The part that I found most interesting in Maus II happened in the very beginning of the story when Art and Francois were talking about wishing they could go back and be in Aucshwitz just to see what their parents went through. While I don't have any relatives that went through the Holocaust, I can relate to these feelings in an odd way. Obviously I don't want to be in a concentration camp, but I do find myself sometimes wondering what it would be like to be a Jew during the time of World War II. Like Francoise and Art said, it might seem crazy and I wouldn't want that to be my life, but If I could I would go back to live in a concentration camp just for a day. I feel like hearing about the holocaust from other people doesn't really give justice to what actually happened. I agree with them that it kind of has to do with a guilt of having everything that I have today while people throughout history have had to go through horrible and terrifying things such as World War II and the Holocaust.
The other part about this conversation that I found interesting was how Art felt "inadequate trying to reconstruct a reality that was worse than his darkest dreams." He also stated that the topic and story were too complex to do through a comic book. I would have to both agree and disagree with this statement. I feel like a book is better to get facts and statistics straight, but the way in which he presented this graphic novel made it easier for people in general to relate to. I think if Maus was just a normal novel, it would lose some of its appeal. I wouldn't relate to it as much and I doubt he would have used animals as the characters for the story. For these reasons I feel that the choice of writing this as a graphic novel and not a book was a great choice.
I agree! This story would have been a million times MORE DEPRESSING than it already is had it been a novel! Using animals as characters also helps us tell one nationality from another, AND it allows us to disconnect and see the story as a set of events rather than an emotional rollercoaster. We can say, That's not US, it's a bunch of fuzzy MICE! Then we have the photos, that bring us back in AFTER we've processed the horrifying events -- wow, that COULD have been me if I had been alive then... It's a strange blend of enlightening and scary.
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