Maus's Message (Page 125)

 

From Maus I by Art Spiegelman

    This is a panel (page 125) from Maus by Art Spiegelman and it reveals a lot. In the direct context, Vladek (Narrator's Father) was stuck in a ghetto. Germans were transporting Jews from there, but Vladek managed to hide and survive. After the whole ghetto was emptied, Vladek and his wife Anja left the ghetto.
    When we look the picture carefully, the road that Vladek and Anja are travelling on is representing the Swastika symbol of the Nazis. The road is completely white and clear, but the surroundings are lined (which represent the lined clothes of jews in the concentration camps). Also, the ends of the road eventually get into the lined part as well, especially in the top end of the road.
    The drawing is very detailed and is a foreshadow of future of the characters. Vladek and Anja are walking on a swastika shaped road; they are within the range the Nazis (Spiegelman shows that by making the characters walk on the symbol), and their walking on the Swastika shows that they will be eventually captured by Nazis. The road's ends are going into the lined area which are a representation of Concentration camps. The road ending into that are shows that no matter where Vladek and Anja go, they will eventually end in concentration camps.
    The drawing also suggests Nazi dominance at the time. When looked carefully, only the Nazi sign is clear, while the surroundings are lined. Because the lines represent prisoners, they also represent danger that was upon them. By making everything around the Swastika symbol lined, Spiegelman shows that everyone around Nazis were in danger, where that be Jews or surrounding countries. Only Nazis were safe (it is shown because the Swastika symbol is clear), and every other country around was in danger. It is a connection made by author to the World War 2. During WWII, Nazis conquered most of Europe (which was not Nazi) and every other country in Europe was in danger. Because Europe was surrounding the Nazis, it was in danger. The author shows this thought by making everything around the Swastika Symbol lined. The lines are a representation of danger that was on Europe (surrounding Nazis) during WW2. Because the danger was caused by Nazis, the nazis were dominant during WW2, which is shown by Spiegelman.
    The panel, overall, conveys many ideas to the reader through the use of drawing.

Comments

  1. Julia MDecember 3, 2023 at 4:57 PM

    I liked how you explained the foreshadowing and how it shows they’re essentially trapped even though the road is supposed to represent some type of freedom.

    ReplyDelete
  2. shovikDecember 3, 2023 at 8:58 PM

    you covered the most important part of the panel, the sense of being trapped that Vladek must've felt due to being engulfed by the nazis and their dominance (maus trap :0). it can even be seen with what vladek said in bold, "but where to go?!"

    ReplyDelete

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