Visual Analysis Of Maus 2 Illuminate Art Spiegelman

Throughout the opening scene of Chapter 2 of Maus II, certain visual elements of the scene help to illuminate Art Spiegelman’s guilt over having written the popular graphic novel. Both as an author and as a future father, Spiegelman appears to feel as if he has little control over his life. This feeling of a lack of control as an author is revealed in the panels the depict Spiegelman physically shrinking in size, and apparently age as well, as reporters question the meaning of Maus I and his artistic choices. By depicting himself as being reduced to a child-like state, a position with little control, the artist demonstrates that the significance of his graphic novel and the success of his career are daunting, even overwhelming at times. Similarly, this shrinking in size is juxtaposed with the mention of Spiegelman becoming a father, signifying his perception of himself as being unfit for the role he will soon take on in his family. Furthermore, just as shrinking reveals his discomfort with situations at hand, depictions of him growing back to normal size reveal him coming to terms with various emotions that plague him. For

This seems to demonstrate that Maus I has a certain level of influence on Spiegelman’s life, and the lives of others who have experiences with the text, such as the reporters and his shrink. It represents how the book, and the history that is embodied within it, seeps into author’s actual life. Additionally, one might argue the possibility of the human’s wearing animal masks representing the worry, for Spiegelman, that Maus I feels artificial. Just as a mask depicts a lack of reality, Spiegelman may be trying to reveal his fear that the graphic novel, with its somewhat controversial artistic choices, is not an accurate representation of the Holocaust and his father’s