The Significance of Masks in Art Speigleman's 'Maus'

What are masks? One usually thinks it is an object the individual puts on and takes off.

The idea of masks as well as people as animals leads right into the next idea. Spiegelman is attempting to communicate very interesting ideas with this artistic choice. He is using specific animals in order to represent different ethnicities or types of people; for example, Jews are represented as mice. Spiegelman is building off Nazi ideals showing that Jews are dirty and bothersome people that need to be exterminated. By using this symbolism the author is amplifying a certain mentality in order to attempt to understand the Holocaust. Through the art in Maus the author is able to use illustration in order to make a much more interesting story, but it is not only about the art, it is also about certain

The masks act as a way for the guests to block their guilt from being exposed after leaving people beyond the four walls to fend for themselves. “It was towards the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence” (Poe, Par.4). The invitees put on masks to symbolically obscure themselves from the fate of the “Red Death”. Poe is stating that the people are falling into the same arrogant way of thinking as Prospero by trying to escape disease. The party-goers are also hiding from themselves and each other because they selfishly tried to make themselves immune to the disease while leaving the outside world to fend for their lives. The masks being worn also helps give the sense of confidence while being “hidden”, especially Prospero. “ ‘Who dares’-- he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him-- ‘Who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him-that we may know whom we have to hang, at sunrise, from the battlements!’ (Poe, par.11). As soon as Prospero’s eyes landed on the mummer, there was a surge of confidence that shot up within his body in a split second. The mask upon Prospero’s face caused him to act in a boastful and cocky way to try and defeat the mummer, despite

Celebrations, Rituals, dancing and parties have been a part of human existence for hundreds of years. Masks have been a large part of our growth and used by every culture according to historical records. Masks are symbols of great power

In the World of Maus, we see the types of guilt different characters experience throughout the graphic novel. In many ways the relationship between Vladek and Art is the central topic of the book, and this narrative deals extensively with feelings of guilt. Whether that is the impact on Art from Anja’s death, or the guilt Vladek felt as a survivor. Maus revolves around this relationship between past and present, and the intergenerational effects of past events on Art Spiegelman. Art is living in the shadow of a holocaust survivor never truly understanding.

Their masks hide the evil dwelling within their innocent souls, waiting to be set free. It emits human personalities and behaviors, allowing it to be impenetrable by visual perception. With these masks as a cover, Jack and his tribe members interact nicely; chaos rips through their society when they allowed their masks to fall off throughout many sequences of events.

Epitomizing the idea of an abyss that will inevitably envelope the world, the symbolism of Rorschach's mask works to comment on skewed identity as a catalyst of societal destruction. Struggling to find comfort in his identity as Walter Joseph Kovacs, the character was Rorschach was created, creating a face that “[he] could bear to look at in the mirror”. Being an individual capable of “feeling the dark planet under my feet and knew what cats know that makes them scream like babies at night”, Rorschach saw the world for what it is, not the facade put up to hide societal complications. Consequently, Rorschach, or at the time Kovacs, could no longer live with the identity of an acceptor of the doomed nature of the world, creating a new identity that would “Even in the face of Armageddon, I shall not compromise”. Creating such character from an “ugly” dress of a murdered victim of society, Kovacs crafted the mask that would allow him to deter the world from the “evils that exist within mankind” Kovacs, through this newly formed identity was capable of living a double life, his identity as Rorschach becoming the one that he connected with the most, this new character becoming his “real face”. Ultimately this strong association with Rorschach, rather than his given identity Kovacs emphasizes the idea of identity as a motivator for world doom. Becoming Rorschach allowed Kovacs "to scrawl own design on this morally blank world ”, or work in an attempt to save the world from the “destiny that feeds them [us] to the dogs”. Through such temporarily successful action, Kovacs become more and more attached to the identity of Rorschach, saying that the mask became “his face” and that when he removes himself from the character Rorschach, he no longer has an identity, saying that without his face “nobody knows who I am, without my face nobody knows”. As a matter of fact, the idea of Kovacs no longer exists in this new identity of Rorschach,

Furthermore, Masks is another great example used by Sam Gill. He clearly reveals that often times we misinterpret the meaning of mask: that they only hold a space on a shelf among others like itself, otherwise known as a collection. However, masks hold a bigger significance than that. To the Natives, masks are living and when masked performances take place, the deities are present. To view mask as art alone is to minimize the actual beauty and value behind the entire mask and its' function. There is a reason for its existence and it's not just to be creative and productive. Typically, we consider masks as objects that hide or conceal something. In the Native Americans' case, this is the furthest from the truth. Performing a mask in a ritual is

African masks were to establish a different identity for the wearer in order to amuse, teach, or sacrifice.

In We Wear the Mask, the author’s purpose is to push the reader to feel something about the way things were in his perspective.

The mask enables the savages of the story to be better camouflaged and to hide their shame and self-consciousness. The problem with this is that when the time comes to take off said mask, they often can’t without removing an aspect of their skin as well. Nowadays, cyberbullying is the most common form of bullying. Bullies find pleasure to hide behind a computer screen because they don’t get to see the pain they are causing the victim. In a way, the computer screen acts the same way the paint acts for the savages in the novel; it masks their remorse. When compared to real verbal bullying, cyberbullying is more discreet, effective and cowardly. The problem with it is that the bullies often get too immersed in the act that they often forget who

(www.merriam-webster.com)” To me there seems to be different types of masks, ones that don’t involve plastic coverings with colorful designs on them. I’m talking about the more metaphorical types such as physical, mental and emotional masks that we choose to hide behind instead of facing the world for what it is.

Anja’s depression affected her life and the Holocaust, and losing her son made it even worse. She decided she no longer wanted to live and committed suicide. Mental illness is real; people who lived through the Holocaust were majorly affected, and the characters in this story are a representation of survivors as well as mental illness effects. Artie uses the characters’ issues to address mental health issues. The characters become a symbol of their illnesses.

Vladek too appears to feel guilty about having survived the Holocaust. As Spiegelman’s guilt continues he visits a man named Pavel and the two discuss the guilt and what it means to be a Holocaust "survivor." Pavel suggests that Vladek himself actually felt a sense of guilt for having survived the Holocaust whilst so many of his friends and family did not. And maybe Vladek took this guilt out on Art the "real survivor" as Pavel calls him.

     Masks were created to be placed over the face, on the top of the head, or even over the head. Most masks represent spirits of ancestors (Fetzer 106). Some villages make masks with full costumes and use them with music to dance in ritual performances. They used masks for social control,