Sniffing for Jews

When I first opened "Maus," I didn't think much of it. I saw some pictures and some words that went along with the pictures and I though oh okay this for once might be an easy read. I was wrong. After I read a few pages of the book and further discussed it in class I realized that the use of words and pictures doesn't make it an easier read, in fact it gave it much more depth.

The words individually told a story, the pictures on the other hand told their own story as well, but when put together they told one story that told the story of a thousand others. "Maus" did not illustrate the experience of just one Holocaust survivor, it serves a greater purpose of telling the story of all of the Jews, Poles, Germans, and anyone else that was involved in the Holocaust. Each picture gave a different perspective with a different representation of each person. Wether a mouse, a pig, or a cat, each was depicted in different ways. By allowing for there to be different ways of interpreting each picture and its meaning it shows that although each person involved in the Holocaust had their own experience it all revolved around a few key factors. Art shows a frame of a cat and says,"framed photo of pet cat. Really!" This shows that in previous panels the portrayal of germans as cats was on purpose and served as one of the key factors that gave each panel its meaning. The words that went along with the pictures simply allowed for the reader to apply the individual story of Vladek to what they interpreted from the picture about all of the representatives of the Holocaust.