Blog Post #12

In the first volume of Maus Art Spiegelman definitely uses pathos in his earlier comic “Prisoner on Hell Planet”. He tells the story of what happened when his mother died. Here he obviously is appealing to our emotions. He is giving us more information so that we can get a better understanding of him and his father and even maybe his mother. We start to sympathize with him and understand why he has the relationship with his father that he has.

            Another part where Spiegelman appeals to our emotions in the first volume is when he draws the german soldiers banging children against the wall to make them be quiet and hurt them (page 110 in the complete Maus). He didn’t have to draw that picture just like he didn’t draw the picture of his aunt giving Richeu the poison. He consistently draws picture to give us a visual example of what was happening yet he didn’t show exactly what happened to his brother, only drew his fathers words. Especially when people are suffering does he make almost human like expressions on the mouses’ faces, which make us feel even more depressed about the stories and what happened in the war and concentration camps. These pictures fit in with the story because it makes it more real. Even though it is mice we are seeing, they still have human bodies and have human actions.