MAUS

FINAL (AND FIRST) PROJECT

Due April 27th, 2007

Before you can start your project, you’re going to need to:

- Finish MAUS 1 in class.

- Finish MAUS 2 as homework outside of class.

- Keep detailed notes (in the form of a Timeline) of MAUS 2. Timeline should have:

1.) 10 important events from the book 2.) Approximate time (as close as you can figure out) between events 3.) The page numbers in which this event is discussed 4.) Timeline can be organized however you like, bullet points are OK.

You will turn in this timeline with your project. You should NOT have the same 10 events of your best friend. You should be thinking about this FOR YOURSELF. Choose one of the following projects. You will be working on these projects individually.

Project One: Graphic Novel

Tell a significant event or series of events in your life in Graphic Novel form. Start with a rough story line, then a rough draft of how each page will look, and finally a clean final draft of the story. There is no length requirement for your Graphic Novel, but it should be finely crafted. Your visuals should work FOR you, capturing mood, showing complex ideas, and enhancing the story. Likewise, your Graphic Novel should use fewer words than if you were writing the entire thing out, so choose your words wisely and make sure they are powerful and add to the visuals. Experiment with many mediums (pencil, marker, paint, collage, copy and pasting, etc…).

Project Two: Academic Paper

Write an analysis of a specific aspect of the MAUS books. This could include a detailed review (of writing, visuals, or both), a discussion about the use of animals, a detailed analysis of one or a series of panels, or any other thing you found very interesting/upsetting/powerful about the books. If appropriate, link the books to what you have learned in Mr. Elston’s class or in your research paper. This writing should be your highest quality writing and thinking.

Project Three: Character Journal

Keep a running journal while you read MAUS 2, pretending to be Vladek Spiegleman, Anja, or another lead character in a specific part (Art during the writing of the book, the German who Vladek teachers, or another character that stood out). Feel free to include parts of MAUS 1, but your journal must be mostly from MAUS 2. There is no limit on number of entries (this could be one very long entry from a specific day, or many smaller entries). I am interested in seeing how you think Vladek and the people around him were thinking and reacting to what was happening, what they would share only with a journal.

Project Four: Presentation

Picking a historical (propaganda, military campaigns, etc), artistic (non-fiction graphic novels, visual metaphors in MAUS, written records of the holocaust), or emotional (sadness, hope, love) theme, prepare a 5-10 minute presentation to the class. Feel free to use posters, overheads, PowerPoint’s, DVD’s, or performances in your presentation. Although we will have some class time to work on this, you may not have much time to work on computers in class.