Here are some possible reasons why Spiegelman used animals as symbols rather than drawing humans in Maus: - Using animals allows for an additional layer of abstraction and distance from the real human tragedy of the Holocaust. Drawing actual humans could have felt too direct or graphic. - Animals lend themselves well to caricature and exaggeration of features. This stylistic choice fits with the graphic novel format. - Certain animal stereotypes map reasonably well to national/ethnic stereotypes - mice as Jews, cats as Nazis, pigs as Poles, etc. This helps the reader follow who represents what group. - It creates an additional storytelling device. By using animals, Spiegelman is able to explore themes

1. The Holocaust (1933-1945)
• The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored
persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its
collaborators.
• Holocaust is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire.”
• The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed
that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed
"inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial
community.
• In 1933, the Jewish population of Europe stood at over nine million.
Most European Jews lived in countries that Nazi Germany would
occupy or influence during World War II.

2. Prisoner Tattoos of Auschwitz Complex
• Prisoners of the Auschwitz
concentration camp complex
were tattooed with their
identification numbers.
• Reduced human lives to
numbers.

3. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Overview
Title: Maus I—My Father Bleeds
History
Author: Art Spiegelman
Published: 1973 through 1991
Category: Nonfiction
Graphic Novel
Memoir
Biography
Historical

4. Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman Born in 1948 in Stockholm, Sweden, Art Spiegelman is
a naturalized U.S. citizen. While growing up, Spiegelman lived with his
parents in Rego Park in the Queens section of New York City. From
1966 to 1989 he worked for Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. illustrating
trading cards and stickers including the Garbage Pail Kids series. He has
written many comix (underground comics), worked as a New Yorker
staff artist and writer, and been a lecturer and teacher at various times
in his career. His work has been the subject of special museum and
gallery exhibits both in the U.S. and abroad. Maus earned him a
Pulitzer Prize.

5. Characters
Art(ie
Spiegelman):
Author/Narrator & son of Vladek
Spiegelman
Vladek
Spiegelman:
Father of Art & Survivor of the Holocaust
Anja
Spiegelman:
1st wife of Vladek Spiegelman, mother of Art
and Richieu.
Mala
Spiegelman:
2nd wife of Vladek Spiegelman, survivor of the
Holocaust.
Francoise
Mouly:
Wife of Art. Although she is French. Art also
draws her as a mouse because she converted
to Judaism.

6. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
Summary
Maus is a story within a story: Art Spiegelman, the son of two survivors
of the Holocaust, tells how he interviewed his father, Vladek, about his
Holocaust experience, and it tells the story of the father's persecution
and survival. It is written in a graphic novel format, with various types
of animals representing the various nationalities and religions
(however, Jews are mice, no matter what nationality they are).

7. • Visual metaphor — any visual symbol or picture that is used to
represent something else. They are often used in political cartoons.

8. Maus I—My Father Bleeds History
General Characters
Maus I
• The Jews are represented by mice.
• The Germans are represented by cats.
• The Americans are represented by dogs.
• The Poles are represented by pigs.

9. List characteristics of a…

10. List characteristics of a…

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13. Look at the pictures
Why do you think Spiegelman used animals for symbols rather than
drawing humans?