the reason why Solzhenitsyn chose a good day.

The day seems absolutely horrific for us. Getting up at 5:00am, to eat what seems like diluted dishwater and than walking to a power station, in subzero temperature throughout, to work for 10 hours, only to return back to eat more of the diluted dishwater and sleep on a uncomfortable bed.

The day, if we were to experience it, would possibly be the worst day of our lives.

However just before going to bed Shukhov is described as "pleased with life" and the day was accounted as "almost happy" The day was a good one for him.

Solzhenitsyn plays with the reader's notion of a 'bad day' as he make a good day, for the zeks, absolutely revolting.

The reader than is left to imagine what a bad day is like. The reader believes, due to this contrast, that the GULAG camps had hideous living conditions and the USSR, with approval and implementation of the GULAG system, was breaking international human right laws.

The reader is appauled with the government employees in this text, and thus sympathize with the position of the zeks

continuity and monotony.

continuity.

The lack of chapters is a clever method adopted by Solzhenitsyn

that reflets the seemingly never ending and relentless sentence

the zeks were sentenced too. The reader sympathizes with the

zeks as he two is locked within the book, unable to break, as

there seems to be no break in the prose.


The end of chapters are conventional points for the reader to

stop at and the lack of chapters handicaps the reader into

reading on. The reader, similar to the zeks, hasfreedom taken

away from himself/herself, in the form that they have to read

on.

The reader than feels easier to sympathize, or if you detest

reading, empathize with the zeks which are put on a strict

schedule, are stolen of their freedoms and our serving a endless

sentence.

monotony.

The simple authorship is combined with the lack of chapters in

this book to provide a sense of monotony throughout the novel. The book has no evident climax or buildup. There was nothing notably amazing about the plot of the book and there is no point at which the book seems like an ideal candidate for a blockbuster movie. However the humdrum tone of the novel colligates with the feel of the prison sentence, thus allowing, like the aspect of continuity, the reader to sympathize with the zeks.

Political and Prison novel

The novel "one day in the life of ivan denisovich" is categorized as political novel and prison novel.

literary devices and limitations to analysis.

Similar to the usage of diction, Solzhenitsyn keeps the utilization of linguistic features at a minimum, thus keeping the language of the book simple, and thus emulating the language the zeks use. The writing in casual and straightforward. The description is frank and to the point:"Shukhov was delighted. He thanked the Tartar for letting him go and said,"From now on i'll never get up late again"

A limitation to analyzing linguistic features is that the translation of the text could have lost some of the stylistic features such as alliteration. This includes russian based allusions or metaphors. The translator would have translated them out in familiar metaphors or allusion, while Solzhenitsyn would have used features native to Russia.

diction.

Solzhenitsyn uses colloquial language to effectively capture the philistic nature of the zeks.The reader assimilates himself in the prison society by getting acquainted to the word choice of Solzhenitsyn. The translator also plays a big role in the diction of the novel. The original was written in Russian and the translator, in this case, has chose to include some Russian and Ukrainian words in his translation, perhaps to increase the veritability of the interlingual rendition.

narrative voice.

The Narrative voice of Solzhenitsyn, in One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is in third person. The narrator seems to be omniscient concerning Shukhov however in concern to the other zeks, he seems to have the same knowledge Shukhov has. This plays in increasing the ambiguity between Shukhov's own thoughts and the narration.At points in the novel, it seems that they are the same person. There seems to be no clear distinction between Shukhov and the narrator.

However the narrator has exhibited qualities that differ himself, or herself for that matter, with Shukhov. Even though Shukhov is 'intellectual' in comparison to the other zeks as shown in(quote), he still did not understand the concept of poetry.The narrator,however, does. This exhibits the difference between the narrator and Shukhov, however, especially in the latter stages of the book, there is certain equivocalness between Shukhov's and the narrator's voice.

The narrator seems in conversation with the reader as shown in the quote,"Ah,but who's warder today?" and he seems to be explaining the situation of the GULAG to the reader. It is as if the reader is a new inmate and the narrator a experienced zek as shown in "You could never do the deal empty handed, of course.Have to slip the senior work-assigner half a kilo of fatback. Maybe a kilo, even.

Who is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn?

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk, southern Russia on 11th December, 1918. His father studied philological subjects at Moscow University although he did not complete his studies since he enrolled as a volunteer during the war in 1914. He became an artillery officer on the German front, however he died in the summer of 1918, six months before Aleksandr was born. He was raised up by his mother, who worked as a shorthand-typist. He spent his entire childhood in the town of Rostov on the Don. His dream of becoming a writer started ever since he was a young child. In the 1930s, he attempted to publish his writings but none of the companies were willing to accept his manuscripts. He wanted to receive a literary education, however such an education was not offered in a minor town like Rostov. He could not move to Moscow either since his mother was alone and sick. Thus, leaving him with no other option, he began to study at the Department of Mathematics at Rostov University where he discovered his talent in this field. On one hand he found the subject easy, he did not want to devote his entire life on mathematics. However, it turns out that this area of study benefited him later on in his life.

After graduating from the department of Mathematics and Physics at Rostov University, he worked for various jobs that mainly involved the production of artilleries. In February 1945, he was arrested in East Prussia for writing disrespectful remarks on Stalin in a letter to a friend. Luckily, the reason was insufficiently inadequate to sentence death, therefore he was imposed an eight year sentence in one of the Gulag correction camps instead. This is where his exclusive knowledge in mathematics and physics became beneficial, as it eased his life in the camps. During his eight year of sentence, he was transferred to several specialized correctional work camps. In 1946, he served as a mathematician at a scientific research institute of the Ministry of State Security (MVD-MOB) in the so-called “Special Prisons” which only incarcerated political prisoners. In another camp located in the town of Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan (where ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ was set) he served as a bricklayer, a miner and a foundry-man. Then in 1953 was sentenced to a life of exile because his writings deemed threatening to the government.
Although his health was never that good, it was getting worse as his cancer grew rapidly towards the end of 1953. He could not sleep or eat due to the unbearable pain. Luckily, he was able to visit a cancer clinic and was cured within a year. During all the years of exile, he taught mathematics and physics at a primary school to earn him some money. He also continued writing in secret to pursue his dream. Until 1961, he never showed his works even to his close relatives because he feared that the information would leak somehow.
At the age of 42, he finally became less wary of publicizing his works and decided to emerge to offer 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'. On one hand he was afraid that the content might risk his entire manuscripts to be abolished, things turned out to be successful. After one year, A.T. Tvarvdovsky was able to print the novel.
Later in 1970, he won a Nobel prize of Literature and actually recieved it four years later when he was deported form the USSR. He was deported because his manuscript for the first part of 'The Gulag Archipelago' was found. Him and his family first moved to Germany, then Switzerland, then to the United States of America. The US offered him a different life style, which made Aleksandr feel very comfortable and secure. In total, he spend two decades in the United States.
In 1990, his Soviet citizenship was restored. Four years later, him and his wife moved back to Russia leaving their sons behind in the US for educational reasons. On August 3rd 2008, he died of heart failure at the age of 89.

(Picture below - Solzhenitsyn's funeral)

Significant Quotes

IDENTITY:

1.   “Outwardly the gang all looked the same, all wearing identical black jackets with identical number patches, but underneath there were big differences.” – Pg. 11


 

·      Explanation: The camp aims to make everyone the same (because of communism in Russia?), through the similarity of their appearances, and by naming them with numbers. Their bad treatment of the prisoners is shown by the fact that they are all given a number, which they use instead of their names. The fact that they are forced to look exactly the same and have their names replaced by numbers shows that they are losing their identities by being in the camp. Identity is one of the freedoms that people have, and as stated before it is one of the main ways to survival. Therefore when the camp tries to get rid of all of their identities, they’re again limiting their freedom.

 

2.   “The two Estonians sat like two brothers on a low concrete slab, sharing half a cigarette in a holder. They  were both tow-haired, both lanky, both skinny, they both had long noses and big eyes…On the march, on work   parade, are going to bed at night, they never stopped talking to each other, and their slow quite way. Yet they weren’t brothers at all – they met for the first time in gang 104” – Pg. 40

 

·      Explanation: This shows that there was separation between nationalities in the camp, the fact that they weren’t   brothers yet still looked very similar and were really close shows that they felt a connection because they were both   Estonian. Their close bond helps them keep their identity by always being with each other and never being alone.   This gives us a sense of their ambition to survive and keep their dignity, a common thought shared by the prisoners.   It is one of the other ways that keeps a prisoner stays alive. (Links with 'identity' section) 

 

DIGNITY:

 

1."Next, he removed his cap from his shaven head—however cold it was, he wouldn't let himself eat with his cap on—and stirred up his skilly, quickly checking what had found its way into his bowl."- Pg. 12 (Shukhov)

 

·      Explanation: The fact that  Shukhov takes off his cap before eating shows his ambition to stay civilized and keep his dignity. Also, when he stirs the soup it shows that he wants to keep some sort of control because the camp takes away so much of it. This is important in the novel, for it  shows how little freedom they have.  (can also link with 'freedom' section)

 

2."It’s the law of the taiga here lads. But a man can live here just like anywhere else. Know who pegs out first? The guy who licks out bowls, puts his faith in the sick bay, or squeals to godfather.” -Pg.2 (Kuzyomin, Shukhov's first camp's foreman)

 

·      Explanation: Prisoners know what they have to do in order to survive, and they have their own unspoken set of rules, which are different from the ones they have to obey in the camp. This shows that it is hard to survive unless the prisoners have the strength to keep their dignity; this is extremely hard when they are being put through such harsh situations.

 

3.“Quick, catch up with Senka. He’s only run a hundred yards. Wouldn’t go any farther without me. Never leave anybody in the lurch, Senka wouldn’t. If there’s going to be trouble, we’re in it together – that’s Senka.” – Pg.93 (Shukhov)

 

·      Explanation: Out of the characters we are introduced to in the novel, Senka is probably the most caring in the sense that he thinks of others and not only about himself. Senka is deaf, but still doesn’t allow people to take care of him and takes care of himself. Although deafness is a major difficulty, he still continues to survive and doesn’t let it get in his way, most likely because of his caring and tenacious personality. Overall this shows that personality plays a role in survival.

 

FREEDOM:

 

1.“The good thing about hard-labor camps is that you have all the freedom in the world to sound off. In Ust-Izhma you’d only have to whisper that people couldn’t buy matches outside and they’d clap another ten on you.” – pg. 131 (Shukhov)

 

·      Explanation: There is irony when Shukhov says that ‘freedom’ was being able to speak (‘sound off’) because that is normal our society. It shows that the old camp had less freedom than HQ. This also shows the instability/ corruptness of the Communist regime.

2. "A convict's thoughts are no freer than he is: they come back to the same place, worry over the same thing continuously. Will they poke around in my mattress and find my bread ration? Can I get off work if I report sick tonight? Will the captain be put in the hole or won't he? How did Tsezar get his hands on his warm vest? Must have greased somebody's palm in the storeroom, what else?

 

·      Explanation: The lack of freedom affects not only what the prisoners do, but gets into their minds and even limits their freedom of thinking. It demonstrates the severity of the control over the prisoners and of the gulags overall.

 

CAMP SITUATION:

 

1.   ‘ “Shcha- eight hundred and fifty four,” the Tartar read out from the white patch on the back of the black jacket. “Three days in the hole, normal working hours” ’ – pg. 4

 

·      Explanation: Reveals the punishment the prisoners receive if they don’t follow rules. Usually the punishment is not appropriate and they don’t deserve it. Such as in this quote Shukhov is being punished for oversleeping. Similarly shown on pg. 27 when Buynovsky gets punished for having a waistcoat:

 

 ‘ “Ten days strict regime!” He shouted. “With effect from this evening.”’ (the Tartar)

 

·      This also shows the relationship between the prisoners and the guards. Which shows that most of the guards have no sympathy for them and treat them badly. This is also shown by the fact that they are all given a number, which they use instead of their names.

 

2.   " 'Come on men, let's get on with it!' Pavlo called to the bricklayers. It was a job to take pride in." - pg.53

 

·      Explanation: This proves that Shukhov and the other camp inmates were optimistic - they focused on the bright side of the camp work. Shukhov was a proud bricklayer - working harder than everyone else. This also links with the next quote:

 

  "But now Shukhov tackled the wall as if it was his own handiwork" (pg.92)

 

·      This quote is very important because it shows how they still take pride in their work since it’s one of the only things they have. It distracts them from the cold and they do it because they get rewarded (for example they receive extra food rations) if as a group they meet the quota.

 

3.   "In the camp things are arranged so that the zek is kept up to mark not by his bosses but by the others in the gang. Either everybody gets a bonus or else they all die together. Am I supposed to starve because a louse like you  won't work? Come on, you rotten bastard, put your back into it!" - pg. 49 (Shukhov)

 

·      Explanation: It shows the tactics that the camp used to get the workers to work. It kind of forces the prisoners to make relationships with each other. It stops any prisoners from not working, and gives them a reason for their hard work. 'why, you may wonder, will a zek put up with ten years of back-breaking work in a camp? Why not say no and dawdle through the day?' The answer is quote #4. The quote shows that the punishment is severe in the   camp, if anyone doesn't do their work. So they all motivate each other to work together and get the best out of their  horrible life at the camp.

 

4.   "Your foreman matters more than anything else in a prison camp: a good one gives you a new lease of life, a  bad one can land you in a wooden overcoat." - Pg. 36 (narrator/Shukhov)

 

·      Explanation: Shukhov is lucky to have a respectful foreman: Tyurin. He is a good one, who sticks up for the gang  and helps them to survive the camp. The quote explains itself. A situation at the camp can be different for different gangs, because the foreman can control the future of the prisoners. e.g. choosing food rations, clothes, jobs, etc.

 

RELATIONSHIPS:

 

1."Shukhov was so happy it hurt when he spotted what looked like Senka Klevshin's head right up by the porch." - pg.121

 

·      Explanation: Even in the tough situations of the camp, the prisoners still managed to make friends and have good  relationships with other prisoners. Shukhov's happiness is a good example of one of his friendships  with a fellow  prisoner and the effect it has on him - happiness. This helps him keep his humanity by  expressing emotions. The  relationships are another factor that encourages the prisoners to maintain their  dignity, identity, and continue to  survive. They consider fellow prisoners in gang 104 'friends' as shown on page 58, when Kildigs mentions them as    'friends'. But the friendships between most of the prisoners is different from the real friendship between Senka and  Shukhov.

 

 

2."Buynovsky kept looking sideways at him (Fetyukov), and suddenly barked: "Why do you pick up all that foul stuff? You'll get syphilis of the mouth before you know it! Chuck it away!" page 41

 

·      Explanation: This quote shows that the prisoners take care of each other, even through the hard times when taking care of themselves is more important. This signifies how people were not greedy or selfish, and looked after  one another. It also shows that they had good relationships with each other, but not only because of friendship, but  also to have as many men alive so that work conditions are easier for everyone. This friendship between prisoners  is based on the fact that they are all 'at odds with one another'.

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

The first book we read for our world-lit essay was "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. This novel about the life of the GULAG prisoners sparked controversy in 1960s Russia and today is one of the most celebrated novels concerning GULAG literature. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is an nobel prize winning russian author and has revolutionized Soviet-era literature.

The novel focuses around Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, an average zek living an average day. The novels gives an insight of the life in the GULAGs: A prison system that consumed 12,000,000 lives in its operation period.