A Political cartoon created by John Deering.
Cat and ‘Maus’ is a cartoon meant to play with the common expression of cat and mouse chases. Showcasing eight different cats all with different attributes, they are unanimously voting to ban the popular book, Maus. The graphic novel Maus created by Art Spiegelman depicts him discussing with his father the holocaust. Spigelman’s father was a Polish Jew as well as holocaust survivor, being shown as a mice throughout the novel. The germans in this novel were however depicted as Cats, highlighting that cat and mouse game.
This political cartoon of them voting to ban a book that depicts them (Cats) as horrible people who committed a heinous crime to the jewish community (Mice). It’s an ironic cartoon highlighting the desire to hide the bad parts of history in order to make the “top cats” appear better.
This is still current with today’s news because people are still trying to get certain books banned for one reason or another in schools, especially books that put a bad light on certain topics. Books such as The Handmaids Tale (A book showcasing the mistreatment of women throughout history), The Kite Runner (A book displaying a wealthy boy and a servants friendship) and The Bluest Eye (A book about a black girl dealing with racism and wishing she could be beautiful like other students if she had been born with blue eyes)
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