Maus

Maus is a graphic novel written by Artie Spiegelman about his Father's experience during World War II. The story begins with Artie going to visit his father later on in life (He remarries because his mother committed suicide and he's had two heart-attacks).  After some back and forth, Artie talks to his father about sharing some of his stories so he can write the book (Maus).  The three biggest things that stuck out to me were the art, language and history.

The simple line work with shading (no color was used) fits the narrative perfectly.  The contrast between the darks and lights perfectly sets the moods in some of the panels.  For example, when Artie gets drafted into the Army, the panels become darker due to the nature of war (death, injury, agony, etc..).  Even though this is more obvious, Artie decides to draw all of the characters as animals (Civilians as mice and pigs, Nazi's as cats).  At first glance of the graphic novel, it seemed a little weird and it was hard to get past the fact that they were mice, but as I dived deeper into the story, they stopped being animals in clothes and became people with emotions with actions.  Even though the artwork is simple, Artie uses large panels with great detail in the art to show deep emotion and important information. 

The next biggest things I observed was the language.  Simple language is used with bolded important words to shows emphasis on specific meanings of words.  The language is simple and genuine, it's as if a stenographer was typing every word that he was having with his father, and his father telling the story.  Another point I noticed in the narrative is the Polish accent.  At first glance of it, it seemed like a typo in the story, but after reading onward, I could picture the thick accent telling the story.  I also love how the narrative goes from telling his father's story to Artie getting the story from his father. 

And last, the history of the entire story.  Instead of telling the textbook "World War II Nazi Germany invading" story that most people in this day and age know, Artie decides to tell the story through the eyes of his father.  The best part of it, is that even though the main premise of this book was to talk about life during the Nazi invasion, Artie decides to tell the story about his father and his life before, during and after the war.  Doing so, it drives an emotional bond between the reader and the characters; it offers a way for the reader to care about the characters before throwing the Nazi's into the story. 

Overall, I really enjoyed Maus.  Even though there wasn't much story about when Artie was a child, I feel like it started in his adulthood because of the importance of the story.  This seems like a really personal adventure and narrative that was perfectly executed by both art and story telling.