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Taylir Butterworth
Mr. Salow
Maus II: Five Frame Analysis
09 December 2017

Maus II: Five Frame Analysis

Pg. 41:
At the beginning of chapter two, author Art Spiegelman is portraying himself, as a human
but with a mouse mask on. What Art is trying to depict in this first frame that he is unsure of his
identity. Art is smoking a cigarette, which depicts stress, and looks like he hasnt shaved his face
so there is stubble on his face. The frame also has flies in it, which is a representation of death.
The frame really looks like Art is losing himself. Mentally and physically. Art is giving the
reader information about Vladeks death, and different dates. Hes no longer writing in a past
perspective of his father. Art is still talking about past information but not in his fathers point of
view.
The second frame out of the five, is talking of Vladeks life, and Vladeks past life about
what he went through in the war and as a holocaust survivor. Now the story is being told from
Arts perspective of how he portrayed his fathers life. Art starts going into more specific details
about his book. Also, a lot more dated events come into play. Within these specific five frames,
there are about nine different significant dates. Most of those dates being depressing events, you
really get a sense of Arts depression. The second frame, the image Art is depicting is becoming
more detailed and in a way zooming out. You can now see that it looks like Art is drawing or
writing something down as he is talking about his fathers past in Auschwitz and about his book.
Its still the same image as the first frame, with Art smoking, the mouse mask, and the flies.

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The third frame Art is depicting himself smoking, and thinking. His arms are folded and
lying on top of his desk. Hes looking down at his desk with bags under the eyes of the mouse
mask. The text in this frame is talking about something that is supposed to be joyful, the birth of
Art and Francoises baby Nadja, with something horrific and depressing, the Holocaust, and how
they both came to be in the same month. Although Nadja was born many years after the
Holocaust, Art still pairs the two together in this frame. The fact that he paired the two, is
showing me that he is confused and conflicted about the different situations in his life.
The depiction of the fourth is more of a feeling. The feeling being pitty. The way Art is
depicting himself, it almost looks as if he is trying to plead with the reader by making the mouse
mask look sad, and his hand (with cigarette between fingers) sitting on his desk like he is trying
to convince the reader. In all of these frames, Art is now specifically talking to the reader. In this
frame in particular, Art has depicted himself looking at the reader off of the page. He really didn't
do this in either of the Maus books. This, to me, is showing that hes trying to get more
personal with the reader. Art also talks about the first Maus book and how it was successfully
published, saying, In September 1986, after 8 years of work, the first part of MAUS was
published. It was a critical and commercial success. (Spiegelman, 41). There are also still flies
in the frame, flying around Art.
The last, and the most visual of the five frames, depicts Art, head down into crossed arms
on top of his desk. Below him and his desk is a giant pile of dead, naked and starving bodies. The
flies are all over the page, especially over Art and the bodies. Outside Arts window, is a watch
tower surrounded by a fence. Which is what was often found in or around the concentration
camps.clearly Art had the holocaust on his mind. I think that Art felt bad about it and not being

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able to relate to his father on a certain level due to the fact that Art didn't experience this all for
himself.

Works Cited
MAUS II A SURVIVORS TALE: AND HERE MY TROUBLES BEGAN