Ahmed Hassan
English 11

Introduction:
Hook: Deprived of food, sleep and family? Maus by Art Spiegelman is a graphic novel, that takes the reader on a journey through the holocaust and WWII with Vladek Spiegelman, the Father of Art Spiegelman.

Context: Vladek was separated from his wife and was just recently placed in Auschwitz. He was working as a tinman. Vladek is working at the Auschwitz tin shop, though he has never been trained in this profession. During this time, Anja is at Birkenau, a larger camp two miles to the south. Whereas Auschwitz is a camp for workers, Birkenau is just a waiting area for the gas chambers and crematoriums.

Thesis: Spiegelman uses Perspective, Imagery and contrast to emphasize what Victimized people go through.

Body Paragraph 1

P: Contrast is pivotal in Graphic novels it helps add emphasis to drawings and naturally gives more meaning to many different aspects. Contrast is used a lot in the

E: The middle 2 panels.

E: Through the use of shading the black background is contrasted to the white characters in the foreground. The black colour is dark and scary and there is a lot of it in this page, it highlights what the Jews were faced with. The pure white Colour of the jews in the foreground highlights the innocence of the Prisoners. This has a positive effect on the reader. By Contrasting the jews and Nazi’s it helps the reader understand the main Character and the plot of the story more.

L: This links to the theme because it shows us the innocence of the victimized prisoners during the holocaust.

Body paragraph 2

P: Perspective is essential in graphic novel, it creates emphasis and has effects on the plot but most importantly it sets the setting.

E: In the first and last panel.

E: Perspective and positioning is very important in a Graphic Novel. In the 1st panel it really focuses on the outside of the Gas Chamber, this links with the 1st point about how the dark colors represent a scary situation. In the last panel as well it is showing a shot of the ovens where the bodies were being burnt in. This just gives the reader a better understanding of the situation. The perspective and positioning helps us see what they were going through and the horrible conditions they lived in.

L: This links to the theme because the perspective helps us see what the victimized prisoners went through and the kind of environment they lived in.

Body Paragraph 3

P: Imagery allows the reader to better understand and relate to the writing. Helps to stir the emotion and picture things as the writer intended.

E: The middle 2 panels

E: In the middle 2 panels one of the workers is explaining to Vladek what happens in the Gas chambers and he does a really good job explaining it, judging by Vladek's reaction. The imagery used by the worker helps support the claim by going into detail of what the victimized went through. This has a positive effect on the reader academic wise. It helps the reader understand what the prisoner went through

L: this links to the theme because the imagery used by Spiegelman is very descriptive and it keeps the reader interested and engaged.

Conclusion:
The Nazi’s imprisoned alot of Jews during the holocaust and one can only imagine what they went through. Through the use of Imagery, perspective and contrast Spiegelman manages to help readers understand what victimized prisoners went through during the holocaust.