Feminist Criticism Paper

Leah Mancuso
Feminist Paper
Period 3
1/22/12
Art Spiegelman’s two books; Maus I and Maus II, are both very bold writings of
his father’s survival in the Holocaust. After their publications, they opened up many criticisms
from people around the world. Most readers thought they were great representations, but
others thought Spiegelman exploited his father, and even some feminists believed the books
were sexist to women due to the incredibly “weak” women characters. Spiegelman’s portrayal,
however, of women in Maus I and Maus II, is merely based off of his father’s accounts, and is
neither negative or positive.
One way that his books were not a negative representation of women, is that the
main female characters were split by different time periods. Lucia and Anja were written mostly
in a WWII and post-WWII setting, where things were much different. At the time, the world was
in a state of war-panic and paranoia. It’s understandable that even little things would worry
someone more in this time period then the current one. Francoise, on the other hand, lives in
more of a present-day time and in America where freedom isn’t questioned like it was in Europe
in WWII. Mala, who also lives at this time, is considered weak, but this could be from the affects
of WWII, which she was alive for.
With different time periods comes different viewpoints, specifically of women.
The women’s rights movement, a going movement from the 18th century, was still working
on making much progress in the 1930s/40s, when WWII was happening. The movement still
had not reached it’s current status until much later in the 20th century. This shows that there
was still a much more negative view of women at the time, making Lucia and Anja’s struggles
more emphasized. In the late 20th century, where Francoise’s story took place, the feminist
movement was at it’s high point. Women were top leaders of their industries, and had the right
to stand up for what they believed in, like Francoise often does. The completely different overall
view of women at the time more then likely affected their strength and how they were perceived
to us now.
Another reason Spiegelman’s writings were not meant to be negative on
women, is that the women all went through very different situations that would affect how strong
they are. For example, Anja went through the Holocaust, and Francoise did not. Of course
their experiences are very different, so to belittle Anja for her “lack of strength” is unfair. Lucia,
who may or may not have went through the Holocaust, is more debatable as far as if she has
a “right” to be weak, but it all goes back to the time period. Mala went through the Holocaust as
well, and it could be argued is the reason for her weakness in the present-day.
Maus I and Maus II are just Spiegelman’s written accounts of his father’s
experiences in the Holocaust, and should not be up for debate, especially on feminist grounds.
To even try and compare any of the women’s situations to each other is like comparing apples
to oranges. Spiegelman’s portrayal of women are only based off of what his father, Vladek, told
him, and is neither negative or positive.