Maus Analysis

At first glance, the graphic novel Maus has the characteristics of any other comic- speech bubbles, comic sans font, detailed graphics, animal characters, etc. Upon further review, however, Maus is anything but a conventional entertaining comic. Through the combination of pictures and words, Art Spiegelman attempts to represent the events and magnitude of the Holocaust, a feat that would otherwise be unattainable through the explicit use of words.
Art expertly implements many graphical techniques and literary devices to create layers of deeper meaning, specifically on page 59. At the very top of the page, the Jewish mice are lined up in front of the Nazi cats. The particular shading of the mice's uniforms mirror that of a prisoner outfit. This suggests that in the shadow of the Nazis, the Jews are always prisoners, a theme that recurs throughout the novel. However, it is worth noting that the Nazis are also shaded in this particular way. Perhaps the individual soldiers are prisoner to the entire Holocaust movement as they enact orders from officers above them in rank.
Below the top panel, Vladek notes that the Nazis "did everything very [systematically]." The organization of the individual panels illustrating Valdek's interaction with the Nazi mirrors that statement. Unlike other pages, the panels are of the same size. This accentuates the order with which the Nazis carried out their actions.
As the panels switch back from past the present, Art is demonstrated to be smoking, and the rising smoke acts as a physical separation between Art and his father. This represents the separation in experiences of the Holocaust between father and son; no matter what, Art will never fully be able to comprehend the magnitude of his father's experience in the Holocaust. Furthermore, the "panels" illustrating the past have no physical border unlike the panels illustrating the past. The present "panels" are encompassed by the panels describing the past, suggesting that both Vladek and Art are engulfed by the past, and both are unable to escape from it.
(Please enjoy this gif of Beyonce dancing. I only say this because I literally can't relate Maus and Beyonce, but every post needs her blessing.)