At first glance "Maus" is a biographical graphic novel about the father of the author's survival of the holocaust, but I think at the heart of this narrative is the effect that adversity and loss can have on people and their families. In a story dealing with such events as the Holocaust you would think that the hardship of the horrific event would be the main conflict, but this story in my opinion focuses more on the after math of such an event as it's effects creep through time into future What struck me the most by this story, is its ability to tell a difficult and serious story, in a way thats palatable for younger audiences. Perhaps Art Spiegelman is successful in this because of his use of symbolism in representing characters. The individuals in the story are human-like, but not human. Spiegelman uses cats to represent nazis and mice to represent jews. This clever portrayal dehumanizes a sensitive subject. The reader is still struck with incredible emotion while reading, but since the subjects aren't human, the images don't seem as graphic. The author represents himself in the story, as he interviews his father about his experiences in the Holocaust. In this presentation, the story feels more personal and it allows the reader to put themselves in Art's shoes I couldn’t really take some of the concepts seriously due to the fact that the characters were mice. It felt like I was looking at a Tom and Jerry cartoon sequence.