Maus Analysis

From the day we started reading Maus, I've been captivated by the way Spiegelman combines artwork and narration to describe the past. More than anything, I'm shocked at how much analysis can be done through a single page of a comic book. 

(Example from page 116 of Vol. 2)

Just from just the arrangement and content of the panels above, we can infer that the Vladek is torn apart figuratively and physically by the way the panels literally split him up into different pieces. Throughout the book, Vladek and Artie have shown to be distant, specifically by the smoke that appears to "create a rift between them." This separation is also evident here, as Artie is purposefully excluded from the big picture of Vladek, with text bubbles and a different panel taking Artie's place besides his father. From the words on this page, we know that Vladek's close family members have all passed away, except for his brother, Pinek. To show this, Spiegelman places the picture of the only surviving member in the hands of Vladek, with the photos of the deceased members on the ground. The pictures of the deceased members on the ground also appear to keep their distance away from Vladek, creating a circle around him, possibly to show that the memories of them keep circling around in Vladek's mind. Also, the recurring motif of a cage cell seems to be evident in Vladek's jacket. The jacket could represent a metaphorical "jail" that Vladek puts himself in every time he talks about his past to Artie.