MAUS Final Analysis

 Recently, I just finished reading MAUS (part 1 and 2) in my English class. It is a good book that represents history by drawing humans as animals. The book is a comic that uses pictures to convey a number of deep motifs and meanings to the reader. Today, I am going to analyze some of the images of MAUS that have a hidden deep meaning.

One of the major motifs is being stuck in the past. It is shown in multiple places throughout the book. One of such places is on page 116 of Volume 2. The page is shown on the right. In the immediate context, Vladek was showing Artie the pictures of his family before the holocaust. In this page, Vladek is drawn in multiple panels throughout the page. The separation of the different parts of his body shows that he is stuck in the different moments of the past on the same time. He is remembering his different family members at same time, and thus his drawing in different panels represents that.

There are also other pages on which the motif of being stuck in the past is shown. Another such page is Page 136 of Volume 2. The page is shown on the left. On this page, Vladek finishes telling Artie his experience of Holocaust and tries to sleep. On the bottom right panel, he says to Artie, "I'm tired from talking, Richiev, and its enough stories from now..." Richiev was Vladek's son who died during the War at a young age. Even though now, Artie is talking to Vladek and listening to his story about holocaust, Vladek refers to Artie as Richiev. This shows that even though Vladek is in the present, he is remembering his past. It is the repetition of the Motif that Vladek is still stuck in the past and is unable to forget it.

Another motif that flows throughout the story is that the animals drawn in the comic are actual representations of humans. A page where this motif is shown is Page 101 of Volume 2. The page is shown on the right. When looking at the right panel of first row (second row in actual book), there are actual chickens drawn. These chickens are not drawn as human representation as other animals are drawn. These are representing real animals which shows that all animals drawn are not just animals. The others drawn represent real humans. Thus, the motif that the animals drawn in comics represent real humans is reinforced on this page. The page reminds the readers that the book is a depiction of real life events, not just cartoons drawn.

Another important drawing on this page (Page 101) are the bottom two panels. In the bottom panels, the stars are drawn in the American Flag and the circular panel. In the current context, Vladek drawn in these panels is free from Nazi oppression. Because stars are drawn in both the panels where free mice are shown, the stars are shown as a symbol of freedom for Jews. Stars being present in American Flag show that the USA was a free country where Jews could live peacefully and without any oppression.

These panels shown are only the few once convey deep meaning to the reader. The book is full of many panels like these . Let me know in the comments about other pages that you notice.

All these pictures are from MAUS Volume 2 by Art Spiegelman.