In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Solzhenitsyn attempts to indirectly attack/insult Stalin as well as the Union of Soviet Writers by using a comparative setting. He does this by making the setting as realistic as possible while injecting Shukhov, who plays as the "average" man being cheated, taken advantage of, and put in the camp for a dishonorable and wrong reason. However Shukhov's view of the camp is not realistic, but rather, understanding. By making the camp appear manageable and forgiving through Shukhov's eyes the actual horror of the camp is intensified. Such was the case when discussing food: Shukhov sewing bread into his mattress and feeling impressed with himself at his ingenuity, getting two bowls of oatmeal at lunch break with incredible luck and engineering, and the fact that along the line of power everyone takes a piece of everything until it eventually trickles down to him. The fact that these acts occur is not nearly as frightening as the fact that Shukhov is completely comfortable with them, and that he knows that in order to succeed, or even survive, an inmate has to be cunning, quick, and extremely generous to "higher ups".
             Another fact to consider is why Solzhenitsyn made Shukhov the way he is. One argument is that Solzhenitsyn had become cross after attempting to have censorship banned in the Soviet Union. Having had his request to the Fourth National Congress of Soviet Writers denied, and being imprisoned in a camp himself for eleven years for the exact same reason as Shukhov (accused of surrendering to the Germans and serving under them thusly betraying his country). After such ordeals Solzhenitsyn may have found it necessary to, in some way, retaliate both towards Stalin and the Congress of Soviet Writers. This was how Shukhov and the strong setting were created. Solzhenitsyn could by no means attack openly as that would have been stricken and never published, howeve...