Why animals are used in literature and comics. The thought behind Art Spiegelman´s Cat-and-mouse-game (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, University of Passau, language: English, abstract: The aim of this paper is to find out the reason why animal characters are so common in graphic novels and also if there is a deeper meaning behind the concrete chosen animals. Because it would go beyond the scope of this papers purpose I will just pick the animal metaphor in Spiegelman's work ,,Maus" as an example, as it is best suited for this topic in my opinion.

After trying to find a definition of the medium comic at the beginning, a brief overview of the animal metaphor in literature is given. In the next step, the meaning and history of animals in comics is clarified and it is also briefly explained why comic authors decide to choose animal characters in their works that symbolically replace people.

Last but not least, the main part of this homework follows, in which the animal metaphor in Art Spiegelman's "Maus" is taken apart. First the reader is given a brief overview of the content of the comic, then some concrete examples from the work are given. The next one explains why Art Spiegelman exactly chose the animals that represent the different nations of the world that appear in his comic. Since the work was discussed very controversially in public, its reception is quickly discussed too. The seminar paper is rounded off with a summarizing conclusion.