This is the article I chose: http://www.docshare.com/doc/158846/Textual-Analysis-of-Art-Spiegelmans-Maus-I-am
However, I will base it upon many different articles in my writing of the essay, seeing as though it's going to be hard to stick to one idea.
A summary of the posting is this:
In Maus, the author presents the Holocaust in a way people have not viewed it before, and it brings up the idea if it is appropriate or not. Instead of the Holocaust being presented in a formal book with a somewhat expected depressing feel, the author uses a comic book, which is extremely surprising. When you think of the Holocaust you would typically not associate it with a comic book. The author uses a comic book to exemplify a more connectible feeling to the reader, which makes it easier to relate to. Spiegelman uses a mouse (or any animal for that matter would have worked) to make the story less emotional, and not connect the tragedies of the Holocaust to actual people that died, making it easier to read about. Oddly enough through use of a mouse he is able to connect the readers to the event of the Holocaust, giving it a more real feeling to the reader. The article also states (and I happen to find a really good point in this) that the pictures, although the story is depicted through the personification of a mouse, give a real feeling to the story. It shows how real the conditions were without actually showing pictures from the Holocaust. Another good point is that the story connects us to an actual character, not just a mass of people. We are able to more easily connect ourselves to one person's story than to a large amount of people.
So honestly I'm going to say that before I wrote this blog I just googled and picked a link to choose for this. But after analyzing what the person had to say, I really agree with it, and like where they were going. I believe I can write a decent essay on this. :)
