The Window to the Soul

      You know the saying, "the eyes are the windows to the soul?” Well, it seems that Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, did, and he used it to convey all of what words could not. 

    The artist's graphic novel portrays his father's life, who lived through and survived World War II. Drawn in black and white, the comic uses a cat-and-mouse concept to share all of the horrors of what was faced by Jews during the Holocaust. His father, Vladek, spares no details in the recount of his life, and Spiegelman uses this to his advantage when he shades the pages darker and darker as you move through the fast-paced novel. Throughout it all, there are many multiple depictions shown, but the one that stands out the most is the eyes. The eyes of mice—who are used to represent Jews— are apparent in the story, with the lack of emotion and the endless suffering portrayed perfectly despite the eyes just being two little dots, while cats, who represent Nazis, lack pictures of drawn eyes. Not to say there isn't any drawing with the eyes of cats, but it seems that the only time you can really see them are in moments when they are acting cruel, harsh and inhuman. Otherwise, it seems that their hats cover the most telling feature of the face.

    On page 59, we can see a Nazi tell Vladek to fill a form, and as shown through the panel on the right, the Nazi's hat covers his eyes, only showing a small box to replace what should be there. It seems that in small moments like these, you couldn't really see anything into what these people were feeling and thinking. It shows how mindless some of the acts carried out by the Nazi army were, and encompasses many of the soldiers who only followed deadly commands mindlessly.

    On page 51, we can see a full view of a Nazi, who threatens Vladek and his fellow soldiers to lynch them. The eyes add a crazed element to the face. This panel, along with a few others, are the only parts of the story where we can vividly see the cats' eyes, and the lack of utter compassion in them. It's different from the panels above, because instead of just emotionless expressions, there is a monstrous look to the Nazi. It clues us into how some Nazis seemed to relish in the power they had and the harm they imposed with it. 

    "The window to the soul" seems like the perfect idea that matches with what Spiegelman tried to achieve with the dearth drawn eyes. You really can see into the souls of the Nazis. Souls are everything a person is, encompassing their humanity, personality, will, emotions and more. By removing the eyes from the Nazis' faces, Spiegelman depicted that many of these German soldiers didn't have a soul and when they did, only the darkness was visible.