In reading Spiegelman's Maus I found his story to be fascinating. It was almost that because Spiegelman didn't have the best relationship with his father and with the suicide of his mother, all he wanted was answers to find out what, why,when. I feel that him investigating his families history and that in writing this graphic novel that it was a way for Spiegelman to try to find out answers to his life questions. Not necessarily the questions to what happened to his family, but more to answer questions in his own mind, maybe to sort out his feelings of his mothers suicide, and the cruel actions of his father, and how these things effected him. To me it was like Spiegelman used the characters because it was easier for him to talk about the story using figures that were not human. In parts it seems to be playful and fun, but over all it is quite a dreay story and I think it is over emphasized by the contrast that he uses in illustrating the novel.
In the first half of the story with it focusing on his father and the back and forth banter that they took part in, I feel that this is the first stage of Spiegelman sorting out his childhood issues. I feel that in some ways Spiegelman really relates to his fathers attitude and his crudeness it's almost like he is trying to point out the fact that he is better than his father, that he can handel himself better than his father ever could. It almost feels more like he is resentful. As I worked through the book and move into the second half and more of Spiegelman history unfolds. It's almost as Spiegelman resentments fall apart as he talks about the camp and what they went through, I think this is when he really starts to understand the reasons why his father was so bitter and mean. And when his mother commits suicide and him depicting it so much differently its showing a different understanding for her and her actions. I love the way that Spiegelman calls up the past to talk about different run ins that his father had. It's a nice way to introduce new characters and to help form the story as a whole, and allowing us to see the other people that were effected by the holocaust but not necessarily in the camps. It gives us a better understanding of his fathers time through his time while hiding and a better feeling for his time after he is released from the camp. I did rather enjoy the way that Spiegelman showed the ending of a person with the smoke stacks, i felt that it was a really nice way to describe it without it being overly horrifying.
I really enjoyed the way that he gave his characters a voice, and the way that they told the story however sometimes I found myself a little confused on who was who, and that muddied parts of the story for me, but even though some parts got muddy due to my confusion the over all impact of the story to me was very powerful, and a really refreshing new look and way of telling his story.
