Vladek's Wariness

While reading Chapter 3 of Maus II, I found myself reflecting back on our class discussion today. One of the questions with which Ms. Wilsey presented us had to do with the situations that demonstrated Vladek's wariness, and how his wariness enabled him to survive. In class, we mainly focused on luck and psychological strength as being the main factors that kept Vladek alive. Yet as I read this chapter and decided to search for those instances of Vladek's wariness, I was surprised at how many there were. It is obvious that Vladek is constantly aware of his surroundings; every second he remains vigilant as he prudently evaluates his situation. For example, on page 83, some of the Jews in the long march attempt to bribe the guards with gold so that they will let them go. The guards promise not to shoot them when they escape, but to shoot over their heads instead. When the Jews try to persuade Vladek to join them, he questions "How can you trust the Germans?!" (83) Sure enough, when the group of Jews bolts, the guards end up shooting them anyway. Vladek's foresight and caution save his life.
Vladek's wariness manages to keep him alive again on page 85. The Germans begin to shove and pack the Jews into trains. Vladek, who remains alert, immediately pushes to a corner to avoid being crushed. He then uses his blanket that he saved to fashion a kind of hammock where he can rest above the crowd. By being aware of the potential dangers of suffocation and compression, he survives to live another day. While this sense of wariness seems to prevail in him, the case is not so for most of the other Jews. When they are crowding onto the train, they don't think; they just act on orders and keep pushing the crowd into the car. By acting on impulse and instinct, they fall right into the Nazis' plan of reducing Jews to animal-like status. They no longer consider the consequences. It's as if their ability to think has been stripped away; now they just do. Vladek, on the other hand, refuses to give in. By retaining his wariness, he refuses to become an animal, and thus retains some of his humanity as well.