Vonnegut vs. Spiegelman

Both Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut and the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman reflect on experiences with war. The two pieces share various similarities and differences on their storytelling style. Both authors choose to play with time in their writing. Spiegelman writes his novel as a man reminiscing to his son, so naturally it jumps from the present to the past. Vonnegut also moves throughout time in his writing. Although playing with the idea of time is a similarity between the two books, they approach the task differently. Vonnegut’s jumping from one period of time to another without much warning to the reader. This can get confusing and it made it harder for me to read. Spiegelman’s writing is more coherent and flows more naturally. For this reason, I prefer Maus to Slaughterhouse Five. The two authors also seem to view war differently. In Vonnegut’s writing, he came off as passive and indifferent to the idea of war, even though he participated in it and wrote an entire book on his experience. Spiegelman makes his stance on the war very clear. He has a hateful attitude towards the Nazis, and shows this by going into detail about how he was treated as a prisoner of war. It is natural for the reader to side with the protagonist and hate the antagonist and with Slaughterhouse Five I wasn’t sure if I should hate the war or join in Vonnegut’s indifference. The two books also seem to share a sci-fi element in their writing. In Spiegelman’s graphic novel, the characters are mice, with the exception of pigs or cats. The cats are obviously drawn to represent the Nazi officers. Vonnegut discusses an alien obduction in his novel, and a race called the Tralfamadorians. I am interested to read more of Maus, especially since so far the war veteran in the story seems more put together and less psychologically scarred from battle as in Slaughterhouse Five, and I’m curious to see if this will change as we learn more about him.