We learn that Vladek had a meaningless relationship with a women before he met Anja. This makes him more relate-able. When the story pauses and comes back to the "present" we see how Vladek has ages and how the war has affected him. He's won't throw anything away and he picks up trash (telephone wire) off the street. We see him count and double count his pills.

The polish accent Vladek has gives it a human feel. We understand that English is not his first language so it makes sense that his English is not perfect.

Art resents Vladek for throwing away his mother's diaries. Vladek is very traditional while Art is not. Vladek constantly gets on Art's nerves whenever Vladek brings up money.

The Jews are depicted as mice while the Nazis are shown as cats. Like cats hunting mice, Nazis hunted Jews. When Vladek is hiding and trying to blend in with the Polish community, he is shown wearing a Pig mask. It's interesting that rats are shown in Maus when the Jewish characters are mice. This makes them more human.

Humanization visually through clothing and through the description of day to day life to make them more relatable.
The dialect made you think more about what was actually being said and try to understand who they are and where they come from.
The relationship between Art and Vladek was based off of respect, they could fight but still be able to talk in a calm manner. It was almost friendly.
Illustrating the characters as animals made it easier to differentiate between the different roles and gave us initial characteristics to work with.

Danielle, Anthony, Joe

Maus humanizes the characters by depicting them as mice, which are typically not predatory animals. Maus also does this by giving the mice occupations and human traits.

The dialect is a reflection of the modern time, it's common and casual vernacular. The father speaks in broken English, reflecting his journey from Poland and through the Holocaust. The use of bold, italics, and punctuation is used to stress words, again making it read as common dialogue.

Art and Vladek have a strained relationship, which is a reflection of the dominant personality Vladek possesses. However these dominating traits were useful during his time in the war.

The presence of illustrations allow for the audience to feel more empathetic to the characters. Less straight narrative is needed in a graphic novel, where pictures and images can tell a story alone.

Danielle, Anthony, Joe

It would be interesting to try to film it in a stop-motion style. It provides a sort of disconnect from the humans and the animamls

We'd choose animation. It would be too hard to match the feeling of the Holocaust so we feel that it would be best if it was animated. It would be mice the whole time except for when we see Art in his studio sketching. Then it would switch to Art being a human with a mouse mask on. It would be black and white and then one or two objects have color. Johnny Depp (in Secret Window) as Art. Donald Sutherland as Vladek. Keith Sutherland can be the younger version of Vladek.