How does a graphic novel like Maus help with the telling of a difficult story full of emotion and difficult topics?

In Maus, the different races and nationalities within the story are portrayed as different kinds of animals. Jews, for example, are portrayed as mice, while the Germans are depicted as cats. A precursor to Maus was first published in an underground comic magazine called Funny Animals in 1972. The piece was only three pages long, but many of the same elements were there, including the focus on his father, Vladek Spiegelman, and the decision to portray Jews as mice. Couching difficult subject matter in visual metaphor, symbol, and personification gives Spiegelman the freedom to add meaning and context without being literal.