By Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) A Study Guide | ||
Study Guide Compiled by Michael J. Cummings.© 2009 .......Alexander Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is short novel centering on one prisoner's experiences during a single day in a Soviet labor camp identified as HQ. The author of the novel, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, based it on his own experiences in a labor camp at Ekibastuz, a town in the northeastern region of present-day Kazakhstan, which was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. (See Setting for a description of this camp.) The story first appeared in a Soviet journal, Novy Mir (New World), in November 1962 and in book form in 1963. In 1970, Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in literature in recognition of his literary achievements. .......The action takes place on a single day in January 1951 at a prison camp in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union. This fictional camp represents an actual one to which authorities transferred Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1950. That camp was at Ekibastuz, a town in the northeastern region of present-day Kazakhstan, which was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Here is a description of this camp: It was located in the middle of the arid Kazakh plain, dusty and stifling hot in summer, in winter buffeted by snow, ice, and winds of shocking force for weeks at a time. The camp, with its double rows of barbed wire fencing, perimeter ploughed strip, machine gun coverage of every conceivable area, its use of floodlights the entire night, was emblematic of the Gulag as it has become known to us. It is the model for the camp depicted in Solzhenitsyn's most widely read work, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.Historical Background .......The
Soviet Union established the first of its forced-labor camps in 1918. Joseph
Stalin (1879-1953), the leader of the Soviet Communist Party from 1922
to 1953, began increasing the number of camps in the late 1920s to (1)
incarcerate and punish accused political dissidents, criminals, saboteurs,
prisoners of war, and traitors and (2) provide the massive labor force
required to improve the Soviet infrastructure and industrialize the nation.
In 1930, the Soviet secret police took control of the labor-camp I was arrested on the grounds of what the censorship had found during the years 1944-45 in my correspondence with a school friend [N.D. Vitkevich] mainly because of certain disrespectful remarks about Stalin, although we referred to him in disguised terms. As a further basis for the "charge", there were used the drafts of stories and reflections which had been found in my map case. These, however, were not sufficient for a "prosecution", and in July 1945 I was "sentenced" in my absence, in accordance with a procedure then frequently applied, after a resolution by the OSO (the Special Committee of the NKVD), to eight years in a detention camp (at that time this was considered a mild sentence). (Nobelprize.org).......Solzhenitsyn served the first four years of his sentence in various camps and in confinement at research institutes that used his skill in mathematics. In 1950, Soviet authorities transferred him to a labor camp for political prisoners at Ekibastuz in Kazakhstan. There he mined coal, laid bricks, and worked in a foundry. After completing his sentence, the Soviets exiled him to a region in Kazakhstan. There he taught school from 1953 to 1956, when he gained his release. After living and teaching in the Vladimir oblast (province) east of Moscow, he relocated to the city of Ryazan, about 120 miles southeast of Moscow. .......In 1957 he began writing of his experiences in the Soviet detention system. The result was One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The Soviet premier at the time was Nikita Krushchev, who was engaged in a campaign to condemn the tyranny of Joseph Stalin. As a result, Solzhenitsyn's novel earned a favorable review from Soviet censors. It was published in 1962 and became a bestseller. .......A
narrator tells the story in third-person point of view from the perspective
of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. The narrator not only sees what Ivan sees but
also knows what he is thinking. The narrator is, of course, the voice of
the author, Solzhenitsyn, who is presenting a fictionalized account based
on his own experiences in a Soviet labor camp.
Protagonist:
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov
![]() Based on Gillon Aitken's Translation of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971) By
Michael J. Cummings.©
2009
![]() .......Solzhenitsyn presents the novel in episodes, one leading into the next, without chapters or section divisions. However, there are scenery shifts and time divisions. The scenes take place inside Hut 9 on the grounds of the fenced-in camp, inside the camp mess hall, inside the infirmary, inside the rooms of warders and guards, on the grounds outside the camp, inside the power plant, inside the parcels office, and inside Hut 7. The time divisions are as follows: Part 1: reveille, head counts, searches, breakfast, and work assignments; Part 2: the workday, with a lunch break; and Part 3: cessation of work, head counts, searches, supper, and various activities preceding lights out.
Themes Inhumanity of the Soviet Gulag .......The central theme of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is the inhumanity of the Soviet Gulag. In Ivan's labor camp, the Gulag system uses men as workhorses in severe weather conditions to help build the Soviet infrastructure and bolster the economy. Yet Soviet overseers provide the men only meager food rations and woefully substandard housing. Cold, hunger, and disease dog the inmates. Rigid restrictions limiting contact with the outside world isolate them from their family and friends. Punishment for minor infractions imperils their well-being. Books are forbidden. Meanwhile, sadistic overseers like Volkovoi sometimes beat the prisoners for no reason at all, and guards rob men of their dignity by addressing them by their numbers—Ivan as S-854, for example, or the Moldavian as K-460. Injustice .......Ivan carried out his duty as a soldier, fighting the Germans and later escaping after they captured him. But when he rejoined the Soviet army, his superiors accused him of having become a spy for the Germans—a false charge. Although Ivan is a fictional character, he represents many real-life persons—including Solzhenitsyn—who suffered years of imprisonment even though they were innocent. Many of them died in prison. Survival .......The will to survive remains strong in Ivan despite the harsh conditions of everyday life in the prison camp. For example, to earn money or extra food, he performs services for other inmates—everything from keeping a place in a long line to making shoes and slippers with a handmade knife. As a member of Gang 104, he works hard to help the group earn enough points to merit extra bread at the end of the day. Unlike Captain Buinovsky, he avoids provoking warders and guards by protesting maltreatment. Instead, he cleverly finds ways to circumvent them altogether, as he does when assigned to scrub a floor. To maintain his psychological well being, he does not dwell inordinately on the injustice that landed him in prison. In addition, he accepts the fact that exile could follow his release from prison. Through all his trials, he never gives up and avoids indulging in self-pity. Trust vs Betrayal .......Ivan and many other members of Gang 104 trust one another and rely on one another to get by from day to day. Their leader, Tyurin, protects the members of the gang and, as Ivan observes, would never tattle on a member who failed to observe camp rules. However, there are informers, such as Pantaleyev, a Gang 104 member who apparently reports to authorities what he believes are suspicious activities or violations of rules. Surveillance .......The inmates are under almost constant surveillance and scrutiny. They are searched, counted, recounted, spied on, and observed from watchtowers. The camp is, in effect, a microcosm for the totalitarian Soviet state under Joseph Stalin. Waiting .......One of the most difficult tasks facing the prisoners is waiting. They wait in terrible cold to be counted or searched. They wait with empty stomachs for food to be served. They wait for packages from the outside. Most of all, they wait for the day far off when they will be released from prison. God's Presence .......The saintly Alyoshka prays whenever he has a spare moment. The fact that he occupies the same bunk as Ivan—their mattresses are parallel—suggests that God remains close to Ivan even though he lacks Alyoshka's fervidness. Although Ivan tells Alyoshka that he does not pray, he says a desperate prayer at the time of the evening body search, when a guard is on the verge of discovering the piece of hacksaw: "Oh, Lord, save me! Don't let me be put in the cells." A second later, another guard orders an end to the count. Group Dynamics .......The
Soviets group the inmates in gangs that work and live together. It is a
shrewd
and productive policy that motivates the members of the gangs to work hard
to uphold the reputation of their comrades and to earn extra bread rations.
![]() .......When Ivan lines up at the checkpoint upon his return from work at the power plant, he discovers that he had forgotten about the piece of hacksaw blade in his knee pocket. “If they caught him with that bit of blade and decided to classify it as a knife, he could get ten days in the cells," the narrator points out. The climax occurs in the next moment, when Ivan hides the blade in one of his mittens. He is holding the mittens in one hand while an elderly guard pats him down, checks his coat, then squeezes a mitten—the empty one. Here is the narrator's account: Shukhov [Ivan] felt as if his heart were being squeezed with it. One such squeeze on the other mitten, and he'd be in cells on 300 grams of bread a day and hot food once every three days. He imagined at that moment how enfeebled and hungry he would become and how difficult it would be to get back to his present condition of being neither starved nor properly fed.This lucky break is a significant moment in the novel. First, it maintains the morale boost Ivan derived from his hard work at the power station. Second, it keeps intact his contribution to Gang 104's record of accomplishment for the day, a record that earned Ivan and other gang members extra bread. Third, it enhances Ivan's chances for survival by allowing him to keep a tool that can make money for him and satisfy his need to feel useful. Fourth, it confirms for Ivan his ability to defy and deceive his overseers in order to insure his continued well-being. Fifth, it gives reason—through the prayer he utters: “Oh, Lord save me!"—for Ivan to hope that there is a God who will come to his aid at crucial moments Ivan's Spoon: Individuality,
personal accomplishment, ownership. Ivan had made the spoon himself from
aluminum wire. Because it is one of a kind, it represents his uniqueness
as a human being, as well as his ability to fend for himself. It also belongs
to him, not the camp or the Communist state.
.......The novel presents both external and internal conflicts. Among the external conflicts are these: prisoners vs overseers, prisoners vs the unjust Soviet system, prisoners vs prisoners, and prisoners vs the weather. Internal conflicts—those inside a person—include various prisoners' inability to conquer weaknesses that make it difficult for them to survive. .......In the scene in the office at the power station, Solzhenitsyn obliquely condemns Stalinism when the elderly prisoner, X-123, sharply criticizes film director Sergei Eisenstein for his glorious depiction of the title character in his motion picture Ivan the Terrible. Czar Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584) had instituted government reforms early in his reign. But later his rule became a reign of terror in which he seized land, enslaved peasants, exiled members of his Chosen Council, ordered the murders of the head of the Orthodox church and a prince chosen as a possible successor, and massacred citizens who were acquaintances of his suspected enemies. He even killed his own son after he defended his wife against Ivan's charge that she had dressed immodestly.
Study Questions and Essay Topics 1....Besides
Ivan, who is the most admirable character in the novel? Who is the least
admirable? Explain your answers.
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