Dear Mili Analysis

(1350)An Illustrative Analysis of the Anti-Fairytale in the Realism of Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Trauma in Art Spiegelman’s Maus Series and Maurice Sendak’s Wilhelm Grimm’s Dear Mili.

This graphic novel analysis will present an illustrative examination of the theme of the anti-fairy tale in the harsh realism of war depicted in the Holocaust and post-Holocaust trauma of Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Maurice Sendak’s Wilhelm Grimm’s Dear Mili. The illustrations provided by Spiegelman define the horrific realism of life in the Jewish ghettoes under the Nazi occupation, which alters the comic strip style for young readers (in the fairy tale mode) into a more adult-orientated expose of the horrific realities of the Holocaust. Sendak’s illustrations

In the story, a girl is allowed to escape the horrors of war as a symbol of escapism of post-Holocaust trauma by living with an old man. At the beginning of the war, the girl’s mother brings her to forest in the hopes that she will find safety in a forest. During this time, the girl meets an old man that shelter her, yet with the obligation to help him fro three days in daily routines. In one scene, the safety of the old hermit’s hut provides a fairy tale scene in which the girl is seen talking with the old man as she holds a bowl (Sendak 12). The colors and line work of this illustration is a classic style of 19th century illustrative techniques, which emulate a children’s fairy tale style of storytelling. However, the underlying realities of war have taken a toll on the child’s mind, as the girl has been tricked into thinking she has been helping the old man for three days; when, in fact, it has been thirty years. This aspect of anti-fairy tale defines the trauma of war, which has altered the very fabric of the child’s mental state through this massive distortion of reality and the time continuum. In this manner, the post-Holocaust symbolism of the girl’s “lost time” is part of the harsh mental repercussions of war that Sendak implies in the grim realities that holocaust survivors had to endure living under the Nazi occupation in WWII. More so, Spiegelman’s depiction of animals that represent human beings is another tradition style of children’s fairy tale themes, yet these stories define the backdrop of the realities of the Holocaust and the trauma that they incur on the victims. These modes of illustration technique define Sendak and Spiegelman’s conservative use of fairy tale illustrations to express the anti-fairy tale theme of extreme violence