Art Spiegelman's Maus II

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Recommended: Themes in Holocaust literature

The beginning of chapter two in Maus II starts off with a monologue by Art regarding the publishing of Maus I and creation of Maus II, short tidbits of conversations between him and various reporters, and a visit to his therapist, Pavel. While coming across as unrelated to the novel’s overall focus of the recording and recounting of Vladek’s experiences during the Holocaust, this section of the novel reveals Art’s intentions behind publishing Maus and how it personally connects to his own life. First of all, Art states, “I’ve gotten 4 serious offers to turn my book into a TV-special or movie. (I don’t wanna)” (Spiegelman 41). This shows that, from the very beginning, Art had no intentions of gaining considerable fame or fortune by publishing the project. In fact, he felt that he had a responsibility to provide readers with a true account of a survivor’s experiences during the Holocaust and nothing more. Specifically, this can be seen Art admits that, “I never thought of reducing it to a message. I mean, I wasn’t trying to convince anybody of anything” (Spiegelman 42), when asked what message he wanted Maus to convey to readers.

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