Maus

I have never been a fan of comics…let alone 200+ pages of the same one. Nevertheless the construction of this book was quite fascinating. More specifically is the story’s ability to convey to readers such a heavy topic in non-threatening manner. Spiegelman’s Maus deals with the exile of the Jewish community on a large scale, however the text also deals with several threads of exile on a personal level. Such as exile or isolation among each other. The fact that there are Jewish soldiers working with the Germans. And the way in which there was no loyalty between each other. for example a fellow Jewish person acting as an informant to the German officials, and even Art's relationship with his father, However I will focus on one example. In Maus I, the fist form of personal exile readers’ come across is the character Mala. Mala seems to experience a form of personal exile in her home with her husband in the way he speaks to her and regarding her. The first indication we get about their relationship is when the narrator mentions “they did not get along” (p 11). Another example is after she cooks dinner, Art thanks her but her husband response by saying “ …the chicken I thought was, too dry” (p 44) then he leaves the room asking his son to accompany him in the living room, leaving Mala alone. Throughout the text we see other examples of the couple not getting along, but we don’t really know why. Finally, towards the end of the book Art’s father explains his reasoning for his actions and Mala tells Art about the way it makes her feel. Art’s father explains that he does not understand why he remarried and the Mala only wants his money (p 127). Later Mala tells art that she’s “at her wits’ end”… He treats me as if I were just a maid or his nurse…worse! At least a maid had some days off and gets paid…He’s cheap!” (p 130). It’s obvious she and Mr. Spiegelman do not have a close relationship, they have a distance between them. I imagine her feeling exile and cast out from her own home, her own husband.
I think all these examples tie in with the prologue scene when “Artie” is crying because he had fallen while skating and his friends ran away leaving him. After explaining to his farther what had taken place he his father answers him saying “friends? your friends?…if you lock them together in a room with no food for a week… then you could see what it is, friends” (p 5-6).