Nazi Power And Nazism In Max's Life example essay topic

Nazism, these words spoken today evoke images of slaughter, darkness, pain and suffering for many. The stories of many survivors can be found all over, in the media, on the internet, and even in books. Max and the Cats by Moacyr Scliar is a beautiful, often funny fable about Nazism, Jewish redemption and escape from a life that continually haunts the character Max Schmidt. Within Max's journey to escape the great scope of the Nazis, he is confronted by various cats. These cats either directly represent the fascism of the Nazis, or indirectly lead Max to discover hidden Nazi followers.

The novella constantly focuses on the reality of Nazism in life, and the ever challenging escape of Max from their reaches. Max is first introduced to the idea of the Nazis indirectly, through a stuffed Bengal tiger in his father's fur shop. This ominous feline evokes fear in Max but also directly represents superiority, due to its high resting place in the shop. Since Max can first remember he has always feared this tiger. Its grimacing stance and "its eyes glinting with a sinister brightness" cast a constant shadow on Max. The Nazis, just like the tiger, induced a terror within the peoples of Germany just by "gazing" down on and watching Germany's every move through the Secret Police and representing superiority.

This constant fear Max had for the tiger prevented him from ever lending a hand in his father's shop. This also represents the steady anxiety the German's had for the Nazis. Nevertheless, the German's were so fearful that they did nothing to preserve their ideologies. Only when Max must finally confronts the beast at the store, does his first stage of growth occur. "Between the two of them, between the boy and the beast, was the counter, upon which lay the newspaper". (pg 7). The direct allegory between the Bengal tiger and the Nazis within this story prevents Max from ever escaping the true stretch of Nazi power.

Only when Max finally confronts the tiger, does his next stage in discovering the true stretch of the Nazis occur. However, by this time " [the Nazis] were already showing their claws, and nobody [gave] a damn". (page 17). With each big cat that Max meets, symbolizes a new stage in his life. However this new stage still encompasses the reality and fear of Nazism. After escaping from the jaguar on the raft, Max found Porto Alegre. However Max soon found out that "the Nazi regime was becoming increasingly more entrenched" and he still had not escaped.

Once again a cat is introduced, but this time not to represent Nazism but instead to point it out. After Max awakens at night to the sound of a cat meowing he soon discovers that the man who lives next door is dressed in the Nazi uniform, who later turns out to be the chief of police. This cat is used by Scliar to remind Max of his escape from the Nazi regime. However, the cat points out that the regime's reach extends farther than he believed and wanted to believe. During the Nazi reign, groups formed all around the world in support of their ideologies, and the clandestine nature of the Nazis. Scliar proves that the vast span of the Nazi regime reached further than Max could have thought.

And again with the use of a cat, Max is presented to this fact. The Bengal tiger and the cat in the street both either directly or indirectly were used to represent Nazi power and Nazism in Max's life respectively. However, the introduction of yet another feline by Scliar is used to bring Max to a mental and emotional dead end. The onca on the hilltop, to many was "the fiercest Brazilian wildcat [which was] at large in Cerro Verde" (page 93). However, to Max, the onca was Georges Backhaus, Frida's husband who ran away and joined the Nazis.

The myth of this wild beast roaming around Brazil feared many, just as much as the thought of Nazi's roaming around Brazil feared Max. Max assumed that Backhaus was a Nazi just because he mysteriously disappeared. However, it is not clearly defined that "this man is a Nazi! A militant Nazi" (page 90). Scliar uses many allegories of cats to portray the presence of Nazism where ever Max goes. However, the reader never does find out if Georges Backhaus really was a Nazi, but instead it is left up to the imagination and the text.

However the mysterious suicide and ending leaves the reader to believe that "the Onca on the Hilltop" really was a Nazi. Once again Scliar uses a feline, the onca, to represent Nazism at its worst, and without his use of cats, the reader could not truly grasp the deeper meaning within the text of the pages. Max and the Cats by Moacyr Scliar is a book constantly focusing on the ever difficult flee from Nazism by Max, and also the realism of Nazism today. Through the use of felines, small and large, Scliar introduces different forms of fascism into the novella, and unlocks the misconception that these beliefs no longer exist in today's society. On the contrary, from the text and from our own lives we can witness that the ideas and beliefs of Nazism surround us everyday.

However, for our world to move past its primitive dogma, we must first learn from the mistakes of our past. For if we don't learn from these mistakes, we are doomed as a society to repeat them.