Graphic And Literary Techniques In Art Spiegelman's Maus

The graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman tells the story of Spiegelman’s father’s experience of Holocaust from his youth through his marriage and to his imprisonment in Auschwitz. The character i have chosen to explore for the following presentation is Anja who was Art’s father, Vladek’s wife and depicted by Spiegelman as experiencing many struggles and emotions throughout the course of the story. I will discuss the graphic and literary techniques that Spiegelman uses to develop Anja’s character, to empathise with her perspective and to help understand and enhance the story.

Anja was first introduced into the narrative in a scene where Vladek was conversing with Vladek’s cousin. Vladek’s cousin was describing Anja to Vladek and was describing her qualities in particular her cleverness and her reputation as a good girl and coming from a rich family. Anja and Vladek eventually become close in the narrative and as the story progresses Spiegelman reveals more about Anja and her character. Spiegelman develops Anja’s character in a clever way, where he describes the journals that Anja wrote during the war and this

The most important technique that Spiegelman utilises is the use of anthropomorphised animals. Different animals were used to demonstrate different cultures and nationalities. For example the jews were depicted as mice, the germans as cats and the polish as pigs. This was important as Spiegelman wanted to visually demonstrate that the Germans were superior to the Jews in the same way that cats are superior to mice. In a similar way the Polish were depicted as pigs, which are often representative of police nowadays. As a member of the audience this helps to understand the different cultures and nationalities that the characters have and makes it easier to recognise these when reading the