Art Spiegelman discusses many different ethnic groups represented by animals in his books Maus I and Maus II. Of the animals represented in the books there were mice, pigs, dogs, reindeer, frogs, and cats. The three that played very important roles and the most significant roles are the mice, pigs, and cats. Don't let me mislead you though, because all these animals were important in what they represented, but the three mentioned above are the most significant, or the most seen throughout the story. Based on Spiegelman's Maus I and Maus II the circumstances or options that each of the three main ethnic groups faced during World War II are all fairly different. The options in the three ethnic groups range from no options, to a few options, and then up to all the options. The group that had no options were the mice. The group that had a few options were the pigs, and the group that had all the options were the cats.

The mice in the two books represented the Jews. They were the main animals in these books. The options their ethnic group faced during World War II were actually no options at all. The only options the mice faced was whether or not to run from the cats or to stay in their homes in secret places built for hiding. Both of these options were very dangerous, but the way most of the Jews decided to go was with the option of staying in their homes and hiding in secret places.

The mice or the Jews we should say, during this time, really had no one to count on or no one to trust. Most had been separated from their families and friends so the only ones they had to lean on was themselves. They could trust no one, because once they gave into someone that was basically the end, because they didn't know who was in the same position they were in and who was actually working for the Germans.

Since most of the Jews chose a life of hiding, they had to sneak out from their hiding places to find food for themselves. And since the businesses the mice once owned were taken away from them by the Germans, they had no money to buy food with. So they exchanged their valuables for food. Their valuables consisted of gold watches and diamond rings. The Jews had a very, very hard time during World War II. I can't even begin to imagine what all they went through. Up until I read Maus I and Maus II, I really had no idea of all the torment and troubles they had went through. Although I had studied about World War II before, I had no idea what it was truly like until I read this survivor's story.

The pigs represented the Polish and the ethnic group that had some options. The Polish pigs during World War II held many different positions. As seen in Maus I and Maus II we see the pigs as soldiers, farmers, and prisoners. In Maus II we see a pig played as a soldier, that helps Vladek. He helps get him better clothes, good, and jobs in exchange for English lessons. A very good pig was Mrs. Motnowa. She was kind of like a farmer. She always traded with Vladek so he would always have something to eat. Mrs. Motnowa also risked her life for Vladek and Anja when she hid them from the Germans in her cellar.

The pidgs certainly had a lot more options than the mice did. Most pigs were free because they weren't Jews, but some non-Jewish Poles were also in the camps. There was a priest in prison with Vladek in the same room and he was a pig. He looked at Vladek's identification number on his arm and told him that he would survive the prison, and he was right. The options for the pigs were the same as the mice, they had no options. But the pigs that were free did have some options. The pigs, for the most part, in Maus I and Maus II played the middle men.

Finally, came the ethnic group with all the power and all the options in World War II - the cats. The cats represented the Germans. They held the world in their hands. Anything they wanted they got. The cats were the ones that decided what the Jews went through. They were tricky and cruel to the Jews. They would throw a Jew's hat off just so they would have to get out of the line to get it and then the cats would shoot them because they said they were trying to escape. The Germans held the cards during World War II. Spiegelman, in my eyes, made a very good decision in making the Germans the cats and the Jews the mice. Because it reenacts the way people of today look upon cats and mice, like "Tom and Jerry" cartoons.

These books, Maus I and Maus II are the most interesting books I have read in a long time. The way Spiegelman makes it a comic book scene really captured me as I was reading. I actually never realized what the Jews went through in World War II, but now I have a good picture about what life was truly like. It must have been terrible not to know if you would wake to see the light of the next day. The ones who did survive World War II as Jews are the real heros.