What Really Is a Cake?

(Spiegelman 119).

A cake is known to be a sweet substance that adds some flavor to life, but it can have different connotations based on the individual/community.

Within the panels to the left, Pesach, an officer of the Jewish police, talks about how flour is found within Jewish peoples' houses after they are sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp within Poland. The people that were taken away were not of importance to the other Jews, but rather the flour--or as we later find out, the laundry soap. This is likely not out of selfishness, but because of an "every man for himself" mentality that leads to such desperation of wanting to be safe and healthy.

This "flour" was taken by Pesach, which was then baked into a cake. But instead of helping those who ate the cake, it had adverse effects, such as making everyone sick. This reminded me of another part of the book: on page 85, the Germans had quickly interrogated Vladek, only to find out that he was carrying sugar. This led to Vladek being left alone quickly.

The usage of ingredients, such as sugar and flour represents the Germans. When placed on their own, such as when Vladek was delivering the sugar (85), there is not much of a commotion, but when added into a group, such as the flour being incorporated into the cake (119), it led to many people being sick. The Germans being seen as the flour (laundry soap) is the entire identity of the Holocaust--the Germans allow a mass genocide to occur to the Jewish population, similarly to how the cake hurts the Jewish living in the ghetto.