Today, most Americans can only imagine what the horrors of the Holocaust were and, to be honest, they are probably very happy not to have any personal experiences to draw on. However, the Holocaust and other catastrophic events in history must be remembered. Even we Americans who do not live near the places that were devastated by destruction and genocide must try to understand the Holocaust, because even horrific events like the genocide of the Jews in Europe are part of history – and history tends to repeat itself. Many authors of Holocaust literature seem to believe that awareness equals prevention. Both words and images are a vital component of remembrance, as exemplified by allegorical Holocaust literature such as that created by authors Art Spiegelman and Eve Bunting. Art Spiegelman, in his books Maus, and Eve Bunting, author of the children's book Terrible Things: An Allegory of the Holocaust, show us that words and images are both essential in representations of the Holocaust. The use of an allegory in which animals symbolize people, when combined with careful choices of style and patterns for the illustrations, is very effective in conveying the message that racism and division can lead, quite simply, to "things terrible." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Maus is an unusual account of the Holocaust: It is strikingly different from most Holocaust literature aimed at adults, yet Spiegelman's work has attracted a surprising number of readers of all ages. Indeed, Maus won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and has proven to be a staple in many college classrooms. In writing and illustrating Maus, Art Spielgelman took on the difficult task of accurately representing his father's story, as well as depicting the things Vladek told him in a way that audiences could understand and appreciate. Interestingly, he chose to represent the people in Maus as animals, with each race represented as a different animal. In this allegory, Jews are depicted as mice, Germans are cats, Poles are pigs, and when Americans are introduced in Maus II, they are dogs. In addition to creating an obvious divide between some of the key Holocaust groups, readers can read more in depth about Spiegelman's choice of animals for each race. The cat and mouse idea behind the portrayal of Germans and Jews is quite obvious. Speigelman's choice to represent the Poles as pigs, however, could be interpreted in several ways: perhaps they are depicted as pigs because they stand by and do nothing while the Jews are taken away, or perhaps the pig symbolizes greed and l selfishness of the Poles when they took control of Jewish homes and businesses after the Jews were evacuated from Polish cities. Regardless, Speigelman's depiction of these four races pushes readers to recognize the racial differences, hatred, and segregation that occurred during the Holocaust, and his allegory proves poignant. In Maus and Maus II, Speigelman uses metaphors to highlight the division. among races in Europe at the time of the Holocaust. Its two volumes follow Vladek's story from the time when he was an ordinary Polish citizen, to the time when Jews, Poles, and Germans each had their distinctive place in society, and finally to the time when Jews were massacred simply for fact that they were Jews. Speigelman's description of Jews as mice helps readers who mightknowing little about such extreme racism to understand that differences in appearance, dialect, and the like were the primary signs the Nazis used to direct their hatred. In the Holocaust all European races were human; similarly, in Maus all the characters are animals, but it is the subtle differences between them that cause the deaths of millions of people. When Vladek has to take his wife Anja to the sanatorium, Speigelman illustrates a perfect world in which all animals can live in harmony. Although it is ironic that everyone is only at peace when they are in a sanatorium, this is the only time in his two volumes that Speigelman brings together all the different types of animals. Here there are mice, pigs, cats and dogs, as well as rabbits, horses, giraffes, goats and frogs. Once they leave the sanatorium and enter the "real" world again, however, racism rears its head and they are separated once again. It is interesting that Speigelman chooses to send the message that only in a completely artificial and unnatural situation such as a "healing place" can the different races be truly at peace, but nevertheless this adds to the strength of his allegory. Bunting's Terrible Things also uses animals to symbolize the groups that were persecuted during the Holocaust. She and illustrator Stephen Gammell create a forest filled with rabbits, squirrels, fish, birds, frogs and porcupines. All the animals live together peacefully until the Terrible Things come to the forest and devastate the harmony of nature. The Terrible Things are not depicted as animals, as the Nazis are in Maus, but rather as ethereal, eerie shadows that blot out the sun. The first time the Terrible Things come to visit, they say, "We have come for every creature with feathers on its back." All the animals in the forest say, "We have no feathers," except the birds, of course, which are then taken away. With each return, the Terrible Things carry off another type of animal, while those that don't meet the criteria look the other way, content to remain in the clearing. The Terrible Things, however, keep coming back, until they have taken away all the animals except the white rabbits. Little Rabbit is afraid and wants to move, but Big Rabbit retorts: "Why should we move? This has always been our home. And terrible things won't come back. We are the White Rabbits. It couldn't happen to us." ." Then, of course, it happens: the white rabbits are taken away, all except Little Rabbit who is small enough to hide among the rocks. Eventually, Little Rabbit realizes that "If only we creatures had stuck together, he could have to be different." Speigelman's metaphor of racism echoes throughout Terrible Things, and here it is particularly effective in teaching young children that no matter how different people are, bad things can happen to anyone. The book's message is that it is important to stick together and try to help each other rather than ignore the suffering of others. However, Terrible Things differs from Maus in that each race is not associated with a specific animal. Furthermore, Nazis, or Terrible Things, are not depicted as animals, but rather as menacing clouds lurking over the forest. Terrible Things is more abstract than Maus, in the sense that the animals do not represent particular groups (most likely because such references would most likely be lost on children, the intended audience). ); here, the allegory focuses on the obvious differences that children can see (feathers, color, ability to swim, etc.). Each group of animals in the forest has distinct differences, and whenever the Terrible Things come to take some of them away, the remaining animals are very glad that it's not their turn. Although this story candisturbing younger children, is effective in alerting readers that differences between people should not cause such division that terrible things can happen. As Bunting states in a sort of preface to Terrible Things, "In Europe, during the Second World War, many people looked the other way while terrible things were happening. They pretended not to know that their neighbors were being taken away and put in camps of concentration. They pretended not to hear their cries for help. The Nazis killed millions of Jews and other people during the Holocaust. Bunting invites children and adults to think about the consequences of their own actions and prejudices, and Gammell's illustrations in Terrible Things inspire in children the same discomfort and sadness that Speigelman's images of hatred and death in Maus inspire in adults. So, the image paired with the word, as we see here, can have a big impact. Images can communicate things that even words cannot, and are particularly relevant in the context of Holocaust literature. When depicting the Holocaust through images, it is important to consider factors such as style, color and location. As an illustrator you must consider the effect the illustrations will have on the viewer, and both Spiegelman and Gammell have made choices that enhance the reader's understanding and convey a clear message. Both illustrators portray their subjects in simple black and white, and both make the images take over every page so that they become the main focus of the books. The use of black and white is compelling for depictions of the Holocaust, even when the subject is animals, because any actual photographs readers might have seen from the era would have been in black and white. Black and white is also often used to convey the gravity of a situation, and using these shades to illustrate Maus and Terrible Things allows Speigelman and Gammell to create serious, dark messages about the possible consequences of hate. Furthermore, images take center stage in these books, presumably because the story behind the Holocaust is actually about the people, the victims and what happened to them, rather than simply an account of the number of corpses or a story of how Hitler got to the Holocaust. to acquire this power. For all their similarities, however, there are some marked differences between the two illustrators' styles. While Spiegelman uses thick black lines and a comic book format, Gammell uses pencil drawings and a more realistic style. Both illustrators' images, however, are full of impact, because they have such power and presence on the page. The lack of color draws the reader to the image and invites them to analyze what they are seeing. For example, Gammell includes an image of a frightened squirrel about to be captured by the Terrible Things. Children reading this book will immediately notice the squirrel's expression of fear because Gammell so carefully places the detailed creature on the page. In Maus II, Speigelman similarly captures the expressions of burning bodies in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and his use of bold lines fascinates, horrifies, and consumes the reader. Furthermore, in each book, the animal allegory increases the impact of the images because for very young children who may not be able to handle images of real bodies, animal depictions can serve as a gateway to understanding the true story of the Holocaust. Seeing these illustrations can be quite upsetting for children, and when they later learn that these./53)