With texts, it has come to question what, in fact, finding the meaning of a text ultimately consists of. Although this topic can be debated until the end of time, when considering alphabetic texts, an images meaning is not inherent but is up to interpretation and the same goes for visual texts. Professor Stanley Fish illustrates his concern with the way readers arrive at the understanding of a text, his main points being that nothing is literal or has inherent meaning as meaning is constructed societally. In his own words, "Interpretation is not the art of construing but the art of constructing. Interpreters do not decode poems; they make them" (Fish. 12). The reader gains perspective based on one's own personal situation and experience that is thus incorporated into an interpretation of a text. This can be applied to visual texts as visual texts use a combination of visual features and verbal features to get a message across to the audience. When considering Art Spiegelman's Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Spiegelman uses the elements of line, color, and symbols to come together in this case, in a specific image on page 138, that explores the psychological effects of the Holocaust on those directly involved which contributes to the overall theme of how those memories and traumatic events effect their family, as this picture is indicative of the whole comic itself.

In Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Spiegelman tells the story of the Holocaust as narrated to Art by his father. In this interview, Vladek, the father, is telling of the events leading up to the deportation of the Jews in his town of Sosnowiec. In the illustration, which for the sake of this essay we will call the "Carpentry Shop" image, the story is told with mice representing the Jews and cats representing the Nazis. This symbolization works to create a metaphor of the balance of power between the two groups, Nazis and Jews, as well as uses the relationship between a cat and a mouse to represent that of the Jews and the Nazis in this situation. Historically, the Nazis during the time of the Holocaust were in total power over the Jews as they forced the citizens to concentration camps using their ways of manipulation. Later showing their aggression through brutality towards the Jews, showing independence of an individual's power as each Nazi member could cause as much harm as the next, the Nazi's are similar to cats in that way. Their independence and aggression as well as their mellow attitudes in any situation, shown during the Holocaust with the calm composure of Nazi leaders, combined to create an eerie yet powerful persona that is shown in this illustration. This along with the knowledge known of the relationship between cats and mice as hunter and hunted, represents the true predator and prey relationship that both these animals as well as the Nazis and Jews shared. The mice characterized as being timid and vulnerable accurately represented the Jews during the time of the Holocaust. This role of mice is also strategically used by Spiegelman in order to light-heartedly tell of a horrifically tragic event. The use of cats and mice to tell the story instead of people allow for the reader to understand the concept of the story, being the effects of the Holocaust on Vladek and his family, but not able to directly relate by humans as to where one would feel uncomfortable in their depression where they would not want to continue and grasp an interpretation. These symbols, all in all, would not have been able to be created and interpreted without the use of line.

Spiegelman uses lines to represent the traumatic events that thus led to the psychological effect that the Holocaust had on Vladik. In this picture, there are various lines of different thickness, sizes, and lengths in order to create a sense of chaos, the same that is depicted in this image and during the Holocaust. Short lines are used to create Vladik, and the reader's attention is directly drawn to him as contrasting long and tall lines are used to create his parents as they wait to be sorted by the Nazi leaders (138). The reason for this attention drawn to Vladik and use of lines to create contrast is so that the reader would notice his size, and realize how traumatic this must have been for a boy of his age to be exposed to this anti-Semitism and genocide as his fellow citizens are being sorted to be put into camps, and understanding that this must have effected not only his psychological state but also his future. The black lines are very stark, and simple, almost bleak, creating an empty and depressing emotion that allows the reader to better empathize Vladik's circumstances and how they effected his well-being. Lines, along with color, combine to create stark imagery that works towards a somber and dramatic tone.

Spiegelman works with only the colors white and black to represent his images, but these colors work to create a balance of contrast that creates drama and also shows how direct the images are presented and what one can receive from them. Black and white can be interpreted as solemn and boring, but in this case they depict the seriousness of the Holocaust and the effects it had on its individuals. These colors are stark, there are no distracting or bright elements that take the reader away from the message of the story, that the Holocaust was a real event and it effected not only those involved but their families as well. Going back to the use of cats and mice to symbolize the Jews and Nazis, Spiegelman uses the colors to make the unpleasant and overwhelming subject of the Holocaust a bit more bearable. As each color is associated with a certain feeling or emotion, the use of them would tip off the reader's emotions, possibly steering them away from the subject itself and more towards their emotions they interpreted from the visual. This, along with the symbolic elements as well as the use of line, helped the reader create an interpretation and understand the subject of the effects of the Holocaust, contributing to the overall theme of the comic on how this event not only effected their individuals but their families as well.

Maus has the elements of line, symbol, and color to work together to create an image that is balanced in depicting the truth while not being too abrasive. The representation of mice as Jews makes their mistreatment during the Holocaust more bearable, the stark contrast of black and white keeps the mood of the reader in check with the darkness of the Holocaust without overwhelming them, and the use of line represents the traumatic events that led to Vladik's psychological breakdown. The inability of Art and his family to relate to his father's trauma is one of the main issues touched on as the impact of memories on the present are explored, which would not have been able to be understood if it was not for the "Carpentry Shop" image being interpreted in this essay. Vladek himself might not want to be understood as he is telling the story of his deportation while being distracted by physical exercise, and his wife seems to grow in frustration with his inability to deal with his past. Throughout the course of the text, Art struggles to understand his father's psychological destruction as he seems to try to sift through the pain both his father and step-mother went through during the Holocaust as these memories block an understanding and possible search for closure on the family. This realization of the search for answers and closure would not have been able to be reached if it wasn't for the ability to understand the source of Vladik's psychological problems, which is clearly shown in the "Carpentry Shop" image.

