breaking free from Nazi shackles


In the graphic novel Maus, Art Spiegelman uses imagery on page 33 to foreshadow the violence that’s about to come, but also attempts, in his own way, to challenge the power of the Nazis.  

Throughout the novel so far, I have noticed that there isn’t an image of the full nazi symbol. There are either animals blocking it, like on the cover; or part of the symbol cut off, like on page 32. This wasn’t obvious to me until I looked over on page 33 where the symbol is shown on 5 of the 6 panels, and on all of them the Nazi symbol wasn’t fully shown and was partially blocked. 

 

The censorship of the Nazi symbol could be because of a multitude of reasons, including the intention to show readers that the Nazis had not reached their full power yet. With only showing part of the symbol, it creates a meaning to the readers that even with only half of the symbol, or half the power, the Nazis still carry so much power and can create so much destruction. This also foreshadows the destruction and violence Nazis are capable of, and what can happen as they gain more and more power and make towns “Jew Free”.

 

But the censorship of the Nazi symbol also serves another purpose, to suppress it. By not showing the Nazi symbol fully, the author is challenging its power and diminishing the visual impact it is known to have. These efforts of suppression aim to reduce the power the Nazi symbols holds over readers emotionally as a way to counter the influence Nazis still hold over the world.

 

The authors use of censoring the Nazi symbol in the story shows that while it represented terror and death during that time, we shouldn’t give the symbol any more power.

 

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 4, 2023 at 4:24 AM

    Hi Vanshika! I like how you brought in another viewpoint regarding suppressing Nazi power. Initially, I didn’t consider that but in the way you explained it I think it makes a lot of sense.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 4, 2023 at 8:59 AM

    Woah vanshika this is so cool!! i loved your insight about the nazi symbol - i never realized that the half symbol was intentional

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

poetry, music, and me

Beginning my schooldays with poetry in my first hour would not have been exactly exciting for me. However, over winter break I've been listening to a lot of music, especially one of my all time favorite lyricists, Taylor Swift. And I've had more than one time I felt she was a lyrical genius (not as good as Aesop Rock, but still good enough). Take these lines from a couple difference songs for example: "I brought a knife to a gun fight" or  "the rust that grew between telephones" or  " But if the story's over why am I still writing pages?"  These simple, yet metaphorical lines made me understand that songs with straight up lyrics aren't really my cup of tea. I want a singer that talks in code, someone you have to completely break down the lyrics of to fully understand. Someone who can consistently use wordplay and use it as something more than just a meaningless flashy one line (aka Lil Wayne (although I love Lil Wayne)). Although I can'...
Read more

change to growth

 In 5th grade, I vividly remember overhearing my high school friend talking about her recent SAT test. It was a surprisingly chilly Saturday in August, and we were at a dinner party when I saw her fully surrounded by people. There were uncles, aunties, teenagers, and even kids hearing her ramble on what seemed nonsensical to me, why bother stressing over a test when there is food! In 7th grade, I was once again exposed to the SAT as more and more people around me were taking the test. I thought those teenagers were so cool,  and I looked up to them for taking such a difficult exam, but I knew I had a long time before that happened to me.  Flash forward to my first SAT test in the August of my junior year of high school and I was pondering over everything I have done building up to this point, and on the way to the school I was taking my test at, I recollected how much I have grown as a person. My mentality shifted, I was no longer the little girl with two pigtails running...
Read more

Man down

Image
          W alking into school on Wednesday, I wasn't exactly psyched to be watching a reinvented version of a  Shakespearean play. Last year, having watched Clyde's, a modern play, I found joy in reading and watching stories/plays that did NOT have a hidden message every other line (like Hamlet and The Great Gatsby). And while Clyde's had significantly heavier topics than I had imagined as it followed the journey of the incarcerated after serving their time, it was more simple to digest and understand as it had an overarching theme that was self-explanatory.         On the other hand, I assumed Fat Ham would either need continuous decoding of the many hidden messages and hints that Hamlet had, or would be too difficult to enjoy and understand. So consider me surprised with the opening scene which is something I never would've expected. The opening scene to me was a small introduction to something I've noticed all throughout: a challeng...
Read more