Art Spiegelman’s story of a family during the Holocaust is, in essence, very historically complete. Just about every aspect of this horrible event was addressed in a very understandable fashion. There are many aspects to these two graphic novels which can be addressed: Spiegelman’s story of prejudice can be tied into the ongoing prejudices in our present-day society, the use of graphics instead of just words, the personal aspect of the story, the psychological aspect which cannot be ignored, etc. The most influential portion for me, however, was Spiegelman’s use of animals as the different ethnicities within the graphic novels. For many reasons, which I will further explain, this unique form of storytelling and event portrayal deeply affected me.
The use of animals in these pieces has been argued to depict nationalities as stereotypical as well as oversimplifying political issues of the time. I disagree with this view, but what do you think? I can understand this side, being that it slightly portrays his work in a “fable-like” fashion, but I believe that we need to look deeper into why different animals were used. First of all, this portrayed the Jewish-Nazi relationship very well. The fact that mice are stereotypically weak and always running from the “larger” and “stronger” cats, gives a defined look at this particular relationship. Also, mice are considered vermin which need to be exterminated in our society, just as the Jews were sought after to be annihilated by the Nazis. I also believe that this animal, almost cartoon, portrayal of the Holocaust gave Spiegelman the sufficient emotional distance to write such a psychologically based piece. No matter what the reason for his use of animals, it cannot be denied that it aids in the comprehension of a complicated and horrible time in history. His story made me realize how Nazis separated themselves mentally from the Jews by thinking they were a different species, disgusting and non-human. How else could he have portrayed such huge ideas? Words would never be sufficient in showing how completely separated (i.e. different species of animals) the Nazis were in order to commit the crimes against the Jews, gypsies, etc.
3 comments:
I agree that the idea of using animals rather than people is a good thing. I think that it does help us to be able to read the novel without it being too much to handle. Although the use of animals makes it easier to read, it also does not completely take away the emotional aspect of the novel. For me, I could still feel what the novel was trying to portray and it still moved me. Even though they were just animals, I still felt bad for what they went through knowing that it really did happen to our own people. If Spiegelman had used human characters throughout the whole novel while showing the terrible things that happened to them, it would have been too much. Also, the use of animals and use of a graphic novel is unlike anything I've read before, so it makes the novel something different and interesting.
I think the use of animals is the attempt of Spiegelman to show this situation really as an extermination. Jews during the Holocaust were simply being exterminated just like humans today rid their houses of mice. Also, the common animal order (dogs > cats > mice) really shows without words the influence different races had in political affairs. The dogs (Americans) were able to free the mice (Jews) from the Nazis (cats). The use of animals allows readers to understand why the Jews had few options: they were being chased by a more powerful race.
I disagree with you on the use of the animals. I believed that it was because he wanted to show how ridiculous it is to see anyone as being mentally, physically and totally different than yourself, and therefore not as "high" in the order of things as yourself. The cartoon is seen as a childish, nonsensical thing, and the fact that the people are cartoons and "different" shows this. Another thing kind of like this is the use of different animals in "Arthur" the TV show... (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you didn't have a very good childhood... just kidding!) But, for those that are familiar with Arthur, they know that there are rabbits, mice, rats, moose, cats, monkeys? dogs, and other animals i'm not really sure of. But I think this was a great way to show kids that people definitely do look different, and that you should see that, it's what sets you apart from everyone else and gives you individuality, but that no features or colors are "better" than any others.
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