Legitimation of the Comics

     Spiegelman created two volume of comics called "Maus". I think the comic would easy to understand if he just wrote about the history of the war. It was confusing and boring to read the parts where his dad is old. So I am going to write about the father's memory of the war.

     The artist drew the Jewish people as mice, the Nazis were drawn as cats, the Polish people were pigs, and the Americans are dogs. The father starts his story with his time as a soldier and a prisoner of war. He then tells us about his family trying to escape but getting caught. Then they are sent to one of the worst camps and were afraid they are going to die. It was near the end of the war. It was terrible for them, but they survived until the American arrived. Some scenes that I really thought were well drawn and sad are; the killing of the six hundred Jews in the forest, the Jews being forced into a Ghetto, the hanging of the businessmen, the gate to Auschwitz, and the gravestone of artist's parents.

     In the emotional scenes that I listed, he used a particular art style. For example, in the scenes in the ghetto, he makes the Jews all black with their heads hanging down and the bodies slouching. The background is gloomy and looks like a prison. Another example is the gates of the camp, and it looks very disturbing. The dog is about to bite someone, the Nazis had clubs, and the sign for the camp is unpleasant with a hard font, and the sky is shady.

      Book 2 ends with his parent's gravestone. This is a good way to end because it was about their lives. The artist did a good job drawing about a terrible time without making it ruthless. However, it was very sad.