Behind The Bars

The bars that hold the world behind. The borders that restrict us from thinking outside the box. The panels that separate us from the rest. The Holocaust was a terrifying time for Jews, and words simply cannot describe the horrors it created. The ability to live freely was incinerated before their very eyes as Hitler gained power over the Jews, power gained through fear and hate. They were separated and pulled apart as though they were pieces of a puzzle that did not fit into the picture of humanity. The horrors of the Holocaust demonstrated hell on Earth, a horror words still cannot describe.

Books about the Holocaust explain the terrors it created, but they do not give an accurate representation of the actual tragedy. People cannot understand the horrors and  thus cannot paint the picture in their head. The words tell a story but the true horrors, the horrors that only the Jews understood, can never be truly captured by mere words. The holocaust was dreadful indeed but it would be literally impossible to understand the trauma those in concentration camps faced without physically being in their shoes.  America was in shock when it saw the Twin Towers fall to the ground but now it does the same to other countries. I am not saying the destruction of the Twin Towers was not a problem (WHICH IT WAS) but I am explaining that America's government is executing disgusting actions like these. These things would be unexplainable in the eyes of American citizens if it happened HERE. Since people can SEE how it is to have something so horrific happen why would they inflict the same pain on others? If a white man was treated like a slave they would stand up for any black man. If a German was treated like a Jew they would never want anything so terrible to happen to a specific race again. A real life moment a person faces gives them an idea of how something may be. When you see something with your own eyes it is easier to understand. So how would words be used to show an accurate representation of the Holocaust without using pictures to add to the story? They wouldn't. The difficulty to explain a picture of how the ashes of hundreds of people are lying on the ground in complete detail is nearly impossible.

Throughout the Novel, Maus by Art Spiegelman, the borders and panels of each picture in the comic symbolize entrapment. The entrapment of the Jews and how they were treated like animals. As time goes on the experiences worsen while the borders get thicker. Death is at every corner as the Jews pray for this nightmare to end. The pictures give a real life connection as if we (the readers) were there experiencing the Holocaust ourselves. The Jews were locked up, separated, and killed. They were trapped. They were victimized.  

On page 74 of Maus it shows the family eating but the picture is shown from the viewpoint looking through the window. Just as one would look through a jail cell. This clearly foreshadows the Jews’ impending entrapment. The angle used is as if a person were spying on the family just like as a camera would spy on a person in a jail cell.

When one tragedy ends another begins. When slavery ended the holocaust started. There have always been people that are hated for some indistinct reason. People have been caged for unfair accusations and to this day it still stands. How is it that a country that is “FREE” has the largest incarceration rate in the world? Not only are we being hypocritical as a country but the past is slowly coming around; history tends to repeat itself. The chains on slaves have changed to the bars that hold innocent people in cells. The aphorism “what goes around comes around” comes to life. Just as memories haunt people, history haunts the world. Pictures only help express these problems.

Filled with lies and deception America's government is slowly reverting back to its old ways. Just as the Jews were held in concentration camps, the FREE people of America are held in large prisons. The bars that hold people back are being built day in and day out.

As demonstrated, America spends obscene amounts of money to place their own people in jail cells. A person can understand how it feels to be behind bars since it is displayed in movies and pictures, since it is visually represented in their head. Some of the greatest people were held behind bars. Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, and Tupac Shakur to name a few. For what reason? It is almost as if the government is fed up seeing people live their lives. Just as Hitler was fed up seeing Jews walk on the streets. Not only is our society worsening and being held behind bars like the Jews but our leaders are not leading us the way they should. They are so concerned with the military and prisons they do not see what needs to be changed. The country is based on the people but it does not seem that way anymore. We are all confined in some way or another.

Society today is restricted not only physically but also mentally. Just like the Jews, and just like slaves. We are all held back. What we are told everyday is a cover up. The news depicts things the way they want it to be seen. The question is when will all the lies be exposed? When will we open our eyes? When will we as a society change its way of thinking? When will we break the bars that hold us back and truly be free?