Heather Davis
4 November 4, 2014
Dr. Claudie Massicotte
English 1102

This book, Maus, is a great depiction of a nations terrible history. The author of this book is not only connected to this story because it is the story of his fathers, but he is a Jew. To tell of these haunting series of events he had to tell of not only his fathers but also his survival story. Maus is not a haunting book. Maus is a haunted book. “Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed…. Healthy emotions tell every independent young man and every honorable youth that the dirty and filth-covered vermin, the greatest bacteria carrier in the animal kingdom, cannot be the ideal type of animal…. Away with the Jewish brutalization of the people! Down with Mickey Mouse! Wear the Swastika Cross!” Art Spiegleman gave us a quote at the very beginning of the book from a German newspaper article that equalized Jews to the filthiest vermin on Earth while also saying mice were as well. This questions why we iconize Mickey Mouse when he is too vermin in essence. If they are mice then we are all vermin because we are all animals. We are all capable of committing this terrible deed. Chapter two of Maus 2 is titled ‘Time Flies’ and it is first shown with Art sitting at a drawing table while explaining different events that have occurred over time. He goes on to explain the success of his book and says he is depressed. Spiegleman is having trouble accepting his success that came out of so much suffering, but he symbolizes that by depicting himself as a human with a mouse mask on. This mask could also be a symbol of him stepping away from the story and struggling to separate his life from the story. While struggling with separating, we also see on this page