One of the interesting aspects of Spiegelman's work is his insertion of other texts into the main body of Maus. Halfway through Book I, we are greeted by the tragic story of Art's mother's suicide. What do you make of this comic? Why do you think Spiegelman includes it in Maus, given that it breaks the continuity of his use of animals in the rest of the work? How did it affect you as a reader?
In this section of the book, Spiegelman's drawing style is extremely exaggerated in a manner that reflects the strong emotions he is evoking in Anja's death and his own reaction to it. The elongated faces, stark palette, and dramatic linework are reminiscent of the Expressionist school of art, such as Edvard Munch's famous work, "The Scream." Expressionist artists attempted to represent extreme emotions, imagining that one could exteriorize deep inner states.
To be completely honest, I did not think much of the difference between human/animals while reading his comic he wrote about his mother. I feel as though he has humanized the characters so much that it was a great disguise. His comic about his mother was very dark and saddening.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of Maus seems so "cartoony" and "airy." This section of the story was very different- noticeably. His illustrations remind me of Starry Night... The elongated shapes give an uneasy mystery that is undiscovered and jumbled emotions.
It was really startling to see at first. Here I am reading a comic with a super consistent style and tone, and in comes this completely different style and a completely different tone.
ReplyDeleteIn Maus we don't really get a lot of diversity, all the lines are fairly consistent, and the layouts of the page stay relatively the same. most of the expression comes through simple things like the characters simple features.
this comic about his mother has bold lines, and different page layouts. when your reading it, it seems like a different comic all together, which is good because, well it is a different comic. this difference really makes it stand out in your mind.
I think it was really important to stick to the realism and definitely the tone of the story. I think the suicide of Art's mother possibly was there to connect better with the story. It did definitely have more of a depressing feel to it, but I think that is just what he was going for in the story anyways. It was to some extent unnecessary, but that isn't always a bad thing. I think the resemblance to scream is a good thing, it is hard to convey grand emotions sometimes and I feel it really showed well in the comic.
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe the art style matched the mood of the story. It definitely separates itself from his mothers story. I feel like if the two style were the same it might just meld together and the reader may not fully appreciate that it is a separate story.
It was very abrupt seeing another work of Spiegelman's inserted in his story Maus. I felt like it was necessary to address the death of Anja, and the trauma that its caused his family. Up until that point you saw Art's father a victim of the holocaust, after the comic I felt that he was the victim of a life full of unfortunate circumstances.
ReplyDeleteIt also gives you more context about Anja, she had suffered postpartum depression before the war. She had wanted to die during the war. She was nervous, frail, and it was brought to attention how physically small she was several times in the story. Anja was a very troubled woman, and I feel like her suicide really amplifies how helpless Valdek had felt a majority of his life. He was unable to protect his child, he was barely able to take care of his wife through the war, and after the war he was powerless to help his wife find the will to live.
All in all, I felt the comic insertion was very powerful.
I think that the artwork changed to an extent in order to dramatize what was going on in the story. It was necessary for the story to take a more expressive turn and expose readers to a more emotional and powerful portrayal.
ReplyDeleteBecause the story is a comic, and yet deals with serious subjects, it is important to make sure that the light-hearted aspects of comics go away at this point in order to make sure that audiences understand the seriousness of the subjects presented. Readers can sometimes get caught up in pretty pictures, and it was important for Spiegelman to make sure we didn't do that in this part of the story.
The section showed how important the burning of the diaries was in Spiegelman's life. Without the diaries he cannot know what lead his mother to suicide or really who she was at all. We see the guilt and anger Spiegelman still holds regarding his mother.
ReplyDeleteThe art is surreal and invokes the emotional trauma and uncertainty that must have come with the experience Spiegelman losing his mother to suicide. It is likely that he felt the emotions portrayed by the almost chaotic depiction.
The comic within the comic was very poignant and the surreal, but very stark art style captured the loss of control Speigelman feels when he lost his mother. It is disorienting and all the rage and sadness and confusion Artie feels is vividly shown in the illustrations. Artie still has no closure what so ever with his mother's death (with suicide that is likely impossible though.) However, if Artie still had his mother's diaries I feel like his pain would at least have a grounded sense of acceptance of the tragic events since he'd have a bit more understanding of his mother.
ReplyDeleteI like the placement of other comic within this larger "Maus". It gives more insight into the reality of the storyline, and gives us a deeper character of Artie, and what led him to this point in his life. However, I found it kind of distracting that the characters within the mini-comic were not consistent with the animal theme the rest of the comic has. The drastic style difference did not bother me though, it added to the meaning of that particular comic. Much like in "Understanding Comics" the style it is drawn in adds to the overall effect the comic depicts. In this particular case, the exaggerated features give it a dramatic effect, which lends to the depression Artie depicts.
ReplyDeleteSpeigelman uses this change in artwork in order to really drive his emotion into the reader. The stark contrast between styles really shows his anger, pain, and frustration over the death of his mother.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think that maybe Speigelman was unable to bring himself to depict this tragic event in the traditional comic book art style that he uses for everything else.