Maus II: A Survivor's Tale

Maus II: A Survivor's Tale

The righteous right is at it again. The gang known for trying
to ban all books that expose evils of the past and present or espouse
inconvenient truths has found a new target. This month a school board
in Tennessee voted unanimously to keep Art Spiegelman's graphic novel
Maus out of its eighth grade curriculum. The book is the true story
of Spiegelman's parents' concentration camp survival during the Nazi
regime. The reason was swear words and nude figures.
So of course I had to read the book.
I read Maus II which combines A Survivor's Tale (the original
narrative) with And Here My Troubles Began which features adult
Spiegelman's troubled relationship with his father, Vladek. His
mother (Anja) had committed suicide decades after her rescue. Jewish
people are portrayed as mice, Nazis as vicious cats.
When I read A Survivor's Tale cuss words and gratuitous nudity
were not what impressed me. (They are actually quite mild compared to
what many teens access on the Internet.) It was the stark
heartbreaking cruelty, the inhumanity of a real historic tragedy that
many people now are pretending never happened. Imagine after having
your family split up, some to be gassed and cremated, existing where
you are grossly overworked, fed only scraps, housed under conditions
we wouldn't keep animals in, and constantly abused by those who
consider you subhuman. It would be impossible to not be moved by
Vladek's heroic efforts to keep his beloved Anja alive. The New York
Times calls this graphic novel "an epic story told in tiny pictures."
And Here My Troubles Began shows the traumas survivors continue
to experience decades after escaping from a manmade Hell on Earth.
There's Anja's suicide. And there's the alienation between the father
whose beliefs and behaviors were forged in a crucible and his raised
in America son.
Back to the banning of Maus in a time when people identify as
neoNazis and attacks against Jewish people are escalating. There is
some good news. News of the school committee censorship caused the
book to shoot to the top of bestseller lists. Thankfully not everyone
is eager to forget.
Could you do me a favor? Read and promote a banned book. There
are so many you'll have no trouble finding one that speaks to you.
Ignorance is not bliss. We must do all in our power to combat it.
On a purrrsonal note, instead of one fifteen week class I'm taking
three five week ones. I just finished my professionalism class. It
was wonderful and contained those vital skills I'll need to transition
from grad student to working professional. But there was so much
crammed into such a short period of time. If I'd had my way we would
have had more time. Now I'm in the first week of a new also zoom
class. We virtually meet on Thursdays. The prof said all we need to
do for class one is come up with answers to questions he's posted.
I'm anxious about the homework because I don't know how much there
will be. I couldn't get my laptop to download or print the syllabus.
Guess I'll have to visit the library techies on the way to work (Jules)
More homework? What is it with the homework? (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to all who read and promote banned books.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway




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