In general, comics and graphic art are given little attention as complete literary works. Considered devoid of substance and novelistic qualities, graphic novels are undeservedly placed in a category that does not take into account their quality and influence. That said, Art Spiegelman's MAUS Tales surpasses generalizations about graphic novels and, in turn, has become an example for demonstrating how frames, panels, and faces can produce narrative qualities inaccessible to traditional, non-pictorial novels. Uniquely, MAUS primarily weaves between two separate timelines which allows Spiegelman to tell his story as well as his father's. The story's timeline begins in the narrative present with author Art Spiegelman interviewing his father, Vladek, about his experiences during the Holocaust for the project Artie hopes to complete. In the narrative past, Artie recounts the years before the war and follows the story of his parents through their liberation from the Nazi concentration camps as told to him by his father. Accompanying this detailed story are simple, minimalist drawings that Spiegelman uses to explore real-life imagery and to create a kind of universality for all readers. That said, Spiegelman's Maus uses a combination of words and images to create an inviting, engaging, and realistic account of the Holocaust that effectively blends past experiences with present day-to-day life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Within the novels, Spiegelman uses a carefully calculated hybrid of text and images to transform the narrowly recognizable Holocaust experience into an open and inviting discussion for all readers. More importantly, the predominant visual metaphor in MAUS it is the depiction of German, Polish and American Jews as mice. Drawing in a minimalist, iconic style, Spiegelman relies on their simplicity to become an object of the reader's projection and sympathy. Interestingly, as the novel progresses, the drawings of mice become less and less representative of mice and more and more imitate the human form. For example, the novel's prologue shows a young Artie and his father looking very much like mice, complete with mouse ears, facial fur, and even tails (Spiegelman 5-6, panels 1-10). Yet these details become less and less important as the story progresses. At the end of MAUS I, it is only his triangular head and ears that separate Artie and the other mice from a rough human sketch (Spiegelman 160-161). By initially describing his characters as welcoming and cartoonish, Spiegelman pushes the reader to project into the story and experience thoughts, feelings, and emotions in the same way the characters do. As the Jews become less and less animalistic, the reader is trapped in a human experience without realizing it. Furthermore, it is this breakdown of the mouse allegory that allows Spiegelman to elicit sympathy and compassion for the oppressed in their situation. With this in mind, it is equally important to consider why, then, do the other characters in the novel remain unchanged throughout the story? Although the mice eventually lose their whiskers, tails, and other specific traits, the Nazi cats in the story never lose stripes or whiskers, nor do the pigs become any less distinctive. Spiegelman's choice to allow the mice to become increasingly iconic and universal while other characters/nationalities remain unchanged prevents the reader from sympathizing or relating to any group other than the JewsPoles and Germans. In doing so, Spiegelman successfully transforms the selective trauma and suffering of the Holocaust into something palatable and understandable for all audiences. To further demonstrate the effectiveness of keeping the illustrations simple, we can compare the MAUS drawings to Spiegelman's Prisoner on the Planet Hell comic, which depicts the emotional trauma surrounding his mother's suicide. The comic within a comic contrasts sharply with the simplified artwork of MAUS with detailed, highly stylized drawings of real human beings depicting Art's personal anguish and suffering following the death of his mother (Spiegelman 102-105). While Maus uses vague illustrations to create an inviting and relatable experience, Prisoner on Planet Hell feels isolated, personal, and specific in comparison. On that note, reading a historical account often leaves the reader disconnected and disinterested; however Spiegelman manages to create an engaging and educational narrative without ever addressing the reader directly. In short, through his oversimplification of illustration, Spiegelman achieves what a traditional novel cannot. Ostensibly, MAUS Tales provides an explicit history of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. Implicitly, however, Spiegelman emphasizes the psychological torment produced by inconceivable suffering and its lasting effect across generations, continuing to the present day. From the first chapter, Spiegelman incorporates signifiers of both the past and present into his drawings and text. In the first few pages, the reader is shown Vladek's concentration camp tattoo, pre-war photographs of both of Artie's parents, and even historically accurate depictions of telephones (Spiegelman 14-15). Yet the past is seamlessly integrated into the present with the inclusion of Artie. For example, in chapter three, Artie's body physically becomes the link between the past and the present. Lying on the floor of his father's New York apartment, Artie looks in Vladek's direction as he waits for the narration to continue. Meanwhile, his legs literally overlap the previous frame illustrating Vladek hiding in the army trenches (Spiegelman 47, panels 1-2). In this way Spiegelman prevents the past from being removed from the present. Likewise, there is a verbal intersection between past history and present experiences. When Vladek details his experience cleaning stables as a prisoner of war, he interrupts his thought: “Look what you do, Artie! You're dropping cigarette ash on the carpet. Do you want it to be like a barn in here?" (54). As the story progresses, these narrative interruptions become slightly more sinister and disturbing. For example in Maus II, Artie's cigarette smoke billows into corpses burned in the Auschwitz crematorium (Spiegelman 229, frames 7-9), By including these moments, Spiegelman demonstrates that the past and the present are not mutually exclusive: it is impossible to understand the present without first understanding the past, and vice versa, in definitive, asks the reader to consider his relationship with the story, suggesting a kind of continuity of the past into the present. Keep in mind: this is just one example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers All told, The Complete MAUS Tales directly addresses and refutes criticisms that graphic novels are lesser than conventional, non-pictorial novels by creating a unique hybrid of text and images, combined with carefully crafted animal allegory, Spiegelman transforms an isolated experience into something inviting and worthy of,2/1/)