Masks And Manpression In Maus By Vladek Spiegelman

Maus is a biographical story that revolves around Vladek Spiegelman’s involvements in the Holocaust, but masks and manipulation is one of the few themes of the book that has a greater picture of what the book entails. Vladek’s experiences during World War II are brutal vivid detail of the persecution of Jews by German soldiers as well as by Polish citizens. Author Art Spiegelman leads the reader through the usage of varying points of view as Spiegelman structures several pieces of stories into a large story. Spiegelman does this in order to portray Vladek’s history as well as his experiences with his father while writing the book. Nonetheless, Maus deals with this issue in a more delicate way through the use of different animal faces to

This image are the sub-versions of ideas such as masks. Masks at this point are allowing the characters to avoid detection by pretending to be someone else. While reading Maus the illustrations of masks are made to be obvious. These illustrations are not to be ignored- beneath the masks is a hidden message. The masks are represented by numerous feelings and situations’ that are happening in the book. The masks are severely significant in the book that helps Spigelman manipulate the reader in a way. Spigelman also uses the masks as new identities for some characters and as a symbol of punishment. Although some examples of masks portray a mix of underlying purposes, the ideas Spigelman using masks helps support his story. The most evident use of masks in Maus was when Vladek, Anja, and other Jewish individuals used the masks to disguise themselves as Polish. This scene was the most literal and physical representation of masks in the book. Vladek and Anja must hide the fact they are Jewish, in order to be hidden and intact throughout Poland (pgs. 136-139). The masks and illustrations Spigelman put on the characters made an interaction between elements while reading the book. This creates Spigelman to be ingenious in the story to combine all of the above action into life in order to construct effects. For instance, when reading in the present time of things as Art would talk to Vladek, Art is illustrated himself as human but with a mouse head. Why? I feel as if Art, still Jewish, is a mouse to represent a demeaning of things, but this has a huge reason for his