Before they and their families are sent to Auschwitz, Art's father is a practical young businessman, who is set up with his own factory by his prosperous and generous father-in-law. Elie's father is less practical and more of a dreamer. He is a spiritual leader of his community before the Holocaust, and as such, he often seems more concerned about his community than even his family or himself. Art's father, on the other hand, is a devoted and very demonstrative husband and father to Richieu.
Both of these types of Holocaust memoirs, despite their being much different from one another, have had very strong and profound effects on readers. Elie Weisel's book Night, a relatively short book written over 40 years ago, is considered to be one of the most powerful and influential of all Holocaust memoirs, and is still read today, worldwide. Similarly, both of the Maus books have been widely read, and continue to be. It would also seem, at least from the perspective of today, that both types of stories would arguably make very worthwhile and powerful movies (like The Pianist or Schindler's List, but neither Night nor either Maus book has ever been made into a film. In Spiegelman's...
Similarly, it is possible (although I am not sure) that if asked, Elie Weisel, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his literary works and tireless efforts (e.g. public lectures and presentations, etc.) to make sure the Holocaust is neither forgotten nor repeated, would have feared that to make the story of his concentration camp experiences into a movie would be to somehow trivialize them.
When I first started reading the Maus books, I thought I might have trouble following the story, and that the format might be distracting. I found, though, that the format, probably because it is so unusual and ironic, actually underscores the horror of the stories being told. Similarly, Elie Weisel's Night is narrated in the straightforward, non-self-pitying voice of a 14-year-old boy, which makes the work itself all the more compelling and poignant. Both of these kinds of Holocaust memoirs, then, are extremely powerful and unforgettable, although for much different reasons.
