Maus: Book I

Mala Spiegelman is Art's stepmother and Vladek's second wife. Mala, like Vladek, is a survivor of the Holocaust. The two have a tempestuous marriage.... lots of yelling and fighting. Mala demands that everything be orderly. She occasionally likes to buy nice things.... Vladek infers that she is a spendthrift, Mala infers that her husband is cheap. On the whole, we don't see much love in their marriage.