Maus II by Art Spiegelman - Analysis

The book is a set of stories told in comic strip format. The front inside cover quotes Adolf Hitler- "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human." I assume from the title, then, that it is a comic strip about the Holocaust.

The introduction depicts a mouse left behind by his friends after his roller skate broke. He tells his mouse-father this, and the father suggests that his friends be left in a room together for a week with no food to test their "friendship". I think the father meant that their friendship would not hold if put to the test. Also I think this implies that the father has been through hard times that involved friends disappointing him, and also that he is protective of his son.

The 3^rd chapter depicts a man, the writer (metafiction!) with a mouse mask over his head. This hints at the biographical nature of the comics.

Obviously a comic strip is a strange medium in which to relate to the Holocaust. This may be a mechanism of coping on the author's part, in an attempt to make sense of such a heavy topic through a more accessible medium (the comic lends constant relief from the heavy topics discussed); it is definitely ironic, as comic strips are conventionally used to depict entertaining and heroic acts (superhero/Danny the Menace).

Symbolism

Comic strip about holocaust

Father called Vladek, not "father"

Mice are Jews

Cats are Nazis

A framed picture of Spigelman's shrink's cat

Writer wearing mouse mask (metafiction- self referential art)

Shrink wearing mouse mask

Mice with human bodies

Comic relief (segment 3, "Prisoners of War")

"Samuel Beckett once said: every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness. On the other hand, he SAID it".

"BOO! That's what Auschwitz felt like"- utilizing CAP effect words which signify heroic action in Nazi context