Packed Pocket-Size Panels

Everything in Maus has meaning. Spiegelman uses a variety of literary techniques to symbolically yet powerfully tell the story of the Holocaust. Specifically, through the strategic placements, sizes, and representations of symbols, Spiegelman emphasizes their importance and creates a relationship between the characters and the readers.  

Let's unpack all the hidden meanings in the panels on pages 32-33 in chapter 2 of volume 1. The chapter is titled The Honeymoon and starts with an image of a line of mice looking at a flag with a swastika on it, but the flag is folded. Because of the folds, you can't see the the full swastika, which represents that at this point, the Jews don't yet know their fate. They are still not privy to the full picture that awaits them. The title is also a symbolic way of saying that this was still a good time, or rather a time where the Jews were still blindsided by awe and the sense of elation at the unfamiliarity of change in the treatment of Jews now occurring in the war. A honeymoon, or even more so the honeymoon phase, is a lot like that because the marriage or relationship is still new and unfamiliar, thus making it exciting, and yet when each person gets settled in and comfortable, it can often become tragic or toxic and fall apart.

Turn to page 32, and the first thing the reader sees is a train seemingly in the distance, which simply represents the fact that the Jews are traveling so they are now further away. The odd thing though is that the train is going in the opposite direction of the way the reader reads. This makes it seem like the train is going backwards, but of more importance is the fact that because the train is oriented this way, the smoke is going forward. This is a symbol for the smoke and gas from the gas chambers in which Jews were killed, representing that by being on the train, the Jews are getting closer to their final destination... death. The bridge that the train rides on also looks like gravestones if you look at the dark negative space. 

The next panels underneath the train show the mice within looking out the windows, while the panels themselves act like windows for the readers. Therefore, the reader is an onlooking observer looking in at the mice, while the mice simultaneously look out. This relationship created between the narrative and the real world is something Spiegelman constantly uses throughout the book to include the reader in the story and make it seem more real.  

Next comes the central and biggest panel on page 32, in which the reader sees the mice looking at a flag with a swastika on it, mirroring the opening picture of the chapter. I find two things about this panel very interesting: 

1. In the previous panel, it says "Every Jew from the train got very excited and frightened." 
2. In the central panel we are told that the swastika flag was "...hanging high in the center of town..."  

Number one is interesting because why would Jews be excited to see a Nazi flag? That just means Nazis are present there, and they are the enemy of the Jews. Instead, the purpose of this remark is to reiterate what the folded swastika flag in the opening picture of the chapter was supposed to represent - the fact that the Jews can't see the whole picture yet. Even in the central panel there is still a fold in the flag, continuing to partly obscure it from the Jews, which explains why they don't know whether to feel excited or frightened at the sight of it. They may know what the flag is even when slightly obscured, but a lot more of reality is still very obscure to them. 

Number 2 is interesting because it re-establishes the relationship created between the reader and the characters. By putting the swastika in the center of the page, Spielgelman lets the readers see the swastika from the same point of view as the mice, just on a smaller scale. The smaller scale may represent that to the reader, this is far away (or from a long time ago) and may have little meaning to them... but my next point describes what Spiegleman may have done in spite of a reader attempting to think that way.  

Take note that throughout the entirety of page 32, the mice's faces all point to the swastika, symbolically emphasizing that the swastika is the center of the war, and at or soon to be at the center of every Jews mind. Spielgelman may do this to emphasize the haunting presence of the swastika, justifying its importance to the reader.
 

Finally, on page 33 in four out of the six panels, the swastika seems to be in a spotlight, again reiterating how predominate it is. It is also always in the background of those panels, a symbolic way of representing that the Nazis were always there in the background, lurking and waiting to catch Jews. 

As you can see, even on just two pages, the panels are packed with symbols that are placed, sized, and represented in such ways that their importance is emphasized and they connect to the reader. The folds in the swastika flag, the way the mice's noses point towards the swastika, the way the swastika is in the background, all play a part in subtly and symbolically showing the reader what is important through their repeated messages. They all also involve the reader and place them in the story by making them see the story as if they are looking into windows or standing from afar.