below zero on a daily basis and the brutality of the guards in camp life. The author has paid special and close attention to the weather, the bitter cold, it is not made an extremity, but the facts. A prisoner had one grubby blanket in which to cover his mattress with, which incidentally was made of sawdust, this blanket was supposed to help them keep warm through those winter nights. "No one ever took his wadded trousers off at night- you'd grow numb with cold unless you wore them under your blanket."
             The amount of work the prisoners were required to do was enough to keep them busy and going throughout the day, but then to have to worry about the cold, and completing the task to the captains' expectations, made their days and their lives very tough. However prisoners maintained their humanity and dignity by small acts and rituals. That is what Solzhe
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