A gentle introduction

     Maus: Understanding the Survivor's Tale:

Comic books aren't real books. Who are we kidding? They're just what you read in the paper every Sunday -- if you're lucky and your dad purchases funnies. Wrong. There is much more to comics than meets the eye. What's that you ask? Well, let me tell you.

We all know Superman and Batman,  but do we also know Vladek Spiegelman? The answer is probably no, unless you have read Maus. If you haven't read this book, then you need to. Vladek Spiegelman, unlike Superman or Batman, is not a hero in the supernatural sense. He is a hero through his undying will. He is a hero who survived the Holocaust. The true power of graphic novels is not only the stories about superheroes and fighting crime. It is also about telling the extraordinary story of the common man. 

What is the common man? Is it the man who wakes up in the morning to go to his cubicle and earn a living for his family? Not quite. (Nothing against desk jobs) The common man is dynamic. The common man is flawed.  The common man is human. Maus isn't a story about a superhero overcoming treachery to save the day. It is a true story about a second generation Holocaust survivor that makes sense of his father's past with mice, cats, dogs, and pigs. Art Spiegelman even admitted to wearing a mouse mask when writing Maus (what the hell?). 

Heck, Spiegelman didn't even intend for his novel to be a success in the first place! In an interview with Rafael Pi Roman, Spiegelman was amused that Maus was a "cross-over hit" and "was actually of use to people."  Coincidence? I think not. Spiegelman's story is rich with Holocaustal history. Maus' grip over his father's past apparently "articulated something that other people needed to have articulated:" the survivor's tale. 

Give me a reason to read this book. Well, not only did it win a Pulitzer Prize (no big deal),  but it is one of the most renowned graphic novels. Through this novel, readers gain insight into the conditions families lived under during the Holocaust and how they coped afterwards. It is an more appropriate way to educate younger audiences about the Holocaust.

But is the Holocaust really an appropriate subject to teach our children to start out with? The answer is this: it can be, with the right resources. Tune in next week and I will tell you why Maus is an acceptable resource for younger students to study the Holocaust.