Mouse, Mice, Maus

In my response paper, I proposed this question: Why did the author decide to portray his characters as animals? Is the story anymore enhanced because we see animals instead of people? Even though there is not a clear, distinct answer to this question, it isn't difficult to speculate an answer as to why. When reading a graphic novel, the reader is constantly aware of the appearance/demeanor of the characters because of the fact that they are illustrated on the page; they don't have to be concocted in our minds. On pages 100-103, the panels take on a different artistic style and, instead of the main characters being portrayed as mice, they are portrayed as humans. These panels are much more intense and darker than the rest of the graphic novel. When the mice are replaced by humans, the effect of the story is heightened. The reader cannot help but to feel more sympathetic and affected because they see themselves in the characters. When the characters are mice, it's much easier to separate oneself from the story entirely.
Pages 100-103 showcase the comic that Artie drew about his mother's suicide. It is immediately clear that the mood that is to be derived from these panels differs greatly from the rest of the novel. The background of these pages is black instead of white and the illustrations are much more detailed. After seeing animalized characters for 100 pages, the emotion seen on the characters' faces when they are human is almost startling. Even though this comic-within-a-comic is only three pages long, it seems considerably substantial to the rest of the novel. Also, seeing the characters as humans opens up a whole new world of questions. Are the characters that we've grown to know so well actually human? Why would Artie choose to illustrate this short comic in a way that differs greatly from the rest of the novel?
Perhaps these are questions that are to be left unanswered, but one thing is for sure: the use of animalized characters is deliberate and an important factor in determining how we interpret the story.