A Comparison Of The Holocaust In The Books Of Maus And Night
The Holocaust was and still is a very sore subject. Throughout history, humanity grapples with the concept of the Holocaust and how to describe it in a way everyone of all ages can understand. For decades, many of the Holocaust survivors have come out with their own memoir or book of their experiences, therefore how do we pick what book is best to read. Maus and Night are two similar, yet conflicting books that illustrate fear, tragedy, and despair from two different perspectives. In Maus, the story is told through a graphic novel following Vladek, Art’s father, and how he struggles to keep his family safe. However, in the novel Night, we get a first person's perspective through Elie’s eyes as he tries to survive the concentration camps. Between Maus and Night, which would be the best to give to high school students? Clearly, the number one choice would be Maus by Art Spiegelman due to the novel being able to depict tough issues, the smooth transitions between the two timelines, and the visual rhetoric.
To start off, Art Spieglaman is able to illustrate hard topics to the reader that can not be done alone with writing. Initially, what makes Maus better is that the graphic novel is written and illustrated by Spiegelman. When people hear how the author uses animals to portray the different ethnic groups, many may think, “This guys sick” ( Blades 1). Nevertheless, in Maus, the reader experiences how the emotions connect with the words. While in Night, the novel is much darker and cruel because the audience feels worried when they read the plot. In essence, Night forces the reader to imagine what the facial expression is and create their own graphic image. Similarly, Spielgelman drawing the hanged Jews and naked characters should not be a reason the comic is bad. Art used what he had to tell his father's story and “there’s no reason he should be disqualified from the job” (Blades 2).
Another point to why Maus should be read in schools and not Night, is for Art Spielgalman’s ability to segue between the past and present story line. By writing in two different time frames he’s able to show the after affects of the holocaust and still show how Vladek survived the holocaust. Spielgalmans graphic novel shows the audience how Vladek became such a “grouchy and eccentric elderly father,” (Leith 1). The novel also reveals Vladek’s trials and tribulations while trying to keep his family safe and alive. In fact, the audience is shown both the entity of Vladek’s past through the Holocaust and also “the Nazi’s rise to power,” (Leith 2). Surely these are not seen in Night. Overall, readers follow how Vladek hides his identity and picks up new jobs to support his family to get away from the Nazi’s.
A final reason as to why Maus should be read in schools is for the utilization of the visual graphics. Not only does the drawings make Maus more interesting, the illustrations also make it easier to understand. Spiegalman would deliberately draw “crude illustrations,” (Blades 2) so the readers can understand the “surreality of Polish life under Nazi’s.” (Blades 2) He wants to make sure that all readers of any age can understand that's why he also has them drawn in animal form. Throughout the entire book, “Germans are drawn as human-bodied cats, and Jews as mice,” (Leith 2) Especially, when Spiegalman is trying to show when Vladek was impostering as a Polish pig on the train he is seen wearing a pig mask. Art Spiegalman not only wants the readers to be able to understand the Holocaust while reading but he wants them to be entertained as well.
On the contrary, many might think Maus is childish because of the graphics. However, the graphics did more to extenuate the graphic novel than just the writing alone. In the opinion of Lee Parkison,“There is some rough objectionable language in this book.” (Gross 1) Yes, the novel may have some questionable scenes or poor language but that shouldn’t take away from how informative the book is. To protect the children that may read the book the schools can always block it out. Another counterargument is that Maus has many disturbing scenes such as “ nudity and it's depiction of violence and suicide.” (Gross 2) This makes many parents uneasy when hearing about graphic images. However, these disturbing images are what was truly happening in the disturbing history. Similarly, Night has many disturbing parts of writing in the novel. Ultimately, the poor language violence, nudity, and scene of suicide are all apart of what makes Maus a real and authentic version of what happened in the Holocaust.
In conclusion, instead of schools purchasing Night to give to students, they should buy Maus. Moreover is Maus is chosen Sophomores are able to recognize, Art Spiegalman’s ability to express a heavy theme, an effortless transition between the past and present, and the graphics that help readers from all ages be able to understand the totality of Holocaust history. When choosing Maus over Night, students can get a better understanding of the Holocaust through the graphic novel. Sophomores will be shown both the before and after effects of what happened to the victims.
