[A year ago, I had the chance to share a couple wonderful Guest Posts from students in my friend Robin Field’s classes at King’s College. Well, I’m back with another such great Guest Post from such a student, Sydney Kruszka on the very timely question of why we should all read Art Spiegelman’s Maus!]
[Sydney Kruszka is currently attending King's College with a major in Nursing. In her spare time she enjoys playing and coaching soccer, reading, and spending time with family and friends.]
Maus by Art Spiegelman should be read by the general public as it encapsulates the horrors of the
Holocaust in an educational and effective manner. Spiegelman depicts the
massacre using comic book art allowing the reader to physically see an insight
on the day-to-day misery that Polish Jews faced. The text really spoke to me in
the first few pages. The beginning of Maus shows Art Spiegelman writing
his excerpt along with speech bubbles dangling over his head containing all the
baggage he is internally carrying. These few comic strips highlight the fact
that you never truly know what someone is going through. In addition, the
excerpt’s content educates the reader on the physical, emotional, and mental
abuse that Polish Jews endured along with the aftermath of such abuse.
Those who were sent to the concentration camps in
Auschwitz were required to do countless hours of manual labor. Spiegelman
incorporates a few examples of the grueling labor which included: carrying
heavy cans of soup, carrying large stones back and forth, and digging out large
sections of the ground that essentially was a future grave. This may not sound
extremely grueling, but the Jewish were awfully malnourished, so their physical
limits were quite inhibited. Spiegelman emphasized this malnourishment by
sketching the bodies to resemble merely skin and bones. The ratio of the weight
of the cans, stones, soil, etc. was heavily favored compared to the weight of
the unfortunate soul suffering through the labor. This caused their bodies to
collapse and impede them from continuing. Even though their bodies were far
past their breaking point the Nazi’s would beat them for leaving the labor
being incomplete.
The abuse did not
only entail physical harm. Emotional damage was also a result of the treatment
from the concentration camps. Spiegelman’s graphics show the dehumanization
that occurred, such as everyone wearing the same prisoner-like outfit. Those in
the camp were immediately stripped of their individuality as they were all
forced to wear the same clothing and were assigned a number that would be used
in place of their birth name.
Lastly, many of the Polish Jews who survived mentally
suffered long after the Holocaust was over. At the end of the excerpt from Maus
the reader gets a sense of an example of the aftermath. Vladek, the main
character from this excerpt, is seen to be experiencing a restless sleep. The
reader can hypothesize that this is a common occurrence based on it being said
that “he’s moaning in his sleep again” (74). A symptom of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) is reliving the traumatic event through nightmares. With that,
the reader can connect this mental health condition to all the abuse that some
Jews survived through.
Although the Holocaust began in the early 1940s the event
is still relevant to the present day. The majority of
schools incorporate the Holocaust into their curriculum, and for the right
reasons. However, a school board in Tennessee has banned Maus from their
curriculum “due to concerns about profanity and an image of female nudity in
its depiction of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust” (CNBC). If more
schools begin to censor topics such as the Holocaust the generations to come
will never be aware of the horrors that affected so many lives. The Holocaust
curriculum is relevant to lives today to teach the valuable lesson that
someone’s religious beliefs do not open a rite of passage for discrimination,
religious persecution, or genocide. While children are young their brains can
be compared to a sponge, because everything they hear
their brain soaks up. So, teaching children about the Holocaust while they
are adolescent will result in a better appreciation for religious freedom later
down the road.
Maus by Art Spiegelman links to the contemporary issue of
religious persecution. Granted, the Holocaust is still one of the biggest mass
genocides up to date, but those who practice the Jewish faith, Hinduism, Muslim
faith etc. still experience religious persecution. Humans were designed to be
individuals with their own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs; however, a lack of respect
for people’s individuality has created religious persecution. Maus
heavily emphasizes the lack of respect the Germans had for Polish Jews. Without
a mutual respect for someone’s beliefs, or lack thereof, religious persecution
will never fade. Spiegelman's
depiction of the Holocaust is a wakeup call in that history will repeat itself
if this contemporary issue does not get resolved.
Maus by Art Spiegelman should be read by the general public,
because of the education it provides and how it is provided. Spiegelman informs
the reader about the physical, emotional, and mental abuse Polish Jews
underwent every single day. His comic book graphics help the reader to
physically see the intensity of the concentration camps. The reader could see
the malnourishment of each individual as Spiegelman
portrayed the Jews as essentially walking skeletons. The reader can clearly see
everyone’s rib cage practically bursting through their skin, no one had any
stomach fat left so they appeared to have “washboard abs”, and their appendages
were drawn to be extremely thin and flimsy.
Unfortunately, this topic needs to stay relevant to the
present day to protect our religious freedom. Therefore, this text should be a
part of every school's curriculum as it will open the eyes of the young to a
very real event that occurred and how something as traumatic as the Holocaust
can occur again if it is forgotten. If we do not remember, we forget.
Bibliography
Mangan, Dan.
“Tennessee school board bans Holocaust graphic novel “Maus” - author Art
Spiegelman condemns the move as ‘Orwellian’”. CNBC. 28 January 2022. Tennessee school board bans
Holocaust comic 'Maus' by Art Spiegelman (cnbc.com).
[Memorial
Day series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Guest Posts you’d like to contribute?]
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