There is a direct contrast between how Vladek Spiegelman tells the story of his past and how his second wife, Mala Spiegelmen, tells her story. Mala narrates the story through small parts of the graphic novel, usually when Art Spiegelman references a specific portion of his father’s retelling. When Mala dictates her past, she focuses on how the difficulties affected her directly. Most of her stories had a deeply emotional backbone, something that Vladek Spiegleman’s renditions tended to lack. In the novel, when both Mala and Vladek describe their experiences at the stadium, Mala describes how people would “[jump] out the windows to end their misery a little quicker…” (1Spiegelman 92). Every time Mala describes her story, it seems as though she narrates it with a heavier heart than Vladek does when he describes. Perhaps Art Spiegelman purposefully creates this difference to highlight how bitter his father is about the entire situation.
When Art Spiegelman narrates the story, he does so by commenting on the storyline as it happens. This is extremely crucial for the graphic novel because it puts the plot in context within Spiegelman’s life. His comments and narration allow the readers to connect more with his characters, namely his father. Art usually comments on something his father, gives the reader a bit of a backstory, or just makes some sort of