One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich
Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich. One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, New YorkPress, 1963. The novel, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is intentionally not sensational. It is an expose of Stalinist labor camps, and of the Soviet system generally, but it accomplishes this through understatement and indirection. This work, however, is much more than a political indictment. Its power derives from its depiction of a man retaining his humanity under inhumane conditions. Shukov is not a heroic figure, but he wins our admiration for his cleverness, his endurance, and his simple integrity. This novel also shows a nice cross section of how soviet life was. It shows how citizens in Russia really had no freedom to speak thier mind. Solzhenitsyn who had to endure the harsh reality of labor camps himself, gives a good recount of the harsh brutalness of just one of the soviet's controlling machines. Through Shukov, Solzhenitsyn suggests that there are certain qualities which must be retained no matter what the circumstances if we are to maintain our humanity. Primary among these is self-respect. Shukov works constantly to increase his odds of survival, but there are definite things, lying and begging among them
Shukhov leaves the mess hall to buy tobacco form the Lett with money he receives from doing private jobs, then visits Tsezar to view his parcel and to deliver his bread. He is often rewarded with extra food for these services. At breakfast Shukhov is glad there are no liens at the mess hall, and that Fetiukov, the prisoner with the lowest position in the squad, had kept his breakfast for him. Shukhov spends the ninety minutes of the day which are totally his doing services for others, such as laying out other prisoner's shoes for them. After the recounts, Shukhov heads to the parcels office for Tsezar. Buinovsky and Tsezar ask to borrow Shukhov's "ten days" (knife) to cut some sausage. Shukhov can be the one to serve his squad. They are given bread according to the amount of work they have done, and Shukhov selects a crusty piece. They pay him by sharing some of the sausage. At the end of the day, the 104th is the first squad to make it to the checking lines, which means they will be the first to eat at dinner. At the work site the squad is assigned the job of setting cement blocks on the second-story walls of a building. Shukhov asks if he can bring Tsezar his dinner. Shukhov is a mason, so while the others get their tools from the camp's collection, Shukhov retrieves "his"-the best one which he has stolen from the collection-from a hiding place inside a brick. Shukhov hopes that Tsezar will reward him for doing this by giving him some of the parcel.
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Acceptance Essays
