Over her life, she has read all the books in her collection. She keeps reminding me, if I read her books, “Kai, don’t break or put bunny ears in them.” All her books have all the pages together, with notes from when she read the book; the protective covers are still present. She values her books a lot.
The graphic novel that I picked up had “Maus“ in big red letters by Art Spiegelman on the cover. As I was puzzled over what this book was about, I saw an illustration of what looked like two mice, huddling close to each other.
Now, I knew a little about World War II and the Holocaust, and thought, with this knowledge, I will be able to understand it. Having some basic knowledge helped me understand the book. However, when my mom and I sat down to talk about it, I realized I had a lot to learn.
As my mom and I discussed, I became aware of all the overarching themes and deeper meanings were lost to me. To navigate the ideas in the book, I sat down and talked with my mom about all the themes and deeper meanings. We did this over many mornings during breakfast when we usually had a moment together to talk.
I asked philosophical and historical questions. From our discussions, I understood the book on a whole new level. The book itself was not challenging, but if you include all the themes and the symbolism, it is not a children’s book. It is complex and dark, it is fascinating and horrifying — this was a book about the Holocaust, not about a walk in the park.
The more my mom and I discussed, the more I became interested in learning about events that happened during World War II and after the war.
Approaching 6th grade, I kept talking to my mom about philosophical ideas, such as communism, utopias, dystopias, and dictatorships. I noticed symbols used in other comic books, such as the swastika, used in another comic series Asterix by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny to censor a curse word.
Maus opened up these new areas of knowledge and thought for me, and it is still one of my favorite books to read today; I find new details and dig out insights even after reading it multiple times. It has made me into a person who is willing to go down a rabbit hole to expand my knowledge.
For instance, I now try to interact more with the head of the Philosophy Department at Princeton, who lives on my street. We talk about philosophical ideas, even extending the idea of philosophy into other fields, such as science and mathematics.
Maus by Art Spiegelman piqued several interests that were previously dormant inside me and brought them out. This is how I, as an individual, began to love history and philosophy, all because of a graphic novel called Maus.
