Mala
Art Spiegelman has a very strong personality and is in conflict with his Father for much of MAUS. We see that Art is torn by a desire to spend as little time as possible with his Father while still learning everything that Vladek can remember about the Holocaust. After examining the relationship, I found myself a little annoyed at Art. It seemed like he was being overly tough on his Father. However, if we look at the relationship between Vladek and Mala we come to see that the responsibility for the problem lies much more with Vladek than with Art. This is not to say that Art is without blame. He certainly could have tried to make more of an effort at reducing tensions with his Father. But, there can be no coincidence that there are problems between Vladek and Mala also.
Vladek is convinced that Mala is only after his money. He becomes obsessed with this belief to the point that is drives her out of the house. When Mala runs off the Florida to escape the negativity of Vladek we only then learn how much she has had to put up with at home. What little time Art is with his Father reconfirms the image of a man that is almost impossible to deal with. The excessive frugality, the argumentative attitude, the disturbed attention to details and precision all point to the struggle Mala must have endured.
Any doubts about the integrity of Mala are erased when she returns to Rego Park to help care for Vladek. There was no reason she had to do this. It could be argued that she did it only for the money since she made Vladek accept some financial agreements before she would come home. I would contend Mala made her demands out of necessity. No one can blame her for not returning to the house as it was. She needed to take some concrete steps to ensure her sanity. Out of this need rose the specific financial agreements. Even if it was nothing more than a business deal, Vladek got much more than he paid for.
Through Mala we see Vladek was the dominant influence that Art holds him out to be.
Click here to return to the sections or here to move to the next page.