All incoming seniors in English 12, 12H, and incoming juniors in English 11/12:
Study Guide and Assignment for A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is worth reading because it tells the truth: readers fortunate enough to have never
experienced prison of any kind can still recognize the accuracy and insight with which the novella describes human
motivations and behavior. More, though one might expect a story set in a labor camp to be depressing, Solzhenitsyn’s
depiction of humanity leaves the reader humbled and inspired at the same time. I hope you will find such inspiration as
you read.
Note that the book portrays “only one of the most ordinary of days in the life at camp from reveille to retreat.”
(Foreword, xxi) Recall that in Our Town, the dead in the cemetery assure Emily that she should choose an ordinary day
for her return to life. A succession of ordinary days is what extraordinary lives are made of. Emily found that to be true.
Perhaps Ivan would agree.
NOTE: page numbers given reflect the copy of the novel on the official Timothy list.
Some background will certainly help in your understanding.
First, some historical information for you:
Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union from the 1920s into the 1950s as a complete dictator who some estimate killed two to
three million people in his quest for control. He established forced labor camps in
Siberia where people worked at whatever they were ordered to do and lived such difficult lives that many died. Some
died trying to escape, but many died from near-starvation, extreme cold, and poor shelter. Others survived. The system
of camps was large and was administered by a Soviet agency, with a long Russian name that formed an acronym:
GULAG. Thus people speak of the gulag when they are discussing these camps.
Solzhenitsyn was a surviving prisoner; his book, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, describes his camp experience. No
one before this time had spoken openly and honestly about the camps. The government heavily censored what its
people could read in newspapers, books, and magazines, and controlled what people could view in art and film. It was
believed that art should serve the state and glorify the Soviet worker. This view of art was called Socialist realism. In this
world, Ivan was published in the Soviet Union in 1962, and the publication unsurprisingly led to the exile of its author.
Solzhenitsyn was sometimes in the good graces of the Soviet government and sometimes was not. He lived for some
time in the United States (late 1970s to 1994) but returned to Russia when his citizenship there was reinstated.
In 1970, Solzhenitsyn won a Nobel Prize, in part for his writing of A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. He wrote many,
many more books and is considered a major Russian writer in the ranks of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
1
"Soviet Union Administrative Divisions 1989". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia
Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_Union_Administrative_Divisions_1989.jpg#/media
/File:Soviet_Union_Administrative_Divisions_1989.jpg
Below is a map of the old Soviet Union and the Russia of today.
Second, some reading advice:
The book takes place literally in one day. Since the setting is so far north in winter, many references to darkness take
place during the day. Keep track of the progression of time using the ordinary time references all of us know: wake-up
signals, breakfast, work breaks, dinner (lunch), supper, free time, and bedtime.
Russian names can be challenging but operate according to a system. There is a given name and a patronymic, or
father’s name: thus, Ivan (the given name) and Denisovich (son of Denis). Last follows the family name. So Ivan’s full
name is Ivan Denisovich Shukov. In English terms the names would be something like this: John Williamson Smith. John,
first name, son of William – his father, father’s last name – Smith.
Sometimes there is a nickname. Thus, the name Alyosha is a nickname for the name Aleksey. The name Sasha is a
nickname for Alexander.
Usually, context and attention will help you figure out the nicknames.
At the end of this document you will find a list of names and vocabulary to print and cut out to use as a bookmark; it is
meant to be a helpful reference as you read. The list does not include literally all names; instead, it includes important
names you need to remember. They are listed in order of appearance as much as possible.
Third, about how you will be assessed:
You will be graded in several ways. You need to bring A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich the first day of class and
thereafter until we finish studying the book. On the first day, you need to bring the completed quotation assignment.
You also need to bring completed answers to the questions below. Finally, our first essay assignment will center on A
Day in the Life.
FORMS FOR ASSESSMENTS BEGIN ON THE NEXT PAGE…
2
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich quotation assignment:
Bring this completed assignment to English class on the first day of school. Write neatly; if I can’t read your answer
easily, you won’t get credit for the answer. From each of the eleven sections, select a significant quotation that provides
some insight for understanding the book. Please print and use the handout below.
For example:
Sentence/vocab word underlined
page #
Significance
“Here men, we live by the law of the
taiga.”
Wake-up
(4)
The law of the taiga is the Russian way
of phrasing the concept the survival of
the fittest. The strong survive in the
camp.
Wake-up
( )
Breakfast
( )
Waiting to work
( )
Work
( )
3
Work breaks
( )
Dinner/lunch
( )
Work
( )
Waiting to return
to camp
( )
Supper
( )
Free time
( )
4
Bed time
( )
Questions to complete; include page references wherever you refer to the text:
For the first group of questions, specific answers are required. These answers should be as specific as possible and
include page references. You don’t have to answer in complete sentences.
The second group of questions asks you to consider big ideas in the book. You may refer to the text but you do not
have to. If you do refer to the text, include a page reference. Write a paragraph of 100 or fewer words for the
thought questions.
Bring the completed assignment with you to class the first day of school. Please print and use the worksheet below.
Specific questions:
1. Describe the narrator, the setting, and the tone of the novel.
2. Ivan spends a lot of his time surviving. What are some specific things he does to survive?
3. In order to survive, Ivan suggests that one has to break the rules. What are a few rules he breaks?
4. What does the book have to say about government and bureaucracy?
5
5. What evidences of censorship does the story touch on?
6. Describe two kinds of relationships Ivan has with his squad members and with the various authorities in his life.
(Two people with whom Ivan relates the same way does not equal two KINDS of relationships.)
Thought questions:
What does the book have to say about the human spirit?
6
What does the book have to say about God? What does Ivan think about God? How does Ivan’s attitude toward God
contrast with Alosha’s?
Do circumstances build and shape a person’s character or do they reveal a person’s character? What evidence from the
novel makes you say this?
See next page for HELPFUL BOOKMARK!
7
Characters
Eisenstein – Soviet film director who won the Stalin
Prize; internationally respected by pressed to conform
to socialist realism at home
Ivan Denisovich Shukov – the main character, from
whose point of view the unnamed narrator tells story
Gopchik – youngest member of the 104th; from the
Ukraine
The 104th – the number if Ivan’s squad
Zavadsky – Russian actor, director
Tiurin – the squad leader – called Andrei Prokofievich
(39)
The Limper – mess orderly
BOOKMARK
Mess Chief
Pavlo – deputy squad leader
Alyosha – the Baptist
Buinovsky – the naval captain, often just called the
captain
Fetiukov – one of Ivan’s squad members; in the lowest
rank in the squad; called a jackal (29)
Tsezar Markovich – member of the 104th; gets
generous care packages
U81- a prisoner from another squad; imprisoned
continually but still resistant to the humiliation of
camp life
Vocabulary
Zek - prisoner
Kolkhoz – kind of collective farm
Lieutenant Volkovoi – the security chief
Rubles – money, like dollars
Kilgas – squad member; a Lett (Latvian)
Steppe – grassland; plain
Der – a prisoner who has the job of foreman at the
work site; cruel to the workers
Magara – grass; a substitute for oatmeal
Estonians – brothers from Estonia, part of the Soviet
Union; one is named Eino (84)
Senka Klevshin – deaf prisoner in the 104th
Vanya (52) – nickname for Ivan; Ivan means John in
English and Johann also means John
Kulak – peasant who made enough money to hire
workers and lease his own land
Stakhanovite – complimentary name for workers who
produced more than expected
Valenki – felt boots
Muscovite – one from Moscow
Ust-Izhma – Ivan’s former labor camp
8