This is responce to Sherell’s post. 

I  think Art’s decision to “save his Mom from the ovens if he had to choose between his parents” had to do with both his disdain for his father and his regret of not having a stronger relationship with his mother before her suicide. His choice stems from both relationships. Art’s relationship with his father progressed as he grew up causing him to feel annoyed with Vladek over time. We have to remember that Art’s Mom committed suicide when he was only 20. Vladek died when Art was an adult- he was able to have a full functioning (or dysfunctional) relationship with his father. In my opinion, Art is more inclined to save his mom because he didn’t get to have the fully dysfunctional relationship with her while he was an adult. He sees the bad sides to Vladek because he was with Vladek until the end.

Of course Art feels guilty about the way he treats his father.  In a way, Art and Mala are very similar. They care about Vladek and want to help, but while they’re there with him, they’re constantly annoyed and angered by his outrageous behavior. Unlike Mala, Art can’t run away. Vladek has his sweet moments with Art which is somewhat redeeming; however, sometimes I get the feeling Vladek is trying to guilt Art into staying with him longer by saying how much he enjoys the visits and their time together. Art feels guilty because he is constantly bothered by his father which causes his temper to be short but ,I believe, at the end of the day, Art (and most children) would want to care for their parents if they were ill. Pages 125-128 (in book 2) demonstrate this. Regardless of Vladek’s ridiculous actions of repacking everything and complaining about the packed sunglasses, Art still puts up with his father’s behavior and choreographs his arrival back to New York.