In 1973, Art Spiegelman wrote a graphic novel series titled Maus. The graphic novels are based on World War II and the Holocaust, a war in which his family, being of Polish and Jewish descent, was severely damaged and nearly destroyed. Spiegelman changed the names of his characters but they represent his family and tell their story. Considering the text from a critical Marxist point of view, Spiegelman shows the social stratification between the Jewish and German populations by presenting them as specific animals. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay At the foundation of both the German social class and the animal food chain, the Jews, aka rats, are labeled and exterminated during this period in the story and throughout the text. As seen on page 108 of the first book, it shows the rats behind the barbed wire fence in one of the “ghettos” created by the Nazi officer to contain all the Jews. It also shows them, the mice, with the Star of David that they legally had to wear to identify them as Jews. The Jews/rats belonged to the lowest part of the social class and were not only labeled but also imprisoned. One of the characters, a mouse, describes "That spring, in one day, the Germans took over 1,000 people from Srodula to Auschwitz." The description matches and shows the history of the Holocaust as “The Jews of Europe were legally obliged to wear badges or distinctive clothing (e.g., pointed hats) since at least the 13th century. This practice continued throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but was largely eliminated during the 17th and 18th centuries. With the advent of the French Revolution and the emancipation of Western European Jews during the 19th century, the wearing of Jewish badges was abolished in Western Europe. The Nazis resurrected this practice as part of their persecutions during the Holocaust.” The text at 108 also shows a Jewish child/mouse being thrown against a wall because he was “screaming and screaming. They couldn't stop. The social stratification here is clear as it is the mice who are tagged, imprisoned and killed by the Nazi cats. Higher in terms of respect, of course, were the general, non-Jewish German population and those in the Nazi Party. Spiegelman turns them into pigs and cats respectively. This is seen on page 113 of the second book, when an elderly Nazi woman, obviously a cat, is yelling at some Jewish Holocaust survivors to be arrested for wearing her husband's clothes: “Arrest those two Jewish thieves! They stole my husband's clothes!” As a German citizen, Cat clearly believes that whatever she says goes, just like the personality of cats who tend to be stereotyped because they don't care about others and do whatever they want. Historically, this hatred and anger towards the Jews was due to the fact that “the German defeat was difficult for many Germans to digest, and also for Hitler. In nationalist and right-wing conservative circles the “legend of the stab in the back” became popular. According to this myth, Germany did not lose the war on the battlefield, but through betrayal on the home front. The Jews, the Social Democrats and the Communists were held responsible.” Once the Nazi Party began to spread this way of thinking, Germany headed towards the Holocaust. Finally, Spiegelman shows social stratification through animals by portraying Americans as dogs. There are definitely good connotations with dogs, but they aren't perfect animals either. On page 112 of book 2, the Americans, the dogs, are,/10.1007/978-3-030-33428-4_29)