Animal Symbolism In The Metamorphosis And Maus

Animals have been a popular use for literary symbolism in many works. Crows represent ominous events that are to come and for some Eagles are American patriotism. The novel The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and the graphic novel Maus by Art Speigleman are popular examples of animal symbolism. In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa awakes one morning to find that he has become a “vermin” or bug while in Maus its author there are multiple examples of animal symbolism from the Nazi Cats to the Jewish Mice during the Holocaust. Both Speiglman and Kafka use animals to symbolize certain groups of humans, if animals were portrayed as humans or different animals the effect of the symbolism would not invoke such a serious response to the audience. Gregor

For Gregor to be transformed as a cockroach or given an insect appearance is very fitting as it also reflects the former salesman’s psychological perception. Without his job Gregor feels small and a burden to the rest of his family. Cockroaches are small and considered to be vermin because they can only eat and provide no help to anyone else. Its existence is all it has just like Gregor. Cockroaches are also small in a sense that they can be killed by those bigger and stronger than they are, those supposedly deemed superior to others. Gregor’s father abused his son, injuring him to the point of death. These insects are at the mercy of bigger enemies, further solidifying Gregor’s insecurity over his transformation. Kafka writes in the beginning of the novel that Gregor stressed over getting ready for work, despite his new body. He believed in he had to do what he could to pay off his family debt and without his job believed he was a burden and the guilt of that grew on him. As stated earlier if Gregor was given a different for the animal symbolism than its effect on the audience and Samsa family would be viewed differently. Going back to the dog example, that animal symbolizes happiness, protection, and guidance(Hallberg). Had Kafka written the story with Gregor written as a

They hunt down the Jewish mice to follow their anti-Semitism law. In the graphic novel the Polish pigs can be seen in a level of comfort even in the concentration camps. They are either in a village or working for the Nazi’s, holding better circumstances compared to the Jews. In The author of this essay introduces two points that are interesting as well. Speigleman draws the people using animal symbolism but he also draws them uniformly. It means even as animals there is no characteristic of an individual person, everyone is the same with no room for their own thinking. Speigleman is possibly drawing like this so the reader understands how the Nazi’s perceived the Jews. When a person sees an insect or vermin their first reaction is to rid it from their sight. However, the graphic novel doesn’t just use animals themselves as symbolism but animal masks as well. A mask can be used to hide or enforce an identity as well as reject. In the graphic novel Spiegelman draws panels in Chapter 2 of Maus II where normal people, including himself, are wearing animal masks (Spiegelman 201). The artist draws himself and his psychologist as men with mouse masks. These masks can be used to identify themselves to the novels animal symbolism while still referring to what was happening to the artist later. Another reason behind the masks is that they also hide the true intentions of a person. Also located in