Essay Symbolism in Cat and Mouse by Günter Grass

In fact, there are good mice and bad mice, good cats, and bad cats, and so on. The book reveals a relatively real society at that time to its readers, and it also considers how racial stereotypes still exists today, questioning that if we as a society learned something from the Holocaust.

The character Vladek in Art Spiegelman’s Maus greatly changed throughout the book. Events due to the Holocaust shaped Vladek into the person he is at the end of the book. The Holocaust caused Vladek to become extremely frugal, to have an obsession with tidiness, and to not be able to trust anyone. Vladek became extremely frugal from living through the Holocaust. In the beginning he was poor and couldn’t buy extravagant things.

When dealing with Non-Fiction and Memoir it is imperative to realize that no two authors will approach telling their story in the same manner. Elie Weisel and Charlotte Delbo, two survivors of Auschwitz, both chose to write their Memoir as testimonials of their experiences. Despite sharing a method of testimonial and similar experiences in their stories, the two finished pieces are nearly entirely different. This paper will focus on Elie Weisel’s method of reporting his experiences to the reader, as opposed to a brief discussion on Delbo who tends to reflect. The scene of focus in the comparison and contrast will be the arrival scene as the authors enter into Auschwitz. This is a universal scene that would have been similar for everyone that entered into the camp, so it is what I call a unique shared experience, as everyone’s experiences will of course vary. But, aside from being a common experience it is also a common primary reflective moment that both authors spend quite a bit of time discussing.

The major theme of the book is shown through the bonds of friendship and how in the most of unlikely circumstances friendship can survive and exist between people possessing an extensive and most restrictive division. A second theme is the evil and the intolerance which existed around these times of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, as seen by the Germans having the Jews in the concentration camp. And the third theme is the curiosity and innocence of Bruno, Shmuel and

The most important distinction between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom is man's ability to understand, reason, and think. The power hungry Nazis are symbolized as cats because of a cat’s constant starvation and tend to be stronger compared to mice and pigs. The Jews are symbolized as mice to show how weak they were and how they were treated during World War II. Spiegelman puts a focus on the mice and the struggle that Valdek went through.

	In Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Black Cat," symbolism is used to show the narrator’s capacity for violence, madness, and guilt. "The Black Cat," written by Edgar Allan Poe serves as a reminder for all of us. The Capacity for violence and horror lies within each of

Songtai Liu English Essay Symbols in Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a novella that was written by John Steinbeck. It was published in the 1930s and it basically tells a story during the Great Depression period about of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, traveled around and look for new job opportunities; they arrived at a ranch in California and started to work at there. In fact, I found that Steinbeck used the technique of symbolism very constantly throughout the story.

Although Of Mice and Men definitely teaches young students about how the setting was set up back then, the themes of abuse and death included could be found highly inappropriate or offensive to young students today. These themes arise from the multiple abusive and gory deaths of characters throughout the novel. For example, the novel included a reoccurring scene of murder of innocent animals by Lennie including mice and puppies. Some readers are not able to handle such grimness, therefore finding it repugnant or simply unacceptable. Readers with their own pets may also feel a terrible sense of guilt and repulsiveness by simply reading the novel. Another example is portrayed when Lennie violently kills Curley’s wife by shaking her to death.

The word Holocaust refers to the mass murder of 6 million European Jews by the German Nazi regime during World War II. It began in 1933 and ended in 1945. The ruler of Germany during this time was Adolf Hitler. He and the Nazis put the Jew in concentration camps, where thousands were killed everyday. This was one of the worst if not the worst genocides in history. Many books have been written to document survivors’ testimony of this horrific event. Elie Wiesel shares his story and Art Spiegelman shares his father’s story in the books Night and Maus. Comparisons can be drawn between Maus and Night through the author's purpose for writing , the survivor’s experiences, and the author's perspective.

In Art Spiegelman’s graphical novel Maus his demonstration of the Holocaust and its recollection in Maus was very emotional, affecting and the most expressing. The approach that the author has taken construes and magnifies the comical shape of telling history. It portrays Spiegelman dialog between himself and his father about his happenings as holocaust and polish jew survivor. Most of the narrative specifically focuses on Spiegelman 's difficult connection with his father, and the nonappearance of his mother who committed suicide when he was 20.In this essay I will be examining the experience of trauma and memory in Maus. Also I will be showing how the pain and trauma of the Holocaust affected Artie and Vladek 's diasporic memories. Trauma usually describes the association with chronological or combined traumatic proceedings to experiences that happen to others. These occasions are internalized circuitously through images, and stories and other recaps and reminders of their family’s occurrences. Spiegelman also investigates and addresses the load and legacy of distressing reminiscence on second-generation survivors. In the narrative Maus discovers and documents this behavior of dual memory. Throughout the story Art talks about the state of affairs in which his father’s reminiscences are expressed. The chronological and personal trauma produced by the Holocaust, and by simplifying the reintegration of the following generation to its past.

flashbacks from the narrator’s point of view and wondered what kinds of choices he would make

This one review made me question myself about my own opinion because i couldn't have disagreed more with the reviewer. He said “it was difficult to relate to the book and the holocaust because the author made the characters as pigs, cats, mice.”(mouse#1). So basically the reviewer is saying that he couldn’t see the connections that were trying to be made with the use of the animals as the characters throughout the text. I would have to say that i disagree with the point that the reviewer is trying to say, because the author used these animals as characters to show symbolism between the characters and humans. The cover of the book is a great expamle from the book to show how these characters symbolize humans.(spieglemen Cover.) The picture shows a nazi symbol with a cat (germans) in the middle and two mice scared down below, it symbolizes that during the holocaust the jews (mice) were scared and defenseless throughout the book and the germans (cats) were the bigger and more leatheal to bully the

The books Maus I and Maus II, written by Art Spiegelman over a thirteen-year period from 1978-1991, are books that on the surface are written about the Holocaust. The books specifically relate to the author’s father’s experiences pre and post-war as well as his experiences in Auschwitz. The book also explores the author’s very complex relationship between himself and his father, and how the Holocaust further complicates this relationship. On a deeper level the book also dances around the idea of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. The two books are presented in a very interesting way; they are shown in comic form, which provides the ability for Spiegelman to incorporate numerous ideas and complexities to his work.

Throughout the story of Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began, cats and mice are used metaphorically to represent Nazis and Jews. Pigs and frogs are also used metaphorically, however, due to their lack of relationship with the cat and mouse metaphor, they do not add on to the effectiveness in relaying the theme of identity being shaped by adversity. (Spiegelman 93-94) These pages are the only ones that the frog appears in with only a minor role in which he offers to share Vladek a box of food. The brief interaction does not add any significance to the cat and mouse metaphor seen throughout the graphic novel because the frog has no impact or change on Vladek, thus making the animal metaphor less effective. Another reason why the animal metaphor is also less effective is how misrepresenting the stereotypes can be. The pigs for example are usually stereotyped as self centered and lazy animals. However, (Spiegelman 92) the pig doctor who helps Vladek’s injured hand directly contradicts the stereotype that pigs are self centered. Spiegelman’s use of stereotyping and lack of other animals hinders the effectiveness of animal metaphor in the theme. One could argue that the lack of images in Night could possibly allow readers to miss information, however, pictures aren’t everything into understanding what is going on. “Dragging himself on all fours.”(Wiesel 101) This quote offers the reader a visualization on how animalistic the Jews have become, ultimately proving that Elie Wiesel's use of animal imagery is more effective than Spiegelman's animal

Between 1933 and 1945, 11 million people were murdered in the Holocaust, of this six million were Jews and of this, 1.1 million were children. Of the nine million Jews who lived in Europe before the Holocaust, an estimated 2/3 were murdered. Despite all these odds and statistics, Vladek Spiegelman managed to survive, and then share his story with his son, so he could share their story with the world. Another reason that Vladek Spiegelman is a good subject to write a biography on is, his personality. He seems to have to sides to him, Vladek Spiegelman before war and Vladek Spiegelman post - war. We get to see the impact and affect the Holocaust had on it’s victims, with our own eyes. Moreover, Vladek Spiegelman is an inspiration and a reminder of the potential dark side to human nature. Thus, writing a biography on Mr. Spiegelman is informative, moving and above all, inspirational.