The Importance of Masks

Have you ever pretended to be someone you’re not just to impress someone?  Or bought some new clothes because you desperately wanted to fit into the crowd?   

Masks have been used for hundreds of years; from Shakespeare’s play to those of traditional dances and many different cultures.  The meaning is usually always the same— to conceal one's appearance and transform into another. 

Spiegelman's characterization of mice is important to their prominent nose, which is one of the most prevalent and defining features of a Jew.  His choice of using the Jews as mice is quite clever because he did not shy away from the widespread stereotype that was placed upon them.  Throughout Maus, the Jews wore masks to conceal their identities in order to protect themselves from the Germans.  On page 64, Vladek needed to get back home, but he had no legal papers.  He put on a pig mask, and approached the train man, saying, “you’re a pole like me…”  Obviously, the train man isn’t like Vladek, but because of the mask, it seems like he is. Spiegelman’s use of masks was to disguise Vladek in a threatening situation.  Vladek hid his Jewishness so the train man would be more sympathetic to him; as he looked like a fellow Pole.  The mask worn by Vladek represents the disguises that the Jewish people would have used to try to escape detection from the Germans and Poles. 
Spiegelman conveys that even though the Poles were not targets of persecution to the same extent as the Jews, the German occupation of Poland has hurt and damaged them greatly.  In a way, they both have a shared interest of dislike towards the Nazi Party.