to his pleasure;

a sign of pity. And later after his line was overthrown, he was forced to look for fallen enemies.

Vladek, knowing exactly where his victim was, felt strong remorse.

It is clear that control was harnessed by the Nazis, either by reward or punishment. As

with any other powerful country, control overruns everyone unlucky enough to not be in a

position of power. As a result, the most profitable thing an ordinary citizen can do is find some

way to be in charge or to put themself in a position of power. When Vladek and Anja were

writing to friends they had in Poland, wondering if it was a safe place to go, they got the “OK” to

start traveling. To their dismay, however, the promise of safety was deluding. Vladek’s friends

were forced to write a false letter by train workers who were loyal to the reich. They put

themselves in a position of power over these few people and in return were awarded with prize

money for turning in the jews. Another example springs from an unlikely source, from prisoners

inside the concentration camps. To ensure torture, but without constantly being with the Jews,

soldires would appoint other Jews to rule over the rest in return for food, a very valuable

resource when in low supply. To keep this job, and the food, the controller would do exactly

what the soldiers wanted: to torture to death. Those who played too softly, were relieved from

their position and joined the rest of suffering, dehumanized people.

 Anyone who lives to lose experiences grief. Grief is tightly knit with emotion. There may

not be physical pain, but there is mental pain, dispiritment and emotional disjunction. The

greatest form of grief, as seen in Maus, is losing a loved one or seeing them suffer. Vladek and

Anja lost their first son and throughout the book are troubled by his absence. Vladek and Anja

were separated upon arrival to Mauschwitz and were grieved by each other's absence. Anja is

shown expressing this clearly while Vladek miraculously finds her and observes her pain. Vladek

is also grieved in the commentary between stories, as he has lost Anja to suicide after her finding

the loss of their son and other difficult situations was just too much to bear. Even Art is

noticeably pained by his mothers death throughout the book.

Control, Pity, and Grief are natural human emotions that all humans experience in a

lifetime. But these ideologies are not constant in changing environments, in fact quite the

opposite. As Maus shows that life became increasingly difficult and melancholy as time

progressed, the intensity of these increased as well. The difficulty sets people on-edge and more

likely to burst in fits of rage, tears, and distress. Even the strongest willed are cut down and

become savage in the face of hunger, where the choice is either fight, or die, there is no option of

sharing.
 Works Cited

Spiegelman, Art. Maus. Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verl., 2004.