Spiegelman's Use Of Animals In Animal Farm

Humans pride themselves on being civilized so much that we use the word humane, which steams from the root word human and is defined by Dictionary.com as being “characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, especially for the suffering and distressed.” We pride ourselves on being able to rise above our animalistic nature yet in the darkest hours of our history you are able to see the beast that lies within humans: you are able to bare witness to the atrocious acts of violence and hatred. Spiegelman knowing this animalistic sense of ourselves through the use of animals creates a human connection that resonates with the reader. Spiegelman decided to portray the characters in his novel Maus as animals; he as a writer

wished to show that in the darkness that was the Holocaust, humans were no better than animals.
The idea of using animals in the place of humans is not necessarily a new idea and when you refer to the historical context of what these two highly regarded artists who chose to elude to the animalistic sense the parallels between humans and animals are clearly drawn.

The idea was used in George Orwell's Animal Farm to convey the message that all violent revolutions which aim to and initially succeed eventually regress back to their animalistic totalitarian roots. This entire story is based on Stalin’s rise to power in the Soviet Union to become the dictator that slaughtered millions of people. Old Major who dies in the beginning of the novel represents Karl Marx and how his communist ideas shaped the ultimate uprising of Stalin. Napoleon stands for Josef Stalin the ruthless Soviet Dictator who rose to power and seized it despite the general consensus that Trotsky would be Lennon’s successor. Snowball represents Trotsky and is forced into exile from his friends on the animal farm because of Napoleon. Yet what is comparable to Spiegelman is the choice of animals used. Spiegelman used cats and mice while Orwell used pigs. While pigs are prevalent in Maus they do not necessarily have a very strong role in the story. The pigs and choice of animals in each book demonstrate animalistic qualities in people that is often used to describe animals and in the case of the pigs greed is that trait. In SPiegelman’s case it was that cat and mouse game that characterized their back and fourth between the Jews and the

Nazis.
Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of the Nazi Party once said, “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.” Art Spiegelman, with this idea in mind, uses animal metaphors in Maus to make his reader ponder the thought and ask themselves what he truly intended by using animals rather than humans in his book. Art Spiegelman in his graphic novel depicts the Jews and Nazis as mice and cats. The Jews are depicted as mice, often seeming more innocent than the cats and displaying both the good and bad qualities that humans possess. The German’s on the other hand are depicted as the cats and it is important to note that the Nazis are displayed as a more aggressive predatory cat while the remaining Germans are displayed as cats that are far less menacing. Spiegelman chose to do so that it is apparent that the Nazi idea of superiority is a fallacy. They are portrayed as different, and some may argue that he did this to prove the opposite point but if that was the case why would Spiegelman give us moments that show very human emotions in the mice? Why would he give the mice human emotions that are sometimes honorable and emotions that resonate with us?
Spiegelman throughout the novel gives the animals human qualities which are sometimes honorable and other times are not as honorable. There are two human traits that often consume humans: love and greed. Both of these two very human emotions are presented on page 127 when Artie’s father is discussing what is to be done with his possessions. At this point in the story Vladek is at odd with his wife who believes that he should not leave any possessions to his brother in Israel and even his own son: Artie. Vladek speaks to Artie about how his mother, “Anja wanted that this ring should be for your wife.” (I, 127) Vladek while saying this is holding a ring admiring the ring that once belonged to his one true love. In the sixth panel of the page the tensions between Mala, Vladek’s wife, and Vladek are vocalized when Vladek says, “I said, ‘Mala you SEE how sick I am. Let me a little bit have some peace. What you want from me?” (I, 127) Vladek is referring to a specific point in his life after his heart attack in which he is laying in his hospital bed and his wife begins asking about the will. This is an example of when greed showed through even with these animals but rather than trying to hide this portion of their personality Vladek tells Artie that “she screamed, ‘I want the money! THE MONEY, THE MONEY!” (I, 127)
On this page you are able to see Artie’s father Vladek admire the ring that once belonged to the one love of his life to eventually becoming frustrated then finally on the page Vladek is morose, morning the loss of his one true love. While Vladek is admiring the ring his eyebrows are raised to convey that this had an extreme amount of emotional significance to him. It is important to note that as Spiegelman transitions lines of panels to the second line panels of the page, Vladek’s eyebrows are more emphasized and slanted more aggressively to show his frustration. Vladek’s eyebrows quite literally flip so that they resemble less of a “^” and more of a “v.” In the first few frames Vladek’s eyebrows are not extremely pronounced but during the second line they are a major focal point of the those images. The Vladek’s emotions change once again towards the end of the page when he buries his face within his pals and weeps for his deceased love. It is apparent in this scene that the mice are completely able of feeling human emotions and this shows the actual range of these emotions.With Vladek finishing that page feeling miserable the question arises does he affirm the stereotype of the miserly old Jew? Vladek is interesting and complex when it comes to this sense, he has seen the horrors of the Holocaust and lived to tell the tale. Yet it is difficult to tell if his portrayal either confirms or denies the stereotype of Jews. What makes Art Spiegelman brilliant is the fact that the entire graphic novel he walks that fine line and the entire time you’re thinking what everything means down to his last image. Everything in this novel is calculated and precise. The spill at the dinner table has significance in a time when everything was rationed, people didn’t have food to waste.
It would be a fallacy to say that Vladek’s portrayal confirms a Jewish stereotype or denies it, Spiegelman is just arguing that despite their differences they were both real people. He has moments of being the “miserly old jew” but to this I must inquire, why wouldn’t you be miserable when for a major portion of your life everyone around you was trying to kill you? Why wouldn’t you be miserable when you saw thousands of deaths every day in a death camp? Why wouldn’t you be miserable if the love of your life killed themselves? Hitler, while still being pure evil, was a genius in the sense that he had the German people believing this type of stereotype. Then psychologically for the Jewish people they began to fulfill this self-fulfilling prophecy. Therefore even though Vladek isn’t necessarily that miserly old jew he has that idea in the back of his head along with the horrific memories of what he saw and those combined can make for a very miserable existence. This does not disqualify the fact that Spiegelman uses the animal metaphor to create a connection that resonates with his audience in fact it does quite the opposite. It creates a firm connection that mioveshis audience and makes Vladek that more more relatable. Some may argue that he is a miserly old jew but in reality Spiegelman wants his readers to relate to what Vladek has been through rather than everything being happy.
Spiegelman decided to portray the characters in his novel Maus as animals; he as a writer wished to show that in the darkness that was the Holocaust, humans were no better than animals. He wanted us to see ourselves in these animals so that they resonate with us. Just like Orwell when you read that animals are doing these things it causes a reflection in which it is important to inquire, are we better than animals in this case? SPiegelman makes us ask ourselves this question through his use of animals so that we may strive to be better human beings.