Ethos/Pathos/Logos Analysis: Maus Throughout the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman, a plethora of the rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos, are demonstrated. Ethos is established via things like credibility of the speaker; Pathos is displayed through things like appealing to the audience’s emotions, hopes, fears, or prejudices; Logos is shown through things like clear, rational ideas, facts and citations. All of those ways to show the rhetorical appeals can be found in Maus. While examining the illustrations and dialogue of Maus, one can analyze and cite many exhibitions of ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is occasionally displayed in Art Speigelman’s dialogue and thoughts. In the outer story of the novel, it shows Art listening
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Anja expressed her opinion on Polish people towards Jews: “when it comes to Jews, the poles don’t need much stirring up,” in response to Vladek telling her about how the Polish “police just watched” (Spiegelman 37). This displays pathos because it makes the audience feel sympathy towards the Jews that were being rioted against, and emotionally connect with the Jewish population of Poland in the 1940s. Anja’s dialogue demonstrates pathos when she expresses her extreme depression to Vladek. She tells him that she “just [doesn’t] want to live” (31). This makes the readers pity Anja because of her mental issues, and appeals to the audience’s emotions. That panel is bolded and crooked; this emphasizes that Anja’s condition is serious and not normal. Those visual aspects of the panel give the audience a deeper understanding of her mental state so they can connect with her character more. Within the outer story, Spiegelman takes a more serious subject and wraps it up in a comical comment, to make it more emotionally bearable. When Art tells Vladek that he “oughta get home by curfew,” he making a joke of the fact that Jewish people had a curfew in Nazi Poland (67). This could be Spiegelman taking a solemn subject, and making it easier for the audience to cope with. Spiegelman uses Pathos more than any other rhetorical appeal to …show more content…
This is because Spiegelman wants the audience to feel an emotional connection to the characters and understand the reality of what Vladek went through. Logos is showed the least because Vladek is a credible source and does not need much factual support to believe and understand his story. Art shows the audience that the inner story is believable, through him writing down his father’s narrative in the outer story; this creates ethos. Even though some of the appeals are utilized more than others, all of them are present in Maus. These different constructions of ethos, pathos and logos support Vladek’s story and help the audience connect to and understand
Anja expressed her opinion on Polish people towards Jews: “when it comes to Jews, the poles don’t need much stirring up,” in response to Vladek telling her about how the Polish “police just watched” (Spiegelman 37). This displays pathos because it makes the audience feel sympathy towards the Jews that were being rioted against, and emotionally connect with the Jewish population of Poland in the 1940s. Anja’s dialogue demonstrates pathos when she expresses her extreme depression to Vladek. She tells him that she “just [doesn’t] want to live” (31). This makes the readers pity Anja because of her mental issues, and appeals to the audience’s emotions. That panel is bolded and crooked; this emphasizes that Anja’s condition is serious and not normal. Those visual aspects of the panel give the audience a deeper understanding of her mental state so they can connect with her character more. Within the outer story, Spiegelman takes a more serious subject and wraps it up in a comical comment, to make it more emotionally bearable. When Art tells Vladek that he “oughta get home by curfew,” he making a joke of the fact that Jewish people had a curfew in Nazi Poland (67). This could be Spiegelman taking a solemn subject, and making it easier for the audience to cope with. Spiegelman uses Pathos more than any other rhetorical appeal to …show more content…
This is because Spiegelman wants the audience to feel an emotional connection to the characters and understand the reality of what Vladek went through. Logos is showed the least because Vladek is a credible source and does not need much factual support to believe and understand his story. Art shows the audience that the inner story is believable, through him writing down his father’s narrative in the outer story; this creates ethos. Even though some of the appeals are utilized more than others, all of them are present in Maus. These different constructions of ethos, pathos and logos support Vladek’s story and help the audience connect to and understand