The Themes of Family and Guilt in Maus by Art Spiegelman

Maus, a graphic novel series written by Art Spiegelman, was published in two volumes. Volume I, My Father Bleeds History, was published in 1986 (“My Father Bleeds History” 4) while Volume II, And Here My Troubles Began, was published in 1991 (“And Here My Troubles Began” 2). Throughout both volumes, there were many themes including family and guilt. Spiegelman used stylistic choices such as point of view and allegory which enhance the central themes of the graphic novel series. Additionally, Spiegelman’s ability to intertwine both ethos and pathos gives a unique twist to the historical event of the Holocaust. Although Maus has been deemed as controversial, it serves a purpose in telling the story of a Nazi concentration camp survivor. The telling of the survivor’s story is by way of graphics and family accounts by strategically implementing the aforementioned stylistic devices in order to portray the themes of family and guilt.

Maus offers two points of view with both being first person. The author, Spiegelman, uses both himself and his father, Vladek, as narrators in the story. This unique twist provides insight from two perspectives that are necessary to the story. Vladek’s first person perspective gives us a direct look into life in the concentration camps and how he had to think in order to survive. On the other hand, Art gives us a completely different perspective. Art’s perspective allows us to know Vladek’s story, but it also gives insight to the aftermath of the Holocaust.

The use of two perspectives gives way to some of the major themes in the book including family and guilt. From Vladek’s perspective, the theme of family creates a heart wrenching narrative as he talks about trying to save his first child, Richieu, by sending him with another family. Additionally, Vladek loses his wife and through the perspective of Art, the reader watches how Vladek’s mourns his first wife, Anja. On the other hand, the perspective of Art gives a completely different view on the theme of family. Art was not alive during wartime, but he still experienced great heartache from it. When his mother, Anja, committed suicide, it left him confused and he often blamed his father, Vladek. While both perspectives have family as a significant theme, they are vastly different.

In addition to the use of two points of view lending to an understanding of the theme of family from two perspectives, this stylistic choice also helps the reader to understand guilt. Vladek and Art both experience guilt, but in vastly different forms due to their circumstances. Vladek’s perspective of guilt comes from surviving the concentration camps when millions of others did not. Paul Chodoff, a psychiatrist, said it this way: “Finally, some survivors felt guilty simply because they remained alive when so many others had died,” (154) There was no rhyme or reason to his survival; truthfully, Vladek made it out by the skin of his teeth so his confusion of surviving left him feeling guilty.

Art’s perspective of the theme of guilt comes from feeling like he has never come close to experiencing the agony of concentration camps like his father, his mother, and his brother whom he never met. Chodoff wrote “The children, now grown men and women, have sometimes been raised in a psychological atmosphere prisoned by the scarring that their survivor parents have brought to their childrearing task,” (155) which is exactly what we see playing out in Vladek and Art’s relationship. While the trauma Vladek experienced is more than valid, it also created an environment that was not made for children. Vladek was still processing the trauma when he had Art and up until the day he died, and this subjected Art to a new, completely different form of trauma that impacted his life and view of family and guilt. The trickle-down effect of survivor’s guilt left a mark on Art, just as the survivor’s guilt left a mark on Vladek’s life.

Spiegelman implements allegory into his graphic novel Maus. Allegory is defined in the textbook Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing as “a narrative in verse or prose in which the literal events (persons, places, and things) consistently point to a parallel sequence of symbolic ideas,” (Kennedy et al. 1910). In Maus, the use of animals symbolizes the people coming from different nations. The Jews, including Vladek and Art, were depicted as mice while the Nazis were cats. Additionally, the Poles were drawn as pigs and the Americans as dogs (Shmoop). The allegorical significance behind the use of mice and cats symbolizes a couple of ideas. First, the reader can recognize this as the idea of the cat and mouse game where the cat is chasing the mice; in this game, the fate is either the mice escaping or the cat killing the mice which is symbolic of the Nazi’s killing the Jews and the Jews also trying to escape.

Another way the reader can perceive the use of this allegory is that Jews were seen as insignificant non-humans similar to the idea of a mouse being a rodent. The use of animals as humans creates another indirect symbol towards how the Nazi’s operated. By using dehumanization as a tactic to kill Jews, and many other minorities, it is bold of Spiegelman to bring that forward in his book. The piece “Overlooking Others: Dehumanization by Comission and Omission” puts dehumanization like this: “Representing others as subhuman denies them fundamental human rights for freedom and protection from harm,” (Waytz and Schroeder 251) which is exactly how the Nazi’s completed such an atrocity. The use of this subtle allegory points to how Jews were not seen as human, therefore, they didn’t have rights which is another reason they were portrayed as mice in the series.

The use of allegory in the graphic novel gave a different perspective to the historical event. Typically, historical events are told by words only. Spiegelman incorporated graphics to add another layer of understanding, but also the allegorical meaning of the graphics. This allowed for a deeper, more complete understanding of the Holocaust.

Along with the stylistic choices of multiple points of view and allegory, Spiegelman tactfully used ethos and pathos to engage the reader. Since Maus is written by Art and told through the perspective or himself and his father, the credibility is present in lieu of the fact that it is a memoir. Art and Vladek are an expert of their own life and experiences. Moreover, Spiegelman uses pathos effectively both when he is in first person and when his father is in first person. As the reader, depending on the perspective, your emotions change. When Art is speaking, you feel resentment towards Vladek. Alternatively, when Vladek is speaking, you begin to feel empathy for him and his story and wonder why Art is hard to his father.

To conclude, Art Spiegelman tactfully implemented a variety of stylistic choices to give a unique perspective on a memoir from the Holocaust. Not only was his choice to make a graphic novel groundbreaking, but he also used two points of view, allegory, and a combination of ethos and pathos to highlight the central themes of the series Maus. By way of these stylistic devices, Spiegelman managed to successfully elicit ideas and themes surrounding family guilt by telling his father’s story. His unique approach lends to deeper understanding of the depth of torture people experienced during Nazi concentration camps while coping with guilt.

Works Cited

• Chodoff, Paul. “The Holocaust and Its Effects on Survivors: An Overview.” Political Psychology, vol. 18, no. 1, 1997, pp. 147–157. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3791989. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.
• Kennedy, X. J., et al. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Pearson, 2020.
• Shmoop Editorial Team. “Maus: A Survivor\'s Tale Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/maus/analysis/symbolism-imagery-allegory.
• Spiegelman, Art. Maus, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History. Pantheon Books, 1986.
• Spiegelman, Art. Maus, Vol. 2: and Here My Troubles Began. Pantheon, 1991.
• Waytz, Adam, and Juliana Schroeder. “Overlooking Others: Dehumanization by Comission and Omission.” TPM-Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, vol. 21, no. 3, Sept. 2014, pp. 251–266. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true