On page 72 of the second book of Maus, Spiegelman contributes
to the idea of Vladek constantly reliving his past in a cycle. In the first
panel of the page, Vladek and another guy are working. However, Vladek is the
only one out of the two who is holding a cylindrical tube as a car wheels by.
These circular objects represent the constant loop that Vladek is experiencing
as he loops in and out of his past and present. In fact, in panel three, the
scene loops back to the present with Vladek talking about the present. He likens
the past cremation pits to the current swimming pools. As he talks about the “train
after train”- which is a repetitive, looping phrase- the scene cycles back to
the past. The next two panels are formed out of a similar structure. There is,
on top, a phrase and then the image with a text box inside of it. As the
reader, we must jump from Vladek’s narration outside of the picture back into
the picture to read the scene that is being described in the past. Once again,
this contributes to the idea of Vladek constantly reliving his past horrific
experiences as he drifts in and out of reality. This is even a sign of his
PTSD, as one of the symptoms include “reliving or experiencing the trauma”
(anxietybc.com). Unfortunately for Vladek, he is stuck in this never-ending
loop of his past because it is molten in him just as strongly as burning of the
bodies.
Mice run in hamster wheels. They always continue running and passing time, but they never go anywhere. They just have to keep staying in the same place all the time while reliving their little cycle.
Like Vladek the Maus.
This is really meta. Maybe you could talk about the wheel that the hamster runs on as a symbol for our contemporary life, and how Vladek refuses to move forward in life the same way the mouse never actually moves forward. Or, you might not, because we'd be diving too deep. Great post!
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