Maus 2

A detailed Summary of Maus 2


There is an old saying that a picture says a thousand words. Art Spiegelman's series Maus: A Survivors Tale proves this saying to a tee. Added to the dialogue, a million possibilities arise. The series is a biographical comic book about his father's experiences during the Holocaust. It uses cats, mice, and other animals to present this very delicate subject. The first book in the series received tremendous adulation and received the National Book Critics Circle prize in biography. However, the critics involved in this prize were forced to ask two questions. 'Does a comic book represent the World Wars well or not?' and 'Was Spiegelman right to use the humor of a comic book to express the Holocaust?' I will attempt to answer these questions by focusing on Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began.

Using artwork combined with pictures serves many purposes. It allows the author to develop characters with a visual reference. It serves to fill in the blanks by cutting down the necessity to read between the lines to understand the big picture. These can be seen as pros and cons. So Spiegelman attempted to reduce the gap between the dialogue and the pictures.

I didn't want people to get too interested in the drawings. I wa


Instead of using the drawings as a medium to show expression, he uses the drawings also help him to express ideas that he does not want left to the imagination. For example, on page 70 in Maus II, there is a map of the crematorium buildings. This eliminates any disparity between what he wants the reader to see, and what the reader will actually believe.

Spiegelman, Art. "Maus II: A Survivors Tale." New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1992.



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Approximate Word count = 1336
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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