How does the artist use graphic elements and text to construct meaning? What
information and emotions are being conveyed? How do the graphics enhance what is
being communicated in the panel?
Outline for TWA
Graphic Novel Terms and Concepts
Analysis Sentence Stems
Thesis: The artist leverages both onomatopoeia and simple backgrounds to emphasize
tones of despair and desperation.
In the graphic novel Maus, the artist leverages both onomatopoeia and simple
backgrounds to emphasize tones of despair and desperation.
The despair and desperation of this scene are first drawn out by the panels’
simple art style. In the first panel, the artist draws nothing in the background except
some simple graphic weight lines. This minimalist approach forces the reader’s attention
onto the characters, specifically the face and hands of the lady mouse. Without any
distractions, there is nothing to look at except the dropping eyes and empty expression
of the mouse as she reaches out to grasp at the escaping figure. Her plea that he not
“run away” sets the stage for her desperation, which is then fully realized through her
somber expression and desperate hand gesture. In this way, the artist communicates
the fullness of the mouse’s despair.
The second panel adds insult to injury with the use of bold onomatopoeia. As the
mouse falls weakly to the floor, the door shuts with a loud “SLAM!” in large, disjointed
capital letters. Combined with her frail figure now collapsed on the floor, the use of
onomatopoeia indicates that the mouse’s desperation yields no gains, leaving her weak
and hopeless on the floor. Instead of the support she clearly needs, all she earns in the
second panel is the rejecting sound of a door shutting in her face. This symbolic gesture
represents the opportunity the person represented closing, just as the door did.
In conclusion, the artist leverages both onomatopoeia and simple backgrounds to
emphasize tones of despair and desperation.