The fact that Maus is a graphic novel is extremely limiting for Art Speiglman and for the reader in many ways. Like the holocaust survivors who came up to Speiglman at the JCC event Robin went to in Minneapolis made very clear, pictures really don't do justice to the horror that the holocaust was. Scenes like the one that I attached portray life and death situations as well as criminals crueler than anything that those of us living in a relatively safe America can imagine. The real issue, I think, is that while a graphic novel certainly does not effectively portray the holocaust, nothing else really can, except perhaps listening to the stories in person of those who have been through the camps or seeing the camps oneself. A novel in paragraph form would be no better at expressing the holocaust, there are not words in the english language that would express the terror properly. A graphic novel is not good, but it might just be the least terrible way to teach teenagers and adults about the holocaust.
I chose the scene on page 66, the scene below, because I found that it captures the main issue that the survivors had with Speiglman's way of telling his father's story. On this page, Anja is running and hiding from a nazi. The Nazi woman is supposed to be furious and terrifying, if she catches Anja, Anja will be murdered in a gruesome way. As a reader I expect to be scared of this woman from Speigleman's drawing, but instead I think the nazi woman looks rather goofy and confused in the first image of her and upset but certainly not scary in the second one. I cannot help but to think of Rick Parker's Bevis and Buthead comics, a comedy series, something I should really not associate with the holocaust, while I look at this nazi woman. The inability to make a truly scary pig woman prevents this story from being truer to the holocaust. This may be because I am really not a frequent graphic novel reader, a frequent reader might see that that this face represents something truly terrifying, but as someone who's only read two graphic novels, this face is still associated with a silly children's picture book villain.
I agree with your comments. I do think a graphic novel format is limiting in describing these horrific events and I don't think a novel format would do a better job either. Every time I read something about the holocaust in general I always feel as though I can never understand it. How horrific it was is just something I cannot comprehend while living in our everyday world. However, I do agree with you as well about this format being one of the least terrible ways to teach about the holocaust. This is because it does visually capture some of the horribleness of the event even if it is in the most cheesy of ways.
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