Lucas Taragano
Connection Captain
Week One- Pg 5-71
Maus
This week we started reading the new novels, and mine is Maus. Until now, it has been a fairly easy book, and I have been able to connect it with other things around me. First and foremost, this book has a clear connection to Animal Farm, by George Orwell. Coincidentally, we are also reading this book in class. Anyways, the connection between the two book is that they are both an allegory to something that happened in the world: one being of the Russian Revolution (Animal Farm), and the other one of the Holocaust (Maus). To be more specific, these two books are even more alike using the fact that both use animals to represent people. For example, in Maus mice represent jews, and in Animal Farm the pigs represent the leaders of the revolution, and eventually the government leaders themselves. One big difference, though, is that Maus is a graphic novel, meaning that pictures are the main focus. It is in the style of a comic book. On the other hand, Animal Farm is purely writing, and no pictures at all. All things considered, it is clear how both novels have a connection with each other, and are alike in various ways.
Next, this novel also reminds the reader a lot of comic books like DC or Marvel. In Comics like these, most of the time, for example SuperMan, it is the story of one person who is a survivor of some kind, and the comic book basically tells their story or a small episode of it. Another connection this book has with comic books, this connection being much more obvious, is the design. Pictures are the focus of both things, and text appears in small captions or bubbles, serving to guide the reader through the visual journey. This is completely different from other "regular" books, which consist of words, mainly. Clearly, comics and Maus have a lot in common.
Lucas,
ReplyDeleteI agree, Maus and Anthem are very similar. As you mentioned, the both use animals to as their characters. For Maus, mice are portrayed as jews and in Animal Farm they are animals such as as pigs and dogs, which are considered to be the smartest characters. I also liked your other connection to DC and Marvel. While reading Maus I also felt like I was reading a comic book, a comic like DC or Marvel. Another connection that I made with this book was to "The Boy in the Stripped Pijamas". Both stories take place in Poland and involve concentration camps with Jews. Overall, it was a great post !!
Sorry, for the error, I meant Animal Farm, and I have one question for you; Why do you think Spiegelman wrote the book in Comic style ?
DeleteGreat post Lucas
ReplyDeleteI also thought it related to comics but in a different way, I thought that the structure of the story was very dynamic like the Sunday comic collage. This is because of some aspects like when he had that crazy girlfriend. When you suggested comic book i thought it was too linear thats why i thought it related to Sunday comics. Do you think that Speigelman wrote the book in comic format because he wanted people from all ages to understand the story.