The Holocaust was a mass murder, or genocide, of six million Jews from 1933-1945 during World War II. It was a horrific historic event and time period that destroyed millions of lives, families, and minds. The holocaust majorly affected people not only physically, but also emotionally. The books, Night and Maus, are two well known works of literature about the Holocaust and the traumatic toll it took on its victims. Night is a personal account of Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust experience, however Maus is a graphic memoir about Art Spiegelman's father’s Holocaust experience. While both Maus and Night are pieces of literature about the Holocaust, the authors had very different reasons and motives for sharing their story. “Wiesel is a messenger to
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Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a graphic novel about the Holocaust. Art Spiegelman is a well known American cartoonist and editor. He was born February 15, 1948 shortly after his parents returned home after surviving the Holocaust. He is now 69 and still living. Maus is Spiegelman’s graphic memoir of his family’s Holocaust experience, unlike Night which was a first hand account. Throughout Maus, Spiegelman tells his family’s story of surviving the Holocaust through his father’s eyes, while he simultaneously tells his readers how his family’s Holocaust experience affected …show more content…
Unlike Wiesel’s first hand account, Night, Maus is a story of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust surviving father.Spiegelman felt the need to share his father’s story. He originally began to write, because he longed for a deeper understanding of his family’s story. Overall, spiegelman simply wanted to write about his dad. In a conversation with his father in Maus, he writes, “I still want to write that book about you. The one you used to talk about your life in Poland and the war.” (Spiegelman, 12) It is clear here that he wanted to tell his father’s story. Although Spiegelman never blatantly states that he wrote to receive a greater understanding, some sources say that it is understood. One source says, “If we see in it a desire to reach some sort of emotional understanding of something deep within himself—to give it an intelligible shape, something that will provide significance and perhaps a sense of closure to what has up to now been a shapeless intense inner pain.” (Johnston, 1) Here Johnston implies that Spiegelman wrote to find an understanding of his family’s pain and the effect it had on him growing
Art Spiegelman’s Maus is a graphic novel about the Holocaust. Art Spiegelman is a well known American cartoonist and editor. He was born February 15, 1948 shortly after his parents returned home after surviving the Holocaust. He is now 69 and still living. Maus is Spiegelman’s graphic memoir of his family’s Holocaust experience, unlike Night which was a first hand account. Throughout Maus, Spiegelman tells his family’s story of surviving the Holocaust through his father’s eyes, while he simultaneously tells his readers how his family’s Holocaust experience affected …show more content…
Unlike Wiesel’s first hand account, Night, Maus is a story of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust surviving father.Spiegelman felt the need to share his father’s story. He originally began to write, because he longed for a deeper understanding of his family’s story. Overall, spiegelman simply wanted to write about his dad. In a conversation with his father in Maus, he writes, “I still want to write that book about you. The one you used to talk about your life in Poland and the war.” (Spiegelman, 12) It is clear here that he wanted to tell his father’s story. Although Spiegelman never blatantly states that he wrote to receive a greater understanding, some sources say that it is understood. One source says, “If we see in it a desire to reach some sort of emotional understanding of something deep within himself—to give it an intelligible shape, something that will provide significance and perhaps a sense of closure to what has up to now been a shapeless intense inner pain.” (Johnston, 1) Here Johnston implies that Spiegelman wrote to find an understanding of his family’s pain and the effect it had on him growing