At the beginning of the book Vladek responds to a young Art’s

canada goose coats Spiegel man uses this technique to bring common stereotypes out into the open, to break some barriers. He wants to force people to examine human nature through this history. Spiegel man’s mice are not Hitler’s mice. Spiegel man’s mice stand upright with dignity. He then contrasts them with the rats Vladek and Anja are afraid of in the storage locker. The rats they fear are Hitler’s vermin. These creatures are depicted on all fours with vicious claws, a scary expression and a tail curved as a viper ready to strike. That is the image the Nazi’s used for their propaganda campaign. canada goose coats

Inside the front cover before the story begins I noticed the mice have more detailed facial features. They are wearing a variety of hats and clothing. One is holding a child, some are wearing jewelry. They appear somber or frightened but still have their identity.

Canada Goose Outlet Inside the back cover the mice all look the same in their prison clothes. Each face is identical with a vacant cheap canada goose jacket stare. Spiegelman wants the reader to feel shock that it was so easy for a group of people to be annihilated and treated as if they were something as common and insignificant as mice. He wants the reader to see the results of these horrible events and how devastating they were. But even with these changes and the uniforms they still remain Spiegel man’s mice and not Hitler’s. Canada Goose Outlet

buy canada goose jacket Spiegelman drew Maus in its actual size to keep his work in its original state. He successfully differentiates this graphic novel as a work of nonfiction, as reality. buy canada goose jacket

canada goose factory sale The pictures are very detailed. I am amazed at the effort and time that must have been required to tell such a huge story with so few words. As canada goose uk distributor he pointed out in one interview, „a picture is worth a thousand words”, no wonder there are sometimes more than a hundred frames in the chapters. That means that a chapter of his drawings could be worth one hundred thousand words. Images are often more memorable. canada goose factory sale

The gaps in the borders and intruding lines are indicative of the gaps in the relationship Art has with Vladek. They also indicate gaps in Vladek’s memories. Spiegelman’s visits were sporadic. Art also promised not to repeat the story of Lucia but broke that promise. The gaps and intrusions also indicate the destroyed diaries and the family that was taken away.

canada goose uk shop Even more so, this technique is symbolic of the rules of humanity that were broken during the Holocaust. Hitler’s army broke all the canada goose uk site rules of society and for a long time they were allowed to get away with it. canada goose uk shop

Canada Goose online Spiegelman’s artwork is most detailed in the comic Prisoner on the Hell Planet. The detail comes from his expression of his personal experiences and thoughts regarding his parents and the death of his mother. He is attempting to describe the pain and guilt resulting from his confused relationship with his mother and the blame from his father that he is the one who failed her. The drawings show less detail in scenes that are not archived by photographs. Spiegelman says in the book that he dislikes drawing machinery. He also draws the battleground in less detail probably indicating distaste for the barbarianism of war. Canada Goose online

In publishing a frame can depict a single idea and the next frame another idea. A frame will also show an ending place for a particular scene or part of a story. In book one the „bleed” occurs on the page describing the arrival of the transport truck carrying Vladek and Anja to Auschwitz. The „bleed” however, is the artist’s method of showing the enormity of the situation. The horrors of Auschwitz and the other extermination camps can’t possibly be completely described on just this one page or any other. The effects of the Holocaust will reach on indefinitely.

canadian goose jacket In book two the „bleed” occurs as the pictures of all of the lost family members flutter to the floor. There are too many. It is too overwhelming, too painful. Spiegelman describes his father as bleeding history. What Art means is that his father’s story and the effects of the Holocaust on his father, his mother, and their lost family are his inheritance. canadian goose jacket

cheap Canada Goose The panels on page one hundred and sixty one describe Art’s discovery that Vladek destroyed his mother’s diaries. Vladek is very controlling and requires everything to be orderly, after Anja’s death he discovers the diaries. Vladek does not want anyone to read them. Does he disapprove of what she says about him or does he feels these memories are much too private to be shared? He blames it on his depression at the time. cheap Canada Goose

canada goose clearance Art criticizes his father, but Vladek reminds him that canada goose outlets uk the diaries were there for many years and goes on to say that Anja had hoped he would some day be interested in this story. I feel as frustrated as Art that he has been robbed of the opportunity. He had to discover the right time for dealing with all of this. canada goose clearance

I don’t blame Art for his explosive pent up anger and frustration as indicated by the jagged speech balloon. Mala has influenced Art to believe that his father caused much of Anja’s unhappiness, look how unhappy he makes her. It is as though his father has killed her twice! As he offers a perfunctory apology and says goodbye Art appears remorseful for his disrespect. He realizes his father is not healthy and is his last link to the past. He remembers his enormous guilt over his mother. On the other hand, Vladek does not feel much remorse for having destroyed the diaries. He felt he had to. Art leaves hastily. What remains is the squiggly black line over Art’s head, the heat from his anger as it lingers in the air like the scent of smoke. He turns away because he can’t stand anymore but still carries his family history, his father’s story wherever he goes. There is no frame around this last image because it is similar to a bleed. I think Art will always want those diaries and to know his mother.

Stereotyping creates prejudices by labeling or focusing on traits of individuals and groups as undesirable. It would seem that some political analysts are currently stereotyping women voters by commenting that canada goose outlet uk fake women will vote for canada goose outlet Sarah Palin just because she is also a woman. Their idea that women only understand gender and have no concern for any other issues is insulting.

Art Spiegelman uses his comics to personalize stereotypes. Art Spiegelman speaks in Maus of his concern that if he details his father’s true personality, racists will miss the point of the story because they will not look beyond the „miserly Jew” label. But he goes on to show that even he and his father are also capable of the same mistakes. He discusses dating a Jewish woman with Francoise. He also offends her while trying to decide which animal to make the French who at one point were against the Jews.

He uses these and other examples to make the point that everyone or anyone can and probably does stereotype people and prejudge. Even after having been a victim of the effects of prejudice Vladek is openly racist when he encounters a black man. Vladek stereotyped the Communist that Anja was involved with early on in the story. Spielgelman uses his comic characters to warn us of the ease with which we judge and label even after having been victims of the same errors.

Spiegelman uses the animals to depict his characters for several reasons. He is illustrating the Nazi’s division of race into species. The Nazi’s often depicted the Jewish race as rats or vermin in their propaganda material. They used pesticide in the gas chambers. The Jewish people were reduced to burrowing into tunnels of shoes, underground bunkers, barns and behind walls to avoid capture and death just as mice. They had to hide canada goose vest outlet and could only go out at night to search for crumbs of food. In the camps they were even fed sawdust.

Spiegelman turns this into a positive with his mice. He uses the mice because they are also very resourceful. They are capable of hiding quietly, of getting away quickly and craft fully avoiding traps.

Tom and Jerry cartoons show the same relationship of cats and mice as that of Valdes and the Nazi’s. Despite the obvious difference in size and strength. Jerry almost always wins over Tom.

Occasionally he is captured but he usually gets away due to his cleverness and cunning. Vladek was very creative, resourceful and fortunately quick to learn. Sometimes he was just plain lucky.

Walt Disney’s career began in the 1930’s. He was hired by the American government to draw cartoons used for US propaganda. As Americans we see Mickey Mouse as a lovable, stuffed animal. In reality, the original Mickey was much more mouse like and probably from a „bad neighborhood”. Vladek is comparing Art’s cartoon to Walt Disney because he is using a mouse to portray the underdog in the story. Or is it because that is the only cartoonist he is familiar with?

Spielgeman, the artist uses images as text. On one page he depicts a road and the directions it branches off to as a swastika. Anja and Vladek leave the ghetto but no matter which direction they choose it will only lead them to the Nazis. He uses smoke in one scene to spell Hitler’s SS. The entrance to the bunkers in chapter five are shaped like mouse holes in the wall which describes the deplorable conditions the people were forced to endure in order to hide. He frequently uses mouse traps and mouse holes to show that there is captivity and pursuit. There are often skulls on canada goose outlet usa the Nazi helmets and even some of the Nazi faces appear as skulls which represents the death they caused. I will always feel fear and disgust each time I see the Nazi swastika which he uses often.

Spiegelman also uses masks throughout the book. I have already Canada Goose sale discussed his use of masks but Art and his therapist wear mice masks in book two. Is this an example of the therapist’s guilty feelings for surviving and Art’s continued guilt regarding his ghost brother, and his failed connection with his mother?

A symbol is a canada goose uk delivery picture that represents an idea without having to say words. The Nazis took the ancient symbol of the swastika which meant good and power and used it for hate and murder forever changing it’s meaning for most. Ancient history tells us the Jewish people were often labeled with the yellow Star of David and the word Jude. This symbol was not original to the Nazis either, but was eventually mandated and became one of their symbols of intense hatred and disgust for these people.

On page thirty three, Spiegelman uses the swastika to depict the unfolding https://www.cheshuntteamministry.org.uk of the Nazi’s power. At first the swastika is only partly visible. Vladek and Anja are traveling safely by train. Then the swastika begins rising above the Jewish star. Afterwards as the Nazi’s gain control the swastika is fully visible in the risen moon (the same moon that shines all over the world), and the Jews are being ridiculed, and forced to label and identify themselves with the Star of Jude. Finally, the Nazi faces look like skulls as they are killing the Jews.

A sign hangs over the town declaring it Jew free as the passengers in the train hope it doesn’t happen to them. The effective use of the swastika symbol and the moon in the sky indicate a timeline without words.

Spiegelman uses the image of a satchel throughout this story. At the beginning of the book Vladek responds to a young Art’s distress over his friends with a reference to the concentration camp and what it did to friends. The story moves on to Art as an adult visiting his father. He is not shown carrying a satchel at the first visit but as he continues with the visits and the dialogue he is always seen carrying the satchel. At first I think he is indicating that this awesome story can be picked up and put down like a canada goose outlet authentic piece of luggage. Later as he struggles with the horrors of his father’s history, he becomes depressed. Recreating this story into a book doesn’t allow him to put the satchel down he must always bring it along. As he stalks away angry after finding the diaries have been destroyed Art must still carry the bag with him. He cannot let it go yet. It takes him thirteen years to write this book, to put down that satchel.

Spiegelman use of masks is significant. He draws Vladek wearing a mask on page sixty four to escape detection. This is for his survival. Spiegelman himself might also be using his mask as a survival technique. After all he has a family history of suicide, a fractured relationship with his mother and this horrible reality he feels destined to describe. He is compensating for the guilt of not having been in the holocaust like his parents by wearing the mouse mask. Could it be that he also feels that selling this story, and making a profit from it have somehow made him less Jewish?

canada goose Even more, I think so that the picture on the back cover shows Art Spiegelman wearing the mouse face because he is demonstrating that he is a part of this culture he is documenting. He is almost tenderly examining the rat in his hand which looks very different from the one on page 149 when Vladek and Anja are afraid in the storage locker. He also has Mickey Mouse in the background, once again using the power of comics to personalize stereotypes and demand the reader’s attention canada goose.