"Maus: A Survivors Tale" is a portion of Art Spiegelman's book about his parents' experiences in the Holocaust.  In this particular part of the book, Spiegelman's father describes the occasion when all of the Jews in his city were rounded up by the Nazis and divided into groups. It also includes a short story recounted by his step mother about her parents' death.  Spiegelman tells these stories through the medium of a graphic novel that includes both black-and-white drawings and dialogue.  In "Maus: A Survivor's Tale," Spiegelman uses text bubbles, metaphor, and the illustrated facial expressions of his characters to convey the horrible realities of the Holocaust.  

Spiegelman uses different layers of text bubbles to lend his stories extra detail from a variety of perspectives.  In his father's story, he positions the speech outside of the frames and places tiny boxes of dialogue inside of some pictures to give background to his story and add extra details.  For example, "To go, it was not good. But, not to go- it was also not good" (Spiegelman, 136).  This shows how the Jews knew that either choice would lead to harsh consequences; in fact, there was really no choice here at all. They had to go.  Another example is, "after my mother died with cancer, he lived there in the house of my sister Fela, and her four small children" (Spiegelman, 137).  This gives background information about Art's father, Vladek, and his sister, Fela, which is important later in the story.  Additionally, the speech bubbles within the frames give the perspectives of different people within the story.  For example, "I'm not going. It's a Nazi trap!" (Spiegelman, 136), is a speech bubble from an unidentified person during the Nazi announcement.  The bubble coming from an unidentified person in the picture gives the reader the impression that this was not the point of view of just one person in the crowd, but instead the point of view of many of the Jews at the gathering.  Additionally, the speech bubbles within the frames make the story feel more present, like it is happening now, instead of in flashback format.  The speech bubbles within the frames put the reader inside the story, making it feel more real and personal, just as movies do. 

Another visual tool Spiegelman uses is the metaphor of Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.  In this graphic novel, Spiegelman draws his characters as these animals.  This portrayal has several different effects.  Firstly, Spiegelman puts emphasis on the idea that the Nazis were preying on the Jews for amusement, as cats do with mice.  This idea is illustrated in Vledek's story when the Nazis were separating the Jews into the groups based on their relative merits.  It seemed that there was little reasoning behind the determination of the "good side" and the "bad side," as if it did not really matter to the Nazis.  This depiction gives the impression that the Nazis did not care at all about the people they were playing around with, the same way a cat cares little about the mouse with which it toys.  But in fact, the distinction was real and important, and designed to benefit the Nazis.  Women with too many children were being sent to die, while young, strong prisoners were sent to labor camps.  Spiegelman draws the mice in a way that gives them all an identical appearance; the only features he provides are two dots as eyes on a mouse-shaped head.  Every mouse is the same size and shape.  Additionally, they are mostly all wearing heavily shaded-in clothing.  Giving them all the same face and general appearance causes all of the mice to appear virtually identical, which is exactly how the Nazis treated them.  Not only does portraying the Jews as mice render them anonymous, but it also conveys the perception of the Jews as vermin that needed to be exterminated. World-wide, mice are regarded as pests.  They are despised, captured, and killed.  They are vectors of disease, symbols of poverty and filth; perhaps their only value to humans is as experimental animals. 

Spiegelman uses the facial expressions and the physical appearances of his characters to demonstrate the emotional effects the Holocaust had on each of them.  For example, Art's father, Vladek, finishes his story with the implied sacrifice of his father's life in order to give aid to his sister.  Vladek appears to be worn out and upset, as Spiegelman draws him slumped over his bike with a depressed expression on his face.  This gives the reader the impression that recalling his traumatic experience has caused him physical pain.  In the second part of the story, Art's step-mother Mala's account, Spiegelman does not illustrate the events of her short story.  Rather, he explicitly departs from the use of uniform facial features and endows her character with expression by moving her eyebrows to show her sadness. Mala's face changes from a concerned look (her eyebrows near the top of her head), to a melancholy expression (her eyebrows sink, and her head tilts down) as the reader learns about her tragedy.  When her story concludes and the two go into the basement, her facial expression continue to evolve as Art sorts through his father's effects in the basement.  The reader sees her eyebrows converge and the lines on her face become more pronounced, as they deftly portray her anger and depression.  Spiegelman uses Mala's facial expression to show her frustration and fury when talking about her traumatized husband.

Spiegelman's use of text bubbles, metaphor, and the drawn facial expressions and appearances of his characters successfully express the harsh realities of the Holocaust to the audience.  The use of the text bubbles delivers important information as well as draws the reader into the story.  The use of metaphor illustrates the Nazi's regard for the Jews as less than human.   The illustrated facial expression and physical appearances of the characters whilst they tell their stories show how profound and long-lasting the damages of the Holocaust were.  Illustrating his father's story in a graphic novel not only allowed for Spiegelman to include additional detail about his father recount, but it also enabled him to further connect to the reader.

