Maus

       My reading of Maus allowed me to examine and apply some of the principles presented in the reading in Understanding Comics. One thing that I noticed was the mention of the representation of humanity through abstract or simplistic art. The main characters in Maus are drawn as relatively simplistically drawn mice, but still maintain a human form because of their upright postures and their realistic human clothing. The reader can identify with the characters because of their human-like looks and their simplistic facial expressions. The unusually realistic background images help the characters blend in and makes the reader really enter the world of the characters. They feel at home and identify with the simplicity of the character design but at the same time become engrossed in the mysticism of the highly detailed backgrounds. The frames of the comic are set up in a very precise, linear manner allowing the reader to follow the sense of time lapse within the story.