8/15/2019 The Standover Man.docx

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 James Wang

The Standover Man

 The standover man is a series of images that Max illustrated over a copy of ‘Mein

Kampf’ by Adolf Hitler The reason he dre! these series of illustrations is to

re"ect upon his o!n life and aspects of his life #or example the images sho! his

vulnerability$ compassion and spirit %n Max’s illustrations he depicts himself as a

tiny bird and does not en&oy having people$ speci'cally men$ standing over him

 The bird is symbolic of Max’s o!n spirit because$ li(e Max$ a bird is a caged

specimen$ but its spirit is free from tyranny and in Max’s case$ free from the )a*i

rule +ach illustration sho!s a di,erent standover man$ the 'rst being Max’s

father !ho vanishes from his life !hen he !as very young The next illustration

sho!s ho! Max loved to 'ght in his youth$ but !hen he lost there !ould be

another boy standing over him$ symbolising the next standover man After it

sho!s a girl$ not a man standing over him$ !hich is -iesel !hom befriends him

and becomes his only friend The 'nal page is the girl$ -iesel$ !riting !ords on

the !all$ referring to the dictionary !all .hoosing !ords such as valuable and

daylight on the 'nal page is symbolic because those !ords have a signi'cance tothe lives of Max and -iesel The best standover man Max met !as not a man$ but

in fact a girl !ho sho!ed him friendship and compassion