Art Spiegelman's The Complete Maus

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The events of the Holocaust were so horrific, inhumane and traumatizing, that it is difficult to believe it ever took place. Art Spiegelman, throughout The Complete Maus, grapples with understanding and portraying his father’s traumatic experience as a survivor of the Holocaust. The novel documents the several years it took to compile, construct and create his father’s (Vladek) narrative. Throughout the novel, Spiegelman artfully commixes the present retelling of his father’s story with an actual depiction of the events Vladek endured in the past, ultimately capturing the father and son’s seemingly strenuous relationship and the effect Vladek’s experience in Auschwitz has on Art throughout the years. Vladek’s story, and the years it took to document and create, proves to be a deeply personal representation of just how haunting of an effect the past has in the present through memories.
Immediately, the first installment of The Complete Maus opens with Art approaching Vladek about creating a graphic novel based on his life during the war. Initially, Vladek is dubious in doing so, exclaiming: “It would take many books, my life, and no one wants anyway to hear such stories,” (Spiegelman, 14). Nonetheless, Vladek agrees the re-telling of his Holocaust survival story— …show more content…
The slip of the tongue by Vladek in calling Art by the name of his brother, Richieu, who passed away during the war (Spiegelman, 175), further emphasizes just how exhausting (mentally, physically, and emotionally) of an act re-telling traumatic experiences can be. Followed by the eerily peaceful, yet simple, drawing of a tombstone etched with both Vladek’s and his late wife Anja’s name, it can only be assumed that upon the conclusion of his re-telling, Vladek is finally at
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