There are so many layers to this story! Is it reality? It it only our perception of Art's reality? Is it biographical? Autobiographical? Fictional? Historical? Fact? A representation of fact? I don't know. I don't care. I love it anyway, no because, of its intangibility and abstract nature. It touches my heart and makes me feel an emotional attachment to the horrifying story and to the factual history behind it, regardless of its classification. 
 There are many subtle clues towards Art's intentions with his writing, and his state of mind at certain times. These can be identified in examples such as the change in the 'masks' the individuals wore. Discovering these hidden clues and reading between the lines made me feel like I was getting to know and understand Spiegelman more, and feel more of an affinity with his story. His father's story had already touched my heart but this second volume provided more of an insight into the author and the artist, and a deeper look into how the past has altered and affected the present. 
 Art, in the novel, is not concerned with his father's present sufferings as they seem small compared to those of his father's youth - his incarceration in Auschwitz. I think it is for the reader to see how they are connected; how all of life is connected. Art, with his privileged life, could not understand his father as they have none of the same experiences. None from this generation can understand, no matter how many sad stories we read. It is only with stories like this, that link the past and the present, that we see the generational gap in play and can attempt to rectify it. His father's stinginess and his son's wastefulness are just one small sign of how their upbringing has effected them. It is one small signifier of their difference. Art, in the novels' present, cannot see it. It is for us, the readers, to notice it and attempt to make the changes in our life that he could not. This is a story of the horrors of war, but also of the horrors taken from war. It is the story of how grief and loss and mistreatment on such a grand scale can alter a whole person, their personality and their outlook on life. It shows us that although we may read and learn and empathize and believe we understand we can never, thankfully, fully know and relive the horrors of that dark time in human history.