how does vladek escape?

I can help you with some basic points but we don't really do essays on this forum. If you have specific questions you need help with later, you can e back.

Consider Vladek was relatively "normal" before the war. With the war he had to adapt which called for serious changes and ingenuity on his part. Byt the end of the war, Vladek had witnessed so much pain. All of his family and friends were killed save for his brother. One does not come out of that unscathed. Old Vladek was a product of the Holocaust. Saving matches by keeping the gas stove on was a result of intense habituation that he learned in Hell. Always fearing for one's life doesn't simply disappear when the war ends. The paranoia remains which looks very much like self-absorption.