How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work
developed through your interactive oral?
Candidate Code: gsz274
Novel Title: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Author: Alexander Solzhenitsyn
In our interactive oral, we talked about the importance of social and relevant contemplations in
the novel. Sharing and examining the historical backdrop of the socialist administration and their
treatment of detainees helped us find the genuine story of the book and the genuine importance
behind what Solzhenitsyn composed.
The discussion familiarized us with life under Stalinist Soviet Russia, under the rule of a harsh
dictator influenced by communist ideologies. We talked about the constrictions imposed by the
Soviet rule on prisoners as well as Russian civilians,, for example, changing the highest position
of the sun from twelve to 1pm, and how that influenced them. The gulag in the novel becomes a
small-scale representation of the Soviet government and its abusive mistreatments imposed by
the government’s authorities. (i.e. debasement among the jail and Soviet government authorities,
fierce treatment of detainees and nationals alike). By discovering similarities between chronicled
records of Soviet Russia and Solzhenitsyn's novel, we concur that it winds up simpler to fathom
the jail setting as a little scale portrayal of Soviet Russia. I understand that Solzhenitsyn's story
strategies (i.e. imagery, outline story) turn out to be more evident in the wake of understanding
the recorded foundation. The setting of the book helped shape my comprehension, as the chilly
and unforgiving scene is a noteworthy figure in the book. With temperatures coming to - 66°c,
Siberia is home to a portion of the coldest settlements on Earth. This learning helped me see how
the icy could physically and rationally influence the detainees in painful and frightful ways that
would nearly ensure demise in the event that you were not cautious.
The knowledge of Solzhenitsyn’s own autobiography made the text more authentic. His past
encounters battling for he comrade administration and afterward tossed behind bars for ludicrous
reasons has enabled him to mirror his own encounters into the character of Ivan Denisovich. This
new comprehension of the setting, character, and foundation of the novel and the creator enabled
me to have a newly discovered comprehension of the story. While others may see the book as
only a journal of a detainee in Siberia, I sense the books genuine reason, of being a work of
feedback pointed towards the socialist philosophy and Stalin himself.
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HOW DOES SOLZHENITSYN USE THE PRISON
GUARDS TO PORTRAY THE FAILURES OF
COMMUNISM IN ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN
DENISOVICH?
Candidate Code: gsz274
Word Count: 1139
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In “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” Solzhenitsyn effectively reflects the failure of the
Soviet Union through his portrayal of the guards. Corruption and the abuse of authority
ultimately led the camp from being a place meant to reform the prisoners, to a place designed to
ultimately torture the prisoners and hate the communist system even more. Through its
characters, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich highlights how the Soviet government
disregards the wellbeing of its citizens. The similarities between the Gulag and Communist
Russia shown in the novel make it evident that the portrayal of Power, as Guards in the prison,
and the Communist Party in Russia, is the main cause for the failure of both the prison, and
therefore the soviet state.
The prisoners’ lives show how the Soviet regime makes private events public in order to exercise
control over individuals. The inmates have no space to call their own as every move they make is
monitored by guards. This explicitly portrays the unfair nature of some guards in the gulag,
resulting in the “zeks” dislike for some of them, like the Tartar and Lieutenant Volkovoy. The
brutal and violent nature of these guards can represent the aspirations of the Communist State,
which is the total control and domination of every aspect of life within society. However,
Solzhenitsyn, a critic of communism symbolizes the failures of the system in the rest of the
guards, who are depicted as lazy and unwilling to take their job seriously, even to the extent that
they receive sympathy from the zeks, as they are suffering a similar fate. The quote “It was one
and a half Ivan’s turn, he recalled. Ivan was a thin, weedy, darkeyed sergeant. At first sight he
looked like a real bastard, but when you got to know him he turned out to be the most good-
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natured of the guards on duty1” shows the failure in the justice system at the time, as some
guards were described as “good natured” meaning that they could symbolize the attempt, yet
negligence in the individual’s effort in achieving the ideal Communist society and way of life.
Another way the guards portray the failure of Communism is their attempts to turn the
imprisoned zeks into citizens of a collective Soviet society. Despite their best attempts, the
characters in the novel develop a sense of brotherhood or camaraderie that motivates them to
work under the harsh conditions. The quote “from the outside, everyone looked the same—their
numbered black coats were identical—but within the squad there were great distinctions,
everyone had his grade2” and as the narrator quotes, “ It was a family, the squad3” makes it
crystal clear that the justice system is indeed faulty, even when readers ignore the many other
examples of unfair sentences, like in the case of Gopchik, a teenaged boy imprisoned for
bringing milk to freedom fighters or Tyurin, who is serving time for being the son of a kulak,
cannot achieve the main goal of assimilating the zeks into proper members of an ideal soviet
society envisioned by Stalin, and his regime.
The laws and punishment within the labor camp are as unfair as those outside and inside the
camp in the Soviet Union. These excessive rules and regulations set by the Totalitarian
1
Solezhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, 1918-2008. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York :Dutton
& Co. Inc., 1963. Print.
2
Solezhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, 1918-2008. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York :Dutton
& Co. Inc., 1963. Print.
3
Powers, Jacob. "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 9 Feb 2014. Web. 30
Jan 2018.
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government is the reason why so many innocent people were thrown into the gulag, for having
religious faith, like Alyoshka, or being a kulak, meaning “rich peasant” like Tyurin. Neither
Alyoshka’s faith nor Tyurin’s social standing harm anyone, except that it doesn’t match the
ideology of the USSR. Officials in power tend to exploit the lower classes, giving punishments
and setting rules for their own benefits. This is seen when Shukhov was unfairly punished for
escaping capture from the Germans, only to be labeled as an enemy “spy”. He was then accused
of being a German “spy” even though there was no evidence and the trial only served to benefit
the paranoia of those in power. The same happens within the camp as well, as rules are set up in
such a way that it makes surviving a challenge, such as Volkovoy’s rules that zeks aren’t allowed
to go to the bathroom alone are completely unnecessary and just make it difficult for the zeks to
complete the tasks that the guards themselves have told them to carry out.
The Soviet Union also has attempted to strip the zeks of their dignity, as they “Apart from sleep,
the only time a prisoner lives for himself is ten minutes in the morning at breakfast, five minutes
over dinner, and five at supper4”, meaning the zeks has essentially no free time for themselves.
This has led some people to lose their ethics and morals, like Fetyukov, depicted in the story as a
person with no morals and ethics as he continues to beg for food from other prisoners. However,
in some cases, the zeks have been able to resist this, as Shukov, a man of hard work, continues to
do the best he can during the work hours in order to keep his morals intact. His spoon, whom he
calls “his baby”, is another way that Shukov attempts to retain his ethics, and also by taking his
hat off during meals, despite the bitter cold. Other prisoners, like Alyoshka, have resorted to faith
in a higher power to keep him sane despite his unfortunate situation, even going so far as stating
4
Solezhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, 1918-2008. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York :Dutton
& Co. Inc., 1963. Print.
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“Why do you want freedom? In freedom your last grain of faith will be choked with weeds. You
should rejoice that you’re in prison. Here you have time to think about your soul.5” Instead of
becoming bitter and angry at the system, Alyoshka finds a way to carry himself and refuses to
bend down to the power and authority of the USSR. Soviet Socialism was a ruthless, broken
system which was perpetrated upon the Russian individuals. Their disregard for individual’s
humanity and their own rules is what ultimately caused their collapse. In a world where
corruption and fear roam freely and together, where the government triumph and control the
people, there cannot be a working social structure that appeases to both sides.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich became Solzhenitsyn’s medium to express his criticism
on Communist Russia after his own personal experience in a gulag, due to he himself being a
former political prisoner. He particularly focuses and criticizes the abusive nature of the
totalitarian government of the USSR as the many failures of the government are highlighted, not
only in the mistreatment of its gulag prisoners, as well as the ordinary citizens, and even state
officials who, may seem to at first hold power, however, in truth, they are just as much victims as
the prisoners themselves.
5
Solezhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, 1918-2008. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York :Dutton
& Co. Inc., 1963. Print.
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Bibliography
Solzhenitsyn, Alexandr, Ralph Parker, Yevgen Yevtushenko, Alexander Tvardovsky, and
Eric Bogosian. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York (symbol) New American
Library, 2009. 13.Print.
Solezhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, 1918-2008. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
New York :Dutton & Co. Inc., 1963. Print.
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