Vladek=Jerk

What’s the deal with Vladek? Why is he such an asshole? All the time... It really starts from the beginning. What happened to Lucia Greenburg? Vladek was going out for three or four years. That seems like a pretty long time (especially back then [didn’t people get married right quick?]). On page 15, she even tells Vladek that they should get engaged; he pretends to ignore her and says he should take her home. Now that is a pretty big slap in the face. Especially considering that Lucia is in her nightgown and Vladek is putting his clothes back on! Scandalous!!!!!!!!!! But he doesn’t stop there. A small text square (indicating Vladek’s contemporary voice) say that ‘her family was nice, but had no money, even for a dowry.’ How could be such a jerk? I first wondered maybe this was his current misery mind putting a spin on his past, but the fact is that he didn’t marry this girl for three or four years! Obviously he had some trepidations and the only one Art shows us is how his father didn’t want to marry into her poor family. But, at the drop of a hat, he has no reservations about marrying Anja in order to get to her rich parents. I don’t think that the holocaust caused the issues with money that Vladek has. Perhaps it exacerbated them a little bit, but they’ve been there all along.