Mice In Pig Mask

(Shame Mask)

Personally I felt that Maus is more of a novel than a comic, and its drawings are there to help the words. It can be a good novel without picture, but it can’t be a good comic without those narrations. The use of animal as real character and “Human” as cartoon character in the story is really interesting, as it totally take away the individual out of the nation and race. The goal and perspective of each race is therefore clear and reasonable to the reader. We don’t question why the cat is trying to get the mice, because that’s what cat does, and this can be apply and explain why the Nazi is out to get the Jews.

The use of animal also makes a horrible tale of massive murders more light hearted, and enjoyable to read. Seeing lots dead animal is easier than seeing lots dead people, and perhaps that’s one of the reason this is a comic that even a child can enjoy reading. I wonder why the polish is portrayed as the pig in the story…

It shows a realistic take on the event, and there is no hero in this horrible tale. The use of father and son conversation helps to bring some perspective to “us” as the reader  to relate the story, and perhaps the reaction from the son is close what most of the people nowadays will feel. Just like the son, we as the reader are reading this story in a point of view of an outsider, and it is good that the story is not forcing us to read it and experience it as we are there…as we can never understand how it actually feel like to be in the Holocaust.

The story brings us in and out of the past and present, and this helps the viewer to take a break from the intense story that’s going on during the holocaust. This is good for the story to progress some discussion and reflection on what we just experience, and that some time to process those events in our head. The art style also changes from the past and the present, as the past is always somewhat chaotic and the present is nice and quit…peaceful. The past is about action and the present is about reflection.

I love the ending most of all, and the best part is how we can totally see the emotion and thought between the two. The father is sorry for what he did and hoping the son can forgive him and still be around him, but the son is totally sicken by his father’s past action and now is walking away …it’s really sad and a create a strong emotional contrast and shows how things in the past can affect things in the present.