Maus is such powerful and striking family story, obviously reviewed and heralded by critics as such. Thinking about telling the story of my own family seems almost silly by comparison. Maus is so powerful because it seamlessly navigates through a complicated parent-child relationship and the story of Holocaust victims, but one seems almost as important as the other through the book. Obviously the Holocaust was a human tragedy of no comparison, and yet Spiegelman also conveys the importance of the relationship with his father, which is so important because it is the reality of the present time. Spiegelman does not allow the reader to stay in the past and learn purely of his father’s Holocaust story. Sometimes, it seemed to me, the narrative of the present time (when Spiegelman is gathering the story from his father) is just in the way of me hearing more of the Holocaust story. In those times I just wanted to know what was happening to Artie’s father in the past, instead of listening to him bicker with his son in the present. The story of the present, though, is so important because it is the result of Vladek’s Holocaust experience. The story of the present hinges on whether the Vladek of the past is able to survive. By understanding the horrors of Vladek’s past, his present grouchiness seems more justified and his complicated relationship with Artie is more understandable. Thus the family narrative serves the purpose of mapping the past and connecting it with the reality of the present. I thought this was truly amazing.
I would not be able to expertly weave in my own relationship to my close relatives as I narrated a much grander human story. I certainly wouldn’t be able to communicate my story by drawing. But then, I’ve always had the impulse to tell the story of my family, because I know it is at once incredibly unique and incredibly relative to the lives of others. I often write down the stories of my family, either daily interactions that I find funny, or interesting family stories from grandparents, hoping that someday I’ll have the wisdom to know what to do with them. Sometimes I think everyone does this and that the impulse for narrative is just innately strong across the human race- that we all want to write down stories and share them in hopes that we can either find someone who relates to us, or let others know they’re not alone, or even to put the story down in a some form so it is not trapped inside the mind. I think a lot of stories exist as movies or books or paintings because people can’t bear to be the only ones who know or see the world from their own perspective. So besides all of this, I have the impulse to tell the story of my family, too. My motivation is no clearer than others; I suppose I’d be hoping to reach out to a large audience, but mostly to document my family’s story for future generations of my family. I would have them know that nothing has ever been simple or easy as family tree lines seem to indicate, and that things have never been as difficult or complicated as breaks in the family tree might indicate.
Once again, after a narrative like Maus, it’s daunting to consider creating my own. I still think it’s so important, though, for the purpose of connecting past and present. For the story of my own family, I would choose the medium of the novel. Besides the fact that I have very little drawing ability, I like the novel because the reader has to create their own images as they read, and many readers will use the images from their own lives simply because it’s what they know best. Thus the novel may be more powerful as a tool for connecting to the lives of others, simply causing them to place some of their own life into the story through what they imagine as they read. I’d like to write mostly about the daily events of my family life, and how these events connect to the live of past generations. I would use humor to tell most of the stories, because most of the events are funny, but also because it would be more enjoyable to write. Humorous family narratives have always entertained me, and I’d hope to provide the same entertainment for others and make connections to some parts of their life. It’s a work in progress…
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