Maus Book 1 (6 points)

 Every time the topic of the holocaust is brought up whether it's in school or elsewhere, it breaks my heart. Maus is a beautiful piece that describes the experience of a Jew in this time period in a simplified way that really triggers the emotions. I think something unique about this story is that the people aren't actually people at all but they are drawn as animals. To be more specific, the Jews were drawn as mice while the Nazis were characterized as cats. This is utilized really well in my opinion. Cats and mice have always been seen as enemies or predators and prey because cats eat mice of course. It makes a lot of sense for the story and for the topic of Jews vs. Nazis. But I also think it helps the reader connect to the situations even more. It's easy to see the emotional aspect of the story through simplified expressions and it also helps those who cannot relate to the Jewish people entirely, relate to them as just people. At some point, you forget about the characters being animals at all. In the story, they actually mention how terrible the rats are that are crawling around in the shed. It makes the issues somehow more real while being delivered in a fictitious representation. I think that's beautiful and I love the way that the story is being told through the eyes of a father who is traumatized from his experiences and heartbroken from losing the love of his life through terrible circumstances. For this story all in all being a difficult one to tell, it was done flawlessly and in a unique way that I will always remember which I think makes this piece iconic. It deserves the recognition it has recieved. 

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