WEEK 7: MAUS AND BAREFOOT GEN

I remember when I was in middle school learning about the Holocaust. A teacher gave us passports that we would have to have every class for attendance. We would read The Diary of Ann Frank, watched "The Devil's Arithmetic". Powerful pieces that helped me learn more about what it was like for the Jews at that time. When reading Maus, it affected me in the same way as when I was in middle school. I felt sad, empathetic to the many innocent people, families that were either killed, separated or traumatized by this experience. Compared to the other works portraying the experience of Jews during this time, Maus showed more than just the time but how the generations after were affected.

Seen above, Art Spiegelman would break up the chapters and his father recounting his experience by depicting his father in the present. Not sugarcoating or glamorizing his father. I liked these moments. It made the story feel real portraying life and showing the relatable connection between father and son or different generations. I felt hopeless while reading as they went place to place trying to escape and survive. I was emotionally invested as I learn about how his father lost his first son, his wife’s family and seeing how Anja dealt with mental health. I really related to Anja seeing what she went through, what seemed like baby blues, similar to my mother who had postpartum depression turning into bipolar. I related to Art who kept asking questions about his mother, learning about his parent’s past. Slowly as his questions were being answered and finding any trace of his mother erased was heartbreaking. In a similar fashion, growing up when I learned about my mother’s bipolar I was conflicted as I learned more and more about my parents. In a word, the rose-colored lens I held up for my parents shattered but I found comfort to learn even my family had problems.