In general, comics and graphic art receive little attention as complete works of literature. Considered to lack substance and novelistic qualities, graphic novels are unfairly lumped into a category that ignores their quality and influence. That being said, Art Spiegelman's MAUS Tales goes beyond generalizations about graphic novels and, in turn, has become an example for demonstrating how frames, panels, and faces can produce narrative qualities inaccessible to traditional non-fiction novels. pictorial. Uniquely, MAUS weaves primarily between two separate timelines that allow Spiegelman to tell his story in addition to that of his father. The tale's timeline begins in the narrative present with author Art Spiegelman interviewing his father, Vladek, about his experiences during the Holocaust for the project Artie hopes to complete. In the narrative past, Artie recounts the years leading up to the war and follows his parents' story through their liberation from Nazi concentration camps, as told to him by his father. This detailed story is accompanied by simple, minimalist drawings that Spiegelman uses to explore real-life images and create a kind of universality for all readers. That being said, Spiegelman's Maus uses a combination of words and images to create an inviting, engaging, and realistic account of the Holocaust that effectively merges past experiences with current everyday life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the novels, Spiegelman uses a carefully calculated hybrid of text and visual in order to transform the intertwined experience of the Holocaust into an open and inviting discussion. for all readers. Most importantly, the predominant visual metaphor in MAUS is the depiction of German, Polish, and American Jews as mice. Drawing in a minimalist and iconic style, Spiegelman relies on their simplicity to become the object of projection and sympathy of the reader. Interestingly, as the novel progresses, the mouse drawings become less and less representative of mice and more and more imitate a human form. For example, the novel's prologue shows a young Artie and his father looking most mouse-like, with mouse ears, facial fur, and even tails (Spiegelman 5-6, panels 1-10). Yet these details become less and less important as the story progresses. At the end of MAUS I, only his head and triangular ears separate Artie and the other mice from a human sketch (Spiegelman 160-161). By initially illustrating his characters as welcoming and cartoonish, Spiegelman prompts the reader to project immerse themselves in the story and experience thoughts, feelings, and emotions in the same way as the characters. As the Jews become less and less animalistic, the reader finds themselves trapped in a human experience without realizing it. Furthermore, it is this dismantling of the mouse allegory that allows Spiegelman to elicit sympathy and compassion for the oppressed in their situation. With this in mind, it is equally important to ask why do the other characters in the novel remain unchanged throughout the story? Although the mice eventually lose their whiskers, tails, and other distinctive traits, the story's Nazi cats never lose their stripes or whiskers, and the pigs never become less distinctive. Spiegelman's choice to allow the mice to become more and moremore iconic and universal while other characters/nationalities remain unchanged prevents the reader from sympathizing or relating to any group other than Polish and German Jews. In doing so, Spiegelman succeeds in transforming the trauma and selective suffering of the Holocaust into something acceptable and understandable to all audiences. To further demonstrate the effectiveness of the choice to keep the illustrations simple, we can compare MAUS.'s drawings with Spiegelman's graphic novel Prisoner on Planet Hell, which depicts the emotional trauma surrounding his mother's suicide. The comic within the comic stands in stark contrast to MAUS's simplified illustrations with highly stylized and detailed drawings of real humans that depict Art's personal distress and suffering after the death of his mother (Spiegelman 102-105). While Maus uses vague illustrations to create an inviting and relevant experience, Prisoner on Planet Hell feels isolated, personal and specific in comparison. On that note, reading a historical account often leaves the reader disconnected and disinterested; However, Spiegelman manages to create an engaging and educational narrative without ever directly addressing the reader. In short, through his oversimplification of illustration, Spiegelman achieves what a traditional novel cannot achieve. Apparently, MAUS Tales gives an explicit history of the Jewish experience throughout the Holocaust. But implicitly, Spiegelman emphasizes the psychological torment produced by inconceivable suffering and its lasting effects across generations, which continue to the present day. From the first chapter, Spiegelman integrates signifiers of the past and present into his drawings as well as his text. In the opening pages, the reader sees Vladek's concentration camp tattoo, pre-war photographs of both of Artie's parents, and even historically accurate depictions of telephones (Spiegelman 14-15). Yet the past is seamlessly integrated into the present with the inclusion of Artie. For example, in chapter three, Artie's body physically becomes the link between the past and the present. Lying on the floor of his father's New York apartment, Artie looks in Vladek's direction as he waits for the story to continue. Meanwhile, his legs literally overlap the previous frame which depicts Vladek hiding in the army trenches (Spiegelman 47, panels 1-2). In doing so, Spiegelman forbids the past from being removed from the present. Likewise, there is a verbal intersection between past history and present experiences. When Vladek details his experience cleaning the stables as a prisoner of war, he interrupts his own thought: “But look what you're doing, Artie! You drop cigarette ashes on the carpet. Do you want it to be like a stable here? » (54). As the story progresses, these narrative interruptions become slightly more sinister and haunting. For example through Maus II, Artie's cigarette smoke rises to become the smoke of the corpses burned in the Auschwitz crematorium (Spiegelman 229, frames 7-9. By including these moments, Spiegelman proves that the past and the present are not mutually exclusive: it is impossible to understand the present). without first understanding the past, and vice versa, it ultimately asks the reader to consider their relationship to history, suggesting a kind of continuity from the past into the present. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get one. custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Overall, The Complete MAUS Tales directly confronts and rejects critics who claim that graphic novels are lesser compared to novels,2/1/)