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Artie and his Dad connect with each other by talking about the past. Artie has a keen interest in his father’s and mother’s past and he even wants to draw a book about them. When his father tells him about the Holocaust he has much more patience and tolerance for him. In the present,however, they appear divided and they both don’t have any tolerance for each other’s behavior.
Other ways of connection could be the connection between war survivors since they understand each other and went through the same horror. In the beginning of the book we learn that Mala the wife Vladek remarried is also a war survivor which lets us believe that they have a lot in common. However, as it turns out the war doesn’t form a bond between the two of them it rather builds up a divide which they can’t overcome.
This knowledge helps us understand the relationship between Artie and his father. Artie always wants to impress his father and also wants to accomplish something important in his life. This is part of the reason why he wants to draw a book about his father’s experiences to also accomplish something and to contribute something to their life and relationship. Artie tries to understand his father and improve their relationship by being a part of his father’s past. In terms of Mala and Vladek’s relationship we how the past they have in common shaped them in different ways. We understand that survivors of the war don’t necessarily need to be similar in their behavior. In Mala and Vladek’s case they are in fact very different. For obstacles we have a good example when Artie tells his father about his problems with his friends (introduction pages 5-6). He tells his father about his issues with his friends but his father just dismisses his problems and says “ If you lock them together in a room with no food for a week… then you could see what friends are” (p.6) . Artie feels that his obstacles will never be comparable to his father’s. All his life he feels the need to live up to his father’s example which affects their relationship considerably.
