Art Spiegelman's graphic novels Maus and Maus II have the power to make the reader understand the pain and suffering that occurred during the Holocaust. Spiegelman uses animals instead of humans in his graphic novels to represent different human races. The use of visual means in Art Spiegelman's Maus enhances the reading of the narrative. The graphics of the novel help the reader to fully understand everything that is happening. Holocaust victims lose sight of who they are during this time and begin to live their lives playing a part they believe they are because of their race. Loman discussed the irony behind the cat and mouse metaphor that Spiegelman uses in his graphic novel in his article titled "'Well Intended Liberal Slop': Allegories of Race in Spiegelman's Maus". In his article he states: For many reasons, the translation of the cat and mouse metaphor from America to Nazi Germany succeeds brilliantly. As Spiegelman's research indisputably demonstrates, in many cases Nazi propagandists portrayed Jews as mice or rats, thereby claiming that the Jewish presence in Europe was a parasitic infestation that needed to be wiped out. And there are several grotesque ironies that Spiegelman noticed during his research; for example, Zyklon B, the poison used in gas chambers, was initially developed as a pesticide. Loman demonstrates that Spiegelman did not randomly choose these animals to represent all people during the Holocaust. Spiegelman used these animals to demonstrate how these people felt. The Jewish people during the Holocaust suffered from dehumanization and were treated like parasites. All the advertisements used by Nazi Germany during this time depict… the medium of paper… to understand what people go through during the Holocaust. By illustrating different breeds of people using different animals, it helps the reader understand the power of identity during a traumatic event. By repeatedly telling the Jewish population that they are worthless, they begin to believe it and in a certain sense give up the fight for their lives. The graphics accompany the narrative of the story to help illustrate to the reader the difficulties faced by Jewish citizens precisely because they are Jewish. When the reader sees a cat on the page with a mouse, they tense up and really feel the hardships faced during the Holocaust due to discrimination. The depiction of the characters as animals in his novel is a kind of allegory to demonstrate the struggles faced during the Holocaust regarding identity and discrimination.