Speigelman VS O´Brien

Speigelman´s graphic novel "Maus" is different from O´Brien´s "The Things They Carried" in many ways. Maus is a graphic novel, it is a biography as well as an autobiography, and if follows one main story in chronological progress, with the exception of the scenes where the author visits his father to continue the story; also, the story takes place in the times of Nazi Germany. In the other hand, The Things They Carried is a collection of short stories without images to represent the setting, except for those described in detail for readers to imagine; it is considered to be a work of fiction since most of the events in the stories are not confirmed to be accurate, and since it is a collection of short stories, it has no chronology so one story may have very little, or nothing, to do with the other, and they are all based on the Vietnam War.

However, they are similar in a few things; they are both based on real life experiences, their setting is placed in times of war, and even though the characters are experiencing a very different struggle, they face a struggle nonetheless, and we come to learn how they dealt with it in both stories.

Thus far, I prefer Tim O´Brien, mainly because his descriptions are very detailed and sentimental, and he is great at making sure that we sympathize with the characters´ struggles, even if it takes being repetitive to accomplish it, which he does very well by making it look as part of the mental struggle dealing with a traumatic event. I believe O´Brien just has an edge over Speigelman with that gift to show off intensity in his writing.