Monday, January 25, 2010
See More About the Author Himself in the MAUS II
Compare MAUS II with MAUS I, I can see that the author put more of his own life in the second book. Such as we can see him working on his desk with a mouse mask (47), his father plays a little trick on him to have more of his attention on his father (13). In the first book, at most time is Art trying to convince his father to continue the story. However, in the second book, Vladek becomes more willing to continue his story while Art sometimes feels annoyed by his father. My understanding is that the relationship between them has changed because of the publification of first book. On one hand, Vladek understands his health issue, his needs to finish the story as a memory of his life before something bad could have happened. On the other hand, Art has his own life. While Vladek only needs someone accompanied, Art needs to think for his father, his girlfriend and himself. I think it is a success to mix Art's life into the book because the second become richer but not only the war.
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I also thought it was interesting that Vladek started telling his story without prompting so often, and that we got to see so much of Art's personal life. At the same time, though, it seemed like comic-book-Art became more passive in the second book while listening to his father than he was in the first. Maybe because his father was already dead by the time he was drawing Maus II?
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