In Maus II Spiegelman appears. He is being interviewed about his work, slowly shrinking into a child. It's a very gradual transition; I suddenly went, Hey, that's a small kid in a big chair! He is overwhelmed by all the press and people. Acknowledging that the author had to select what panes to include and which ones not to include, it was neat to hear outside feedback from a character who is not associated with any of Artie's other family members OR the Holocaust. It also shows that even Spiegelman turns to others for words of wisdom. While he may be brilliant, he is still a mere mortal. He is not a perfect being.
We also see this in Spiegelman's interactions with his father on multiple occasions. We like Artie and sympathize with him, but he does not make himself seem flawless or godlike. His character is almost constantly smoking (I think he spills ash on the carpet once), he can be critical of his dad, and he tends to make his father feel like his son is pushing him away. A scene that made me giggle was when Mala left, and the father called Artie and his cousin to come and stay with him. He wants them to stay all summer, but they only plan to stay for a couple of days. Vladek unpacks all of Artie's clothes into the dresser, and he's always saying things like, (I'm paraphrasing, bear with me) "It's so great that you're spending the summer with me! We're going to have a great time together!" Artie always says that they're leaving soon, but it's an ongoing dispute.
The Rabbi's Cat similarly shows both good and "not ideal" facets of each persona. The Rabbi contradicts himself quite often when it comes to the issue of permitting his cat to have a bar mitzvah. He saya the cat has to be a good Jew, and then he continues to treat him like a cat. The rabbi decides that the cat will be a bad influence on his daughter, and that the cat will stay with him. The accompanying picture is the rabbi walking, holding the cat by the scruff of his neck and dragging him along (pg. 9). At first I thought of a woman carrying a clutch... then a hobo bag... then football players carrying a football. I wanted to give you a decent visual, and then I found this. I can't believe someone actually invented this! It seemed an appropriate comparison.
The cat and the rabbi go to the two-up rabbi, who is also imperfect. The two-up rabbi says at first that God made man in His image, and then that "God" is a word. The rabbi's rabbi thinks the cat ought to be drowned. On page 13, the cat says: "And I tell the rabbi's rabbi that I am God, who has taken the appearance of a cat in order to test him. I tell him that...he was as dogmatic and obtuse with me as some Christians are with Jews." He begs forgiveness, and the cat essentially goes, I'm just a cat. The fact that the rabbi would follow someone so gullible in the first place saddens me. Icing on the cake, a guy who wants to drown a cat. Drowning the cat is the same as the cat eating the parrot.
The cat says that God is a reassuring myth the two-up rabbi uses to assure himself he is not a lonely old man. The cat reminds him that people outlive cats, so the cat will never be alone. On page 19: "And I can tell that my master's a bit angry with me. He's your master and you love him and I just proved to you that he's not all-knowing. You're even realizing that, for all the deference you feel for him, this master is less intelligent than you are. So you have no master, but you don't want to admit that...because you don't want to end up old and alone and without anyone to turn to..." The way this graphic novel is written, the cat is a pretty developed character, as far as cats go. Like all cats, he has personality and a secret life. He watches and observes, stating bluntly what he sees. The cat figure here serves as a slap-in-the-face dose of reality, delivered whether or not solicited. He also has some attitude, and, of course, is not perfect himself.
The good thing is, though, that none of these characters ever claim to be perfect. Some might argue that the cat said he was God, and that God is perfect, but I'm arguing with the cat on this one: What God?
No existence = no flaws. No existence = no perfection. No existence = no existence.
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