How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph). We used H.T. Willetts's translation.
Quote #7
"Step on it!" the guard commander shouted. "Front marker - step on it!"
Like hell we will!
The zeks plodded on, heads down, like men going to a funeral. Nothing to lose now, we're last back in camp anyway. You wouldn't treat us like human beings, so bust a gut shouting. (830-2)
The guards and the zeks are in a constant tug-of-war. Though they have limited power, the prisoners can often act in a way that challenges the guards. And for all their power, the guards only have so much control over the prisoners, as we see here.
Quote #8
He hadn't remembered having anything forbidden, but wariness had become second nature after eight years inside. (882)
This idea of wariness is important since it highlights they type of "education" a person gets in the camps. Prisoners have to "learn" certain kinds of behavior in order to survive and to deal with the ridiculous rules that govern the camp.
Quote #9
The commandant set great store by that order. Nobody dared argue with him. The warders grabbed lone wanderers, took down their numbers, hauled them off to the jailhouse - but in the end the order was ditched. Quietly, as so many loudmouthed orders are. (952)
This episode really sums up how the camp is run in a nutshell. In a lot of ways it's just a stupid bureaucratic system that's really inefficient. This episode also helps to explain why the rules of the camp are so confusing – prisoners can't follow half of them, and the guards can't really enforce all of them either.