Identity as Presented in Maus
Throughout all forms of literature, identity plays a large role in the characters. This ideal shows how we, the reader, view them, how they view themselves, and how other characters in the story view them as well. But what if this identity gets lost in the mix, stolen from the character without them even knowing what has occurred? Written by Art Spiegelman, this novel presents a memoir esk story of the main character, Artie, and his father, Vladek, telling the story of Vladek’s time at Auschwitz. But instead of being drawn as people, all the characters are shown as various animals, such as the Jews being mice, the Germans being cats and the Polish being pigs. Over time, unknown to the mice characters, they lose the…show more content… But these ways are not as talked about in the story, they are rather overlooked. Overall, they help the mice lose their identity just as much as the other, possibly more prominent details. One of the tactics used includes the tattooing of the identification numbers on to themselves. Throughout the whole book, only one panel presents dedication to this form of dehumanization. (Maus 2 pg 26) This is much overlooked in the book because Vladek is able to be called by his last name by the Kapo and some of the guards, but in reality, this was degrading to most of the prisoners at all the camps. Most people were solely known by their numbers and no longer had a name, they were no longer themselves. Another tactic used to oppress the people, even before going into the camps, is the yellow Star of David that had to be sown on the clothing of the Jewish people throughout Europe. This is not once talked about in the book and only a few panels present this. In reality, these stars were used to single out the Jewish from the rest of the people in the community. Instead of shown as individuals, all Jew are grouped together in one big