Mouse Trap

I chose to analyze page 155 from Chapter 6, entitled Mouse Trap. In this scene, Vladeck is "trapped" by the Polish smugglers who betray him. The letter from Abraham, Mandelbaum's nephew, is almost like the "cheese" used to attract the mice to the trap.


In the second panel, the train gives off a feeling of looming dread through the stripes, which reappear several times throughout the story.The stripes go in different directions on different parts of the train. This, along with the windows and doors depicted as black holes. make the train almost look like a prison. 

The inside of the train, depicted in the third panel, looks even more like a prison. At first glance it looks like the German officers are looking into prison cells. The left side, where the Polish man is sitting, is solid white, but the right side is covered with stripes. The fourth panel appears as if it is an offshoot of the third one, as if when the officer in the third panel turned to his left he ended up in the fourth panel, if that makes sense. The fourth panel is jagged and appears to be sticking out to make the readers feel the sudden shock and surprise and immense fear that Vladeck and Anja must have felt at the moment. Again, the stripes everywhere add to the dark mood. 

In the last panel, Vladeck and Anja are being marched past their hometown to a prison. In the silhouettes it is clear that the mice have been stripped of their pig masks, meaning their identity has been revealed. Behind the people is the town, which, AGAIN, is covered in varying shades and directions of stripes. The whole background looks like a once-busy-but-now-deserted town. The Polish couple is also covered in stripes and almost blends in with the wall behind them. This symbolizes the apathy of the Polish. They just stood there and watched as if they were just another part of the wall. 

Any more analysis will consist of stripes, and I can't analyze stripes anymore. 

Comments

  1. Meghana KOctober 8, 2017 at 1:58 PM

    Iman, this analysis is very detailed. Your analysis of the stripes on the train and the doors is very eye opening. Also, I really liked how you connected the panels and mentioned how one affects the other. Moreover, your last sentence is hilarious.

    ReplyDelete

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