The Swastika in MAUS Essay -- Maus Essays

The Swastika in MAUS The image of the swastika pervades Arthur Spiegelmans graphic young MAUS. In a work where so much of the Holocaust has been changed in more or less way - after all, there are no humans in this version, only cats, mice, dogs, and pigs - we must wonder why Spiegelman chooses to retain this well-known emblem. To remove it all in all or replace it with an some other, invented symbolism would completely disorient the reader nevertheless some might claim that this is the solvent at which Spiegelman is aiming. I believe it is not. Rather, Spiegelman uses the swastika to subtly remind the reader that while the guise in which events are presented may be somewhat unfamiliar, the novel is still a narrative of the Holocaust. The swastika, it has been pointed out, has forever been a powerful symbol. Before Hitlers time, it was used across the world, often with the symbolic meaning of the sun, power, life force, or other superlatives - especially as a symbol for the Budd ha. The Nazis co-opted this symbol only after much deliberation, and perhaps the Nazi regime never could have come into public without the use of ideograms such as the swastika. The Nazis demoralize this symbol by rotating it into a diagonal position and making it bolder than it traditionally was, therefore giving it more aggressiveness. effrontery the innate power of this symbol, Spiegelman would be hard put to find an alternative for his depiction of the Nazis that could evoke the same response. The image found on the front cover of the halt is clearly a Nazi swastika - the traditional, pre-Nazi swastika uses horizontal and vertical, not diagonal lines. However, to clarify who exactly is being identified with the Nazis, we must look to the stylized, angulate cats fa... ...entation of his fathers Holocaust experience, it would be dishonest and dirty to do anything else. But then why is the swastika not only seen in places where it would have historically appeared - on Nazi f lags, on the sides of Nazi vehicles - but also as a background image for a particularly gruesome event in the daybook and as a pattern create by roads? It seems that this is intended to remind us that this is the Holocaust we are reading about. The blurb on the in spite of appearance front flap states Its form, the cartoon... succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described. But this is not entirely true - by using the swastika, we are reminded that even though the characters are animals, this is still Holocaust history. The familiarity of the swastika still lingers in our minds and colors our perception of the entire story. The Swastika in MAUS Essay -- Maus EssaysThe Swastika in MAUS The image of the swastika pervades Arthur Spiegelmans graphic novel MAUS. In a work where so much of the Holocaust has been changed in some way - after all, there are no humans in this version, only cats, mice, dogs, and pigs - w e must wonder why Spiegelman chooses to retain this well-known emblem. To remove it entirely or replace it with another, invented symbol would completely disorient the reader but some might claim that this is the effect at which Spiegelman is aiming. I believe it is not. Rather, Spiegelman uses the swastika to subtly remind the reader that while the guise in which events are presented may be somewhat unfamiliar, the novel is still a narrative of the Holocaust. The swastika, it has been pointed out, has always been a powerful symbol. Before Hitlers time, it was used across the world, often with the symbolic meaning of the sun, power, life force, or other superlatives - especially as a symbol for the Buddha. The Nazis co-opted this symbol only after much deliberation, and perhaps the Nazi regime never could have come into existence without the use of ideograms such as the swastika. The Nazis perverted this symbol by rotating it into a diagonal position and making it bolder than it tra ditionally was, therefore giving it more aggressiveness. Given the innate power of this symbol, Spiegelman would be hard-pressed to find an alternative for his depiction of the Nazis that could evoke the same response. The image found on the front cover of the book is clearly a Nazi swastika - the traditional, pre-Nazi swastika uses horizontal and vertical, not diagonal lines. However, to clarify who exactly is being identified with the Nazis, we must look to the stylized, angular cats fa... ...entation of his fathers Holocaust experience, it would be dishonest and unfair to do anything else. But then why is the swastika not only seen in places where it would have historically appeared - on Nazi flags, on the sides of Nazi vehicles - but also as a background image for a particularly gruesome event in the book and as a pattern formed by roads? It seems that this is intended to remind us that this is the Holocaust we are reading about. The blurb on the inside front flap states Its fo rm, the cartoon... succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiarity with the events described. But this is not entirely true - by using the swastika, we are reminded that even though the characters are animals, this is still Holocaust history. The familiarity of the swastika still lingers in our minds and colors our perception of the entire story.