The last page of Maus II
The very last page of Art Spiegelman's novel serves as an ending to Vladek's narration which is consistently the primary plot of the novels while the events in present time of Art Spiegelman while he records his father serve as a secondary plot.
The events of this page are the "happiest" to occur since it is when Vladek finally reunites with Anja in their newly free town of Sosnowiec. Without opening any new chapters in his story, Vladek tells Art to stop recording but mistakingly calls him "Richieu" which was his other son's name. I have to admit that I was sad that there was no more story telling left to go and that even though things seemed to work out at the end of Vladek's story, we all know that the bad luck didn't end there.
The middle panel where Vladek and Anja see each other appears to have the biggest squares which visually represents the significance of this final event. Even more noticeable is the spotlight around them hugging. This spotlight has occurred in other parts of the novels such as the cover of both graphic novels. In those cases, the spotlight was on the swastika and depicted the power of Nazi's and their dominance over jews. The idea that now the spotlight is on Vladek and Anja shows a type of victory against Nazis since they are now more central. It contributes to how happy Vladek felt because being under a spotlight can be seen as an exciting and marvelous thing.
The bottom of the page has a slight shift in atmosphere as Vladek is still absorbed by the past when he calls Art "Richieu" and goes to bed without showing any signs of delight at the end of his story. The very bottom shows an even stronger transition to gloom as it is a big gravestone with Art's parent's information listed. This serve as a memorial to Art as he concludes the novel.
The events of this page are the "happiest" to occur since it is when Vladek finally reunites with Anja in their newly free town of Sosnowiec. Without opening any new chapters in his story, Vladek tells Art to stop recording but mistakingly calls him "Richieu" which was his other son's name. I have to admit that I was sad that there was no more story telling left to go and that even though things seemed to work out at the end of Vladek's story, we all know that the bad luck didn't end there.
The middle panel where Vladek and Anja see each other appears to have the biggest squares which visually represents the significance of this final event. Even more noticeable is the spotlight around them hugging. This spotlight has occurred in other parts of the novels such as the cover of both graphic novels. In those cases, the spotlight was on the swastika and depicted the power of Nazi's and their dominance over jews. The idea that now the spotlight is on Vladek and Anja shows a type of victory against Nazis since they are now more central. It contributes to how happy Vladek felt because being under a spotlight can be seen as an exciting and marvelous thing.
The bottom of the page has a slight shift in atmosphere as Vladek is still absorbed by the past when he calls Art "Richieu" and goes to bed without showing any signs of delight at the end of his story. The very bottom shows an even stronger transition to gloom as it is a big gravestone with Art's parent's information listed. This serve as a memorial to Art as he concludes the novel.
LOL I did this exact same page, but I agree with ur points!The story ends in a very gloomy way, but I feel like it does give us closure. And the spotlight shows how Vladek and Anja don't have to be in hiding anymore, and I think that that's a really touching and hopeful note to end up. It's also a huge contrast from the gravestone at the end, which is pretty morbid.
ReplyDelete