68 Comments
Emily Gallegos
6/28/2017 10:34:03 pm
I believe he chose the animals in a way of representing the different countries / ethnic back ground in this book because for one, the Germans dictated over the Jews in comparison to cats hunting mice down. I don't really know what comes to mind when talking about frogs. But when I first heard that Poland were represented as pigs, it reminded me of "unclean" and how maybe the Jews had an unclean / bad relationship with the polish. As for the Americans represented as dogs, it symbolized to me how dogs can dominate over cats and mice, they are stronger , bigger, & more observative of their surroundings. Or even just in general, the enmity between cats and dogs is real. Overall the author had a myriad of animals to choose from I was just slightly curious as to why he would choose a few, but at the end of the book it did help a lot.
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Veronica Viramontes Saab
8/6/2017 09:21:33 pm
I really liked the metaphors and the view that the author/cartoonist approached in this book. As we know, the Jews were basically being hunted down by the Nazis just like cats hunt down mice. The Jews were seen as weak while the Nazis were overpowering them. As for the Poles being pigs, it's kind of like a metaphor to me that reminds me of them being mean, dirty, or sinful. They did not get along as well. It was a perfect use of metaphors for each race in my opinion.
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Richard Bustamante
8/15/2017 12:20:50 am
I agree because who doesn't know the story about the Holocaust? This is a "better" version I guess you can say because it's not actual picture of dead people and such, but more cartoonish and with the animals instead of real people is interesting.
Amanda Jones
8/16/2017 12:01:38 am
I also liked how the author made the book this way because we all know how much and cats get along. And it was just the perfect metaphor to go along with the Jews and the Germans. The prey will always be the Jews as the mice and the opponent that is much stronger will be the cats as Germans.
Jelani Jackson
8/16/2017 12:16:07 am
This book was much easier and enjoyable to read like this. Mice don't get alone with cats and are always being hunted down by them, and it's the same thing with Jews and the Germans. The author just wanted to make the book a bit more unique by using the metaphors in my opinion
Robert Sanchez
8/12/2017 08:06:03 pm
I believe the Author did this because it shows the different kinds of animals that don't look the same and they are criticizing for being different. Also its like a cat and mouse game. He used these animals because Cats representing the Nazis because the Nazis chase the Mice and the mice run away. Trying to stay away and run away because they are innocent and not trying to bother.
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Janae landecho
8/14/2017 04:53:50 pm
I think that the cartoonist decided to make the Jews mice and the nazis cats because cats are usually the ones to hunt down mice while the mice are defenseless and can't do anything but run and try to hide. And that kinda portrays how the nazis are always "hunting" down the Jews. While the innocent Jews are scared and can't do anything to defend themselves. Overall it's a great metaphor used based upon their characteristics.
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Rebecca
8/14/2017 09:45:27 pm
I agree using cats mice and pigs are a great metaphor. id like to think cats perfectly compares to the Nazis. considering how large cats are compared to mice, its a great metaphor to portray the size, power, and advantage the Nazis had over Jews at the time.
Leslie Martinez
8/15/2017 09:43:05 pm
I think they decided to do that as a metaphor because cats are always hunting. For example the cartoon Tom & Jerry, i believe they were trying to do something similar to do that show, because Tom (the cat) is always trying to get Jerry ( the mouse) in trouble.
Damien Aguirre
8/15/2017 06:26:32 am
I would say the same but the cats represent the germans not the nazis. Remember that nice cat lady that was supposed be german saving her husband she didnt consider herself dominate. It was just her race
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Chantal Garcia
8/15/2017 12:28:10 pm
The author made a great choice for representing the jews as mice and Germans as cats because of how in reality mice are threatend by cats. And in the book its just so perfect and true how the Jews are like the mice. This gave the author a chance to illustrate and explain the story much better with graphics and more interesting. It allows us to think about it more broadly. Instead of representing them in different races why not animals. I stronly believe it allowed to think about the characters in different view.
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Ho Kwan Cheng
8/15/2017 11:08:25 pm
I agree with you because when I first read the book I have the same feeling too, but I think the cartoonist used pig to represent poles to show they are not only dirty, and a little stupid either.
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Cierra Gardner
8/16/2017 01:27:01 am
I agree, the author definitely had a myriad of animals to choice from but he chose simple and basic animals that you would know that don't really like each other.
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Rachel Asante
7/5/2017 01:02:17 pm
My answer is the same answer i gave about the previous question that was giving about the author not creating a realistic graphic novel. Cats do not like mouse. Cats have more power than Mousses. Some mousses are sneaky and can get away from cats. just like some Jews. both mouse and Jews want to survive. But cats and Nazis want the gone.
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Kevin Rodriguez
7/7/2017 05:05:11 pm
He chose to do so in such a way because of how we've come to known that cats are the ones to attack and kill mice, while mice are usually defenseless and spend their life in hiding because of fear, just like it was constantly represented in the books. Rats are also looked down upon as disgusting horrific creatures, who serve for no good, exactly how the Nazis saw the Jews during the time. The Polish were represented as pigs because they were seen as swine, completely dirty but were of no reason to attack, which is why the Nazis didn't primarily target them.
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Andres
8/15/2017 09:54:24 pm
I agree with Kevin as the Nazis would kill the Jews as Cats kill mice but I'm really not so sure about the Polish. The Nazis would hunt the jews while the jews hid and ran, just how mice runny hide from cats.
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Anh le
7/9/2017 01:55:13 am
I think the cartoonist did a brilliant metaphor when described Jews as mice, Nazis as cats, and Poles as pigs. Because it reflects the reality at that time, when Jews were weak and always hiding from the Nazis. The Jews and mice, they have some similarities that are the smallest creatures of the society, they were too small to recognize, they always run away from the cats that represents for the stronger ones which were the Nazis. The hunting story of cats and mice is needless to tell that the cats want to kill all the mice and this was true to speak of the relationship between Nazis and Jews- the hunter and the "hunted"!
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kera wright
7/10/2017 09:28:10 pm
i agree with you because i think that he had match up the animals perfectly and how they have relationships
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kera wright
7/10/2017 09:14:19 pm
I think that the cartoonist made the jews as mice because he wanted to show how they were treated like animals and only see them as one. i feel like it shows how the amimals that were choosen are the least liked animals. it had a deeper meaning to it. i feel like all the animals has some type of relationship like the mice,cats and pigs. i actually like the animals that he choose for the book because it makes sense.
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Kristina vargas
7/11/2017 08:03:59 pm
I feel like the cartoonist made the Jews as mice , pigs and etc because that's truly how they were seen during the holocaust . I did my sophomore world history research paper on the holocaust and I constantly came across the Jews being seen as animals or not human . The cartoonist did this in my head to show how badly the Jews were treated .
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Akeem johnson
7/17/2017 01:55:31 pm
I agree with you, I have also seen and heard about how the Nazi forces Jews in camps and treated them very bad. Nazis and cats both want to just get rid of Jews and Mousses.
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Jalen Jordan
7/21/2017 12:39:39 pm
I completely agree with you where the conception of the different perspectives people had for these people. Where Jews were in a way used as an animal for slaughter, constantly being attacked and assaulted by the cats (The Germans) and where the Jews were represented as the mice to show the cat and mice again as rival tension.
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Makiya Baskerville
7/13/2017 12:15:54 pm
I think it is to show the difference of the ethnic groups. I imagined the different groups as people. It may come off as kind off confusing to see them as people. The animals chosen kind of make sense for each groups. The Nazis hated the Jews. The Nazis were represented as cats and the Jews as mice. It is common known fact that cats hate mice. The Poles who are represented as pigs are just in the middle of it all. Not their conflict, but still somewhat involved.
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Chris Rivera
8/14/2017 07:29:47 pm
I agree. It really shows us that they chose Nazi's to be cats because they don't like the jews (which are the mice). they chose poles to be the pigs because they're not technically in it, but still involved in all this conflict that was happening.
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Carolina Hernandez
8/16/2017 03:38:58 am
I agree with you about how the animals helped show the different ethnic groups in the story, but yes the Nazis were cats and they did hate the Jews which were the mice but some actually tried to help some Jews, and yeah you're right also about the pigs being in the middle of it all.
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Yuxin Hong
7/16/2017 11:26:35 pm
As I get the imformation from these stories, I consider for following reasons:
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Akeem
7/17/2017 01:37:00 pm
the reason for the author to choose animals characters in the novel to portrait what types of people were there at the time and for us readers to see the similarities of the animals to the people.
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Yuxin Hong
7/29/2017 11:07:53 pm
Yeah! That's what I want to express. They do really share some similarities about the whole stroy. And these kinds of animals can expand our understanding of hierarchy at that time.
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Ritley Vasquez
7/20/2017 05:28:27 pm
The cartoonist decided to do this as an approach towards a very hostile topic. Talking about the holocaust is very difficult to talk about to just anyone and his approach towards animals wasn't to sugar coat anything, but rather to make it an easier way for others to understand. Every animal had a different representation to a different kind of group of people. It'd make it easier to be able to separate them using animals rather than trying to explain all the groups while you tell the story.
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Chelsea Owusu-Bonsu
7/28/2017 11:47:44 am
I totally agree! It definitely reminds of the book "Animal Farm"by George Orwell. He always used animals to represent people and events that led up to the Russian Revolution and also led into the Stalinist Era of the Soviet Union.
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7/27/2017 08:00:01 pm
I already said the same thing in the previous question but I think the cartoonist depicted them that way because cat and mouse are like predator and prey so are the Nazis and Jews.
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Maryfer Palacios
8/2/2017 03:44:21 pm
Representing human races with animal species visually helps us distinguish the different groups of people and their role during the holocaust. It also separates the power held within each group and their relationship with others.
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Julio Antunez
8/4/2017 03:00:07 pm
Well I think I understand why the cartoonist decided to put the Jews as mice and nazis as cats because mice can't really do anything to stop a cat from hunting them down but try to hide and run. Jewish people were not able to do anything about the nazis because the nazis had more weapons to defend themselves and they have stripped many Jews of their property and things. The reason for the cartoonist to use pigs for the Poles still leaves me thinking because I was told that pigs are one of the most loyalist animals out there and book shows the pigs as defensive and mean to everyone Jew and nazis but it was probably because their land was being taken from them.
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Isabel Mares
8/4/2017 04:39:32 pm
I think the cartoonist decided to make the Jews as mice, and the Nazis as cats because it reflects the social order at the time. The Jews were weak, defenseless and were always hiding from the Nazis. While the Nazis didn't have to hide from there enemies because they were able to defend themselves from there enemies. So it makes sense to put the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats because mice and Jews play as the hunted while cats and Nazis play as the hunter. But i still wonder why
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Frank Alvarado
8/14/2017 10:22:50 pm
Yes, I agree with you, it does symbolize the Jews as mice who are weak against the cats (Nazi) are stronger than mice and faster and mice who are hiding from what they fear the most are the cats who would kill them. it helps understand that the cats (Nazi) hates the mice(Jews) and kill them from hiding.
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Karen Diaz
8/6/2017 01:13:42 am
I think the cartoonist did this because it made sense like the nazis play the cat role because they are the are hunting Jews. They are considered predators in this novel. The Jews are mice because they are left defenseless and they are being hunted by the nazis. Overall I think he uses all these animals and gives them each a role on what was going on at the time based on the characteristics of the animals.
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Ingrid Diaz
8/6/2017 10:18:50 pm
In my opinion I think the cartoonist decided to do this because it was a representation of how much power the Nazis had over the Jews. We all know that cats like to hunt mice so the writer decided to use this to show how smaller and powerless the Jews were.
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Karol Gonzalez
8/6/2017 11:11:05 pm
The cartoonists' decision in making Jews mice, Germans cats and Polish pigs is quite intriguing. I'm not so sure of why the Polish are pigs, but from observation in real life, cats are always thirsty to catch a mouse whenever is sees one. Even if the mouse is unaware of the cat and is minding it's own business, the cat is already strategizing how to trap, attack and kill the mouse. Just like in Maus, the Germans blamed Jews for their fall around the 1930's. They'd find any excuse to disturb an unbothered Jew. They preyed at the weak, or in better words, at the ones they made helpless.
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Journey Allison
8/8/2017 11:06:10 am
I also believe the reason for using animals as the characters is a metaphor, to get a point across. The relationship between cats and mice can be very hostile. So I think having them portrayed as such gives us as readers an insight as to what they felt they were viewed.
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Gisselle Romero
8/8/2017 01:38:19 pm
I think that they made the characters like that because back then the Jews didn't have power they were the target they weren't very liked exactly how mice are they are defenseless they can't do anything that's why the Germans are cats because cats don't like mice the cats hunt the mice that's exactly what the Germans did they hunted the Jews.
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Aaliyah Reese
8/11/2017 07:55:14 pm
The cartoonist decided to portray each ethnicity/ county as animals because in reality to cats mice are targets. The jews were like pray to the German nazis. They did not like them and would kill and have them dead. The cat has more power over the mice. So the nazis had more power over the jews. The pigs which are the poles are much more powerful than a cat. A pig is bigger and has much more strength then a cat. Also to the jews the pig or pork is a ver disgusting animal to them. This can represent how sickening the Germans treated the jews.
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Joshua Giron
8/15/2017 08:33:01 pm
I completely agree with Aaliyah . The Nazis are cats because the cats are the hunters , the killers and the Predator when it comes to a mice. Jews during the holocaust had no say in anything and the Nazis had all the power over them no matter the situation . The pigs I would really like to know what a pig stands for in this book it has me thinking all kind of thoughts just not sure ..
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Milkiyas Bitew
8/12/2017 01:07:07 pm
Different countries or group of people represent different strengths and ranks in the animal kingdom. In this case, the mice are the Jews which are being hunted by the cats(Nazis) and the Poles are pigs which are being fed of the corrupted ways of power and suppuriority.
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Ron Scott
8/12/2017 04:56:03 pm
I think the mice(Jews) represent being prey to the cats (Germans/nazis). In most situations the Jews had a very hard time trying to survive while the Germans were in power. A pig represents sloth and greed. I'm not sure why the poles are pigs, but it may have to do with the greed part. Throughout the book the pigs seem to only look out for themselves, except for a few. The Americans were dogs so that could probably be a metaphor for how materialistic us Americans can be. Dogs are known for consuming almost anything they can eat.
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Valeria Alcala
8/12/2017 11:38:35 pm
While reading the books I didn't think much of it. I didn't think as to why the characters are seen as animals, I just thought it was a cool style of imagining these characters. Though after finishing the books and looking back at it now, I find that it was really smart of the author/illustrator to do so. The Jews are seen as mice, the weakest of them all. The Nazis are seen as cats, they hunt and prey on mice, and feed on their fear. Them being portrayed as these different types of animals really show how stronger the Nazis were.
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Natnal Tirfe
8/13/2017 12:40:56 pm
those animals are used for representations of the things that went down during the holocaust. legend shows that over six million Jews were killed by the Nazi. often times cats use mice as a food supply if not at least as an enemy if not trained. also some historians state that over 3 million of polish Jews which makes them the second on the record which they can also be represented as pigs
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Jacqueline Sanchez
8/13/2017 02:04:45 pm
I think that the cartoonist decide to make the nazis cats because they Are
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Armani Pace
8/13/2017 02:27:27 pm
I think the cartoonist used the different animals for the characters because the way those specific animals act towards each other in real life is the way those specific humans acted towards each other during the holocaust. For example, the nazis were cats and the Jews were mice. Cats attack mice, they eat them they chase them and do whatever they can to kill them which is exactly how the nazis treated the Jews. Also, the Americans were dogs and dogs and cats don't generally get along and dogs usually win fights. This is how the Americans fought the nazis to help the Jews.
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Armani
8/13/2017 02:29:04 pm
Also I forgot to add that animal picture could also help younger readers under the book in a different perspective.
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De’Jah Donahue
8/13/2017 08:27:01 pm
This is equally important but then again should young children even have access to a novel like this? I know that it is important history and it’s not graphic but could they really understand?
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Dé'Janae Phillips
8/13/2017 06:01:39 pm
I think that this representation was meant for a purpose that is very obvious: to display the effects that each group has had in this story. But doing so in a way that is way more recognizable. This way was using animals. We know what certain animals do naturally. And we know what they do when put in a room together. But my only question is this: Was the author trying to say that the actions that these people decided to make come natural to them as they do to animals? I could see this applying to the one doing the oppressing, but what about all of the other groups involved?
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Jordan Wright
8/13/2017 06:27:36 pm
I think the author did this to show the distinct differences in ethnic groups such as behavior. For example cats and mice are common examples of enemies in the animal world, and the Germans treated the Jews as a cat would a mouse.
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De’Jah Donahue
8/13/2017 08:24:28 pm
Easily Said: Jews were seen as inferior. The Nazis preyed over the Jews as cats do mice. The Americans saved the Jews because dogs have authority over cats. The Poles could be pigs for various reasons. I think about a farm and how pigs really just like to mind their business and not be bothered by any other animal. They are capable of being violent but also of having a heart. Besides the Poles being pigs I think the cartoonist used cats, dogs, and mice because they are some of the most commonly used animals to compare two things that would otherwise have no correlation to each other whatsoever.
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Edgar A Garduno
8/14/2017 12:49:14 am
This question relates to one of the messages that the author was trying to send. To some readers its kind of offensive to depict millions of people and during the Holocaust as animals. But I think that with ought the people being represented as animals it would take away the message of the book. The authors intention was to depict this horrifying time to the younger generations. Turning the experiences of Vladek in the book into a kind of a comic attracts younger generations and makes us fully or better understand how times were.
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i feel like the author did this to show the differences between the groups.
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Chris Rivera
8/14/2017 07:05:50 pm
I think the reason they made Nazi's cats is because cats would usually attack mice (which are the jews), then Poles are the pigs because since they don't really bother anyone and mind their business. In doing that it helps younger readers understand how it was like.
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Juan Parra
8/14/2017 08:24:17 pm
I want to say that this book isn't watered down to the point where children are meant to understand it simply by the inclusion of animals instead of humans. I do believe that animals were used to symbolize power and struggle. Jews as rats and SS soldiers as Cats was an amazing way to depict this. Showing the feeling of being helplessly hunted like rats or like an animal with spots. The overall idea of this book, and in the words of the great Roger Waters, "If I had it my way, I'd have all of you shot"
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Frank Alvarado
8/14/2017 10:11:37 pm
They made the Nazi as cats because the Nazi are violent and are shown as superior to the Jews who are the mice who being hunted by Nazi and because Jews are resembled mice from hiding from fear and trying to survive and trying to find a way to live. But the Cartoonist wants to make it easy for people to understand who the people from other countries, for example, to understand the poles are pigs. It helps understand the story better for people.
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Thamamkorn Juntarasuwan
8/15/2017 11:44:47 am
I believe the author wanted to represent the different countries and their nature. Jews as mice, they cannot do much, they have to be under other countries, like mice as a food of a cat. Nazis as a cat, their own nature is violent that Nazi will be the one who has power over the Jew. Poles as a pig who has a bad temper and selfish? Overall the author wants to represent different countries and nature.
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George Aponte
8/15/2017 01:55:36 pm
I belive he put the Nazis as cats because they kill or torture the jews and jews are the mice. Meaning that cats are above the mice in the food chain of course. For the poles I'm not quite sure why there pigs, maybe they are neutral.
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Xavier Sanchez
8/15/2017 04:36:47 pm
The reason why the person created mice as the jews and cats ass the Nazi's is because as history was told the Nazi's didn't lie the jew's and wanted them out of the world so cats eat those types of animals and the cats are the mice enemy and in realistic the Nazi's are the jew's enemy there so their is a symbolic connection between the characters and their real life situation. Which is clever for the author to make that type of comparison towards the book and still make this book an interesting graphic novel.
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Maggie Liu
8/15/2017 09:32:09 pm
This book used a great metaphor to represented the terrible holocaust. I think the cartoonist decided to make the Jews and nazis to the mice and cats was because the nazis were always "hunting" down the Jews, just liked the cat and mouse game. And the pigs were represented the people that always been mean.
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Andres Saucedo
8/15/2017 09:50:54 pm
Well what I understood what the books were trying to say that Cats (the Nazi's) would hunt down and kill mice (the jews) as illustrated within the novel as a classic cat and mouse scenario. The cat and mouse scenario is when the Cat (the hunter) tracks down and kills the mouse (the prey) and the mouse would have only the options to run, hide, or to be killed. That was really crucial to the novel as it showed the scenario perfectly as the Jews (mice) would only hide, run, or were killed and the Nazis (Cats) would hunt down the jews.
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Edgar Godinez
8/15/2017 10:13:07 pm
Their was a great connection that the author made with the animals. I absolutely think that it allows us to understand how the Jews felt like during the time of the Holocaust, and the roles of the mice(Jews), the cats (Germans) , and the pigs (Poles) best fit the description. Cats are known as predators for the mice, and that is where the connection begins because the Germans being the cats hunt down the jews like if they were mice. This metaphor best describes how insignificantly the jews felt. The pigs were the Poles and this is pretty accurate because of how unselfish and ‘dirty’ they were. In real life cats and dogs don’t have the best connection and this is why it is accurate as well with the Americans being dogs and Germans being cats.
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Dung Viet Nguyen
8/15/2017 11:04:30 pm
It was a good reference because in real life mice actually running from cats and other animals are just somehow fit to different kinds of people. Most of all in this way the story is less scary and haunting when talking about WW
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Ho Kwan Cheng
8/15/2017 11:06:48 pm
I think the cartoonist is trying to show the relationships between animals are similar to these countries, just like cats hunting down mice representing Nazis killing Jews.
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Jada white
8/16/2017 12:00:36 am
I personally really liked the metaphors the Arthur used in the book and although some times it could get a little could get a little confusing the pictures helped me get a better understanding of the book. The Arthur was very creative to me and I think he did what he did because it showed the different kinds of animals that don't look the same came from a different background had a different culture and etc.
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Carolina Hernandez
8/16/2017 04:00:19 am
I think the cartoonist decided to use animals, specifically mice and cats because of how the cats hates mouse, so they made the Jews the mice because there always running from the Nazis which were the cats, and during World War 2 the Nazis did invade Poland but I don't understand why the cartoonist used pigs?
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