Language on the Big Screen

Reading Maus was an emotional rollercoaster. The art style, the symbolism, the motifs, the characters, and the prevalence of animals instead of humans all added to an immersive experience while reading this graphic novel. The use of animals in place of the races was very eye-opening because it showed the relationships between the Pols, germans, Jews, Americans, etc. It established how the holocaust took place and its implications. After analyzing the animals, and the message behind them I had a better understanding of the story overall. Reading about Vladek's life before the war also made him seem more human in a way. Whenever I hear about stories about the holocaust I only hear about the period during the holocaust and because of that I only see them as survivors and nothing else. By Art Spiegelman retelling Vladek's life before the war, I was able to see him as just another human living his life. Speigleman included the not-so-good parts of his life for example when Vladek le...

 For this blog, I will analyze page 107 but will also use events from pages 118 and 120.  Throughout all the panels on this page, the background is buildings with stripes, but one of the panels is present-day but still has the same similar background of stripes. I feel like this was purposefully done to show that that even though Vladek’s trauma is all in the past it still is a part of him wherever he goes. It will always follow him throughout his life. Then later on page 118 while they are still walking outside Vladek has a seizure. They sit down on some stairs which are also outlined with many vertical lines or stripes, showing in one way that he is again in the past and the past is directly affecting him even till now. He then explains to Artie, " Last year [Miloch] got on the street a seizure- like I had just now" he ended up dead on the street (120). It can be inferred that the cause of his health and heart issues is the trauma that Vladek went through during the holocau...