As you begin to read Maus, what are your first impressions? What do you think about the GRAPHIC NOVEL genre as a medium for conveying history? How does it differ from traditional print? Provide textual examples from Maus I chapters 1-4.
Guidelines:
- Your response needs to be 75-100 words. At the end of your response please put your first name, last initial, and school initials in parenthesis.
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Maus gave me the impression that it was a book that would be more entertaining than any other novel I've read. I believe that the graphic novel is a unique way to explain a story and still have the attention of the reader. Some readers, like me, prefer visual aids. It paints a clearer picture while explaining the story. Unlike the story of Anne Frank, this story explains the story with images by showing the author's perspective. Vladek is talking to Artie throughout the first few chapters about his life. Vladek talks about his love, tough experiences in war, and struggles in life.
ReplyDelete(Angel J. SAHS)
So far, I have fallen in love with the Graphic Novel Genre as it gives us a first hand account of what visually occurred in a person's life. I love that these illustrations are a primary source of Art's and Vladek's mind and interpretation of what happened in their own life. Art does not have to explain to the reader in text that he is an older guy because he does that through his illustrations making him wear glasses and take pills. He combines this with text however when Vladek says "It would take many books, my life, and no one wants to hear such stories." I also really like how attitude and mood do not have to be written down textually because when Vladek says " I don't want you should write this in your book." because it is clearly illustrated in the pictures. I am looking forward to how the rest of the books pans out and to how captivating the second one will be.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of Maus was very interesting because i begin to read a story a different way than i usually do. I think the Graphic novel is a great way to convey history because it uses pictures to describe the story. Unlike other authors who don't use pictures to describe stories, i get to see Spiegelman's perspective on the book. A traditional print is in paragraphs with longer sentences and pictures. In Maus, the layout is very different from the normal novels. These are some main differences between a traditional and comic novel print.
ReplyDeleteGilberto D (SAHS)
My first impression of Maus was like not a book about a holocaust survivor, but a children book. As I read the book, I figure that its not only a great book to teach children about the Holocaust, but adults too. Graphic novel its a really good way to make the reader be interested in the book. Graphic novel helps the reader understand and images more what Vladek went through during the Nazi occupation in Poland. This book had shown people that says that Graphic novel books are not good literature books. Well, this book proof people wrong. The Traditional print are books that only have writings and words, but no or little illustrations. This book really differs from other Holocaust books.
ReplyDeleteAlfonso A (SAHS)
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ReplyDeleteMy first impression of Maus was that it was going to be a book about the Holocaust, but over simplified, which after I read, wasn’t the case. Using graphic novels to convey history, I feel, is very unique, as it provides visuals to go along with the text. For example, in Maus, Vladek describes how the Jews were being treated, saying, “It was very hard there for the Jews-terrible!" This was accompanied with a picture of how the Jews were being treated. This makes it different from traditional print because it helps the reader not only picture what is going on, but also helps the reader understand, as well.
ReplyDeleteRaul L. (SAHS)
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ReplyDeleteMy first impression of Maus was that the book was going to be a simple, comic- like children's book, based on its format, but like the saying goes “never judge a book by its cover". I think that the graphic novel format is a great way to teach history. It allows the reader to immerse themselves in the book with help of visual aids that can be helpful when dealing with a complex subject. It differs from traditional print because with regular books, you must visualize what’s taking place on your own and sometimes it may not be accurate.
ReplyDeleteFrankie Y. (SAHS)
My first impression of Maus was me thinking that the book would be an easy, simple read with little meaning or plot. As I have gotten farther in the book, I realize that it is a great way of portraying this topic because not only does it have a picture, but it is more personable and shows conversation, which is easier to comprehend. On page fifteen, at the top it shows that the panel goes away and it presents it as more of a conversation. I believe that this may be a fantastic way to portray the Holocaust and let the reader invision it for themselves.
ReplyDeleteChase E (SAHS)
Lachlan Ansley
ReplyDeleteIn seventh grade I did a project on the holocaust. Reading Maus, for me, adds a interesting aspect that helps visual learners like myself. So far, I've found myself slowly and gradually getting more interested in Art's fathers story and feeling more a part of it like I'm getting told by his father in person. I think the Graphic novel aspect helps visually and better helps submerge you in the story. I think versus normal text, that it helps not only visual learners, but those who have trouble paying attention like it makes it easier to read. For instance, when Art goes from present to future, the illustrations really take you there, as well as the mood changes and narration by his father.
Lachlan A (Sahs B3)
Ben Brandon
ReplyDeleteArt is qualified to talk about the holocaust because his parents are Holocaust survivors. The whole story is about his Father's Holocaust experience. My first impression of Maus is good. So far, it seems to be a very interesting story that I am excited to continue reading. I like the idea of using a graphic novel to tell history. The pictures help push the message that is being told. A graphic novel uses mainly pictures to convey a message, a traditional book uses mainly words.
Ben Brandon (block 3)
My first impression of Maus was that it was going to be another novel but explains and talks about a major topic, the holocaust. I think the graphic novel is a perfect way to describe history. It allows the reader to fully get an understanding of the topic through the novels pictures. It also allows the reader to visually see the conversation and the emotion between Vladek and Art. It differs from traditional print by containing pictures all throughout the story. It also contains gutter which are the spaces between the panels and speech balloons where the characters speak to one another.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of Maus is that it is just a simple children's kind of book because of the pictures and the way that it is formatted. Soon into the book I notice that it is not that and that it actually is very interesting and it talks about the holocaust with animals as the characters. I really like how it is portrayed with a graphic novel instead of as a normal book would be. Normally traditional print will bore somebody a lot faster than this will so that really gives this a boost. It gives us a very good explanation of how Vladeek had to go through everything with the nazis.
ReplyDeleteDavid M (St. Augustine)
Before reading Maus, I honestly thought that the book was going to be a boring and tough to read, but after I began reading I realized that it being a graphic novel is a more unique way to explain history. I think the graphic novel genre is a great way to teach history because its different style. It's a great way to read and see visuals. Unlike history books, Maus has illustrations that show us readers what it was actually like back then. History books explain it to us but they offer very few images to support the text.
ReplyDelete(Kendall P SAHS)
My first impression of Maus would be that it couldn't be taken seriously for being a graphic novel. As many would think, graphics novels are simply “comic books.” Reading graphics novels made me realize how many platforms could be used to present an important story. Maus provided multiple ways to fully understand a major event in history. Visual aid proves to provide more insight such as Vladek’s facial expressions when speaking of his friends who died during the war. Graphic novels have proved to show how both visual aid and written text can provide a full description of a story.
ReplyDeletePeraza J. (SAHS)
Before reading Maus, I thought the book was fictional with mice trying to survive the Holocaust. However, after reading the book and going over what it is about in class, I now understand it is nonfiction and the mice are just portraying real people. I think the graphic novel genre makes it easier to read and keeps the reader more focused and involved in the story. It differs from traditional printing because the illustrations can partially tell a story themselves.
ReplyDelete(Andrew G. SAHS)
Trying to visualize a book is much much easier when you have pictures that guide you along the way. Those pictures help you grasp what the characters actions are like. Also, pictures are a great way to convey history and tell about specific events that occurred. It differs from traditional print in a way that you can grasp a whole lot more of the information. As I said, pictures really help with visualization
ReplyDelete(Jorge K SAHS)
This is my first time reading a graphic novel and I am really liking it because it helps you visualize the story better. It is a great way for us to understand what the author is trying to tell. And along with the pictures are an adequate amount of text so you can gt background knowledge on what is going on. I liked this better than a traditional book because I tend to wander off when reading normal text but this great novel by Art Speigelman keeps me engaged with pictures. I also think that using mice and cats was very clever because it is a very effective way of getting the message across and it is something that everyone can understand.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression of MAUS was that it would be like any other childrens comic book. As i read on, I was intrigued about how they incorporated the history of the Holocaust into a book with comics. The illustrations really help paint the picture of what is going on. Personally, i think that MAUS is much better for gathering history about the Holocaust than any other history textbook because it provides things like facial expressions and images of the surroundings.
ReplyDeleteWill N. (SAHS)
This graphic novel got my attention because it is a book about the war and it explains it better for little kids. I as a reader prefer visual aids I learn way better with pitctures. Reading a regular book is different because you read and you use your imagination for the pictures. A graphic novel shows and tells you what the book really is about. Vladek basically tells Artie what happened during the war and how he met Artie’s mother.
ReplyDelete(Lance F. SAHS)
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ReplyDeleteWhen first reading the book, you realize it moves its story like comic book: fast, easy to follow, but with the exception of being longer. You can see the emotion and expressions in the characters faces and since this is historical, I feel it is more important to know how they felt while they were going through their struggles. It paints a picture in your head of the setting. When you see the expression on Anja’s face, you really do realize what trouble she is in, because her face says that what she is doing is terrible.
ReplyDeleteJacob R. (SAHS)
When I first heard that I was reading a comic book for english class I was taken aback. Now I realize how important it is to read a graphic novel. A graphic novel shows how something happened more authentically. It gives less room for your imagination to fill in false details. The images really show how things look, for example, how crowded the camps a the ghettos were. How People were on their own and often couldn't rely on anyone but them selfs. The family bribed and gave everything they had to the Gestapo but still ended up in the camps. I also thing Art Is very qualified to write about tragedy and I also thing he enjoys writing about it, or at least has the most success with it.
ReplyDeleteMatthew. A
SAHS
My first impression of Maus was that it was going to be another boring novel but explains and talks about what the holocaust was like. I think the graphic novel is a good way to show this because you get a image to rely on. It allows the reader to get an understanding of the topic through the pictures. It also allows the reader to visually see the conversation and the emotion between the characters. It differs because it contains pictures all throughout the story. It also contains gutters; which are the spaces between the panels and speech bubbles where the characters speak to one another.
ReplyDeleteMy first thoughts toward the book Maus was that it would be oddly presented, due to the peculiar format and title. As I journeyed into the pages i came to find that the pictures in the book provided I broader spectrum into the characters lives. I believe that the novel conveys history by toning the horrors of the holocaust down by repllacing the characters with mice. Doing this still lets Art Spiegelman tell us about the events that occured during this sadening time. The graphic novel also allows us to see the characters emotions and feelings toward things. An example is when lucia was dramatically hanging on to Vladek's leg, in hopes that he would stay with her in Czestochowa. By providing art i do beleive i am able to better understand the story.
ReplyDeleteMy first impression on Maus was how can a topic as serious as the Holocaust be illustrated through a graphic novel. As I progressed through the book, I realized how a graphic novel was a good idea. The idea of having the Jews as mice and the Nazis help paint a picture by showing how the relationship was between them. The Nazis would hunt the Jews down and would kill them. The way Art Spiegelman uses the graphic novel from, he writes as if it was a story about two other characters but it's actually about him and his father from the past.
ReplyDeleteRyan R.(SAHS)