That's just Vladek...

            Maus was a terrible book. In the sense that the writing craft was great and the way this story was made was absolutely amazing, but the story was terrible. The horrors of this book are just unbelievable. The troubles Vladek went through made me think of how the Jews did not fight for revenge... For blood. If I went through the Holocaust, I probably would've followed through on Artie's idea. I would kill myself. But what also grabbed me by the collar, was the way Vladek Spiegelman didn't give in to fate. He was a beacon of hope for many sufferers of that time.
             A question that crossed my mind related back to our Romeo and Juliet literary unit. Was it fate or free will that got Vladek through the war (This blog post is also very minimally entering Maus II)? I couldn't help but think why was he one of the few 1000's that survived? Why did he not perish in the gas gas chambers of Auschwitz? Vladek may have been lead by fate, but his ingenious schemes of smuggling and trade are what I think really kept him alive. In the situations he endured, was he not the one that used his ideas to smuggle himself and Anja away? He was a very righteous character and never gave up hope. Maybe that is why he survived. But that is also free will, proving that this story was mostly about Vladek's hope and genuine ability to think through situations.
             Vladek gave everyone he knew something to think about. Something that would remind them of home. That was what everyone liked Vladek. He gave them a word that is the most powerful weapon of all. Hope. He gave them hope. Hope that would carry them to the greatest corners of their lives. The kind of hope, that got them running from Auschwitz as free men and women. Vladek could have argued the way he does now back then, but that would have killed many of his closest friends. And life goes on...