In Art Spiegelman's Maus, stripes are often used to represent imprisonment and oppression. Spiegelman blends stripes into the background of many panels, depicting not only prison uniforms, but prison itself. On page 86 of Volume 1, Vladek is recalling the many ways that Germans subjugated the Jews. In this particular instance, Spiegelman illustrates when the Germans had decided that "All Jews over 70 years old will be transferred to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia." The Germans described this new location as "a community better prepared to take care of the elderly," but in the image, stripes are once again clearly portrayed to represent the physical and mental imprisonment that Nazis demonstrated towards Jews. The mice are always surrounded by these stripes, even in their own home. No matter where they go, the Nazis are always right behind them, watching their every move. The stripes create an atmosphere of uneasiness, and is more unsettling for a reader to look at compared to a white background. In the last panel of page 86, Anja's grandparents were hiding in a shed, once again with striped walls. The Germans are not only directly but also indirectly imprisoning and detaining Jews within camps as well as their own abodes. Stripes can also be observed in the present day, when Vladek is describing the past to Spiegelman. This continuous illustration of stripes represents the ongoing entrapment of Jews, even as the Holocaust had ended. Although they are not physically imprisoned anymore, Spiegelman conveys that after everything that had happened, Jews were psychologically imprisoned, scarred from the suffering and torment that they had to endure.
I like how you took something that many people would gloss over, and made a detailed analysis about it. I agree that the symbolism of the stripes throughout the book adds to the effect of the story.
ReplyDeleteI like your interesting perspective of how stripes can have strong feelings associated with it. Some might say however, that sometimes throughout the novel, the stripes are just Art's technique with sketching and not intentionally supposed to be stripes. Regardless, I still like the idea that they are meant to show entrapment as you pointed out.
ReplyDeletePeter, where is your blog for this week?
ReplyDeleteSorry Mrs. Valentino, it was a bit late. My fault- don't really have any excuses.
DeleteI would like to apologize on behalf of Peter. Since he is such a hard worker, he was taking a nap and did not bother to wake up until 6:50.
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