LITERARY ANALYSIS#2

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

BY: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

SETTING:

            The setting for this story is a prisoner camp in Soviet Russia during the reign of Stalin. There are harsh, freezing conditions where the prisoners are forced to perform back-breaking labor everyday. There are old, run-down bunkers called “Gangs” where the prisoners inhabit to keep shelter from the snow and skin-piercing winds. There is injustice by the own security guards and unjust laws made especially for the prisoners to be tortured. There is a Power Plant where all the prisoners are forced to work, where temperatures are below freezing, and where the food is basically what you give pigs to eat.

MAIN CHARACTER:

            Shukhov, the title prisoner of the novel, is a poor and uneducated man. As such, he is an unusual protagonist in Russian literature. He is not an aristocrat, like most of the heroes of nineteenth-century Russian novels. He is also not a brilliant intellectual or impassioned sufferer. He is amazed by men such as Tsezar who have lived in Moscow, which to Shukhov is an exotic, faraway land. Nor is he a gifted or sensitive emotional soul: he shows almost no affection for his long-forgotten wife and daughters, no romantic nostalgia for his lost home, and no dreams of a better life elsewhere. Shukhov is an ordinary Russian, as implied by his name. “Ivan” is one of the most common names in the Russian language, like the English “John.” His intensity in living, eating, and working puts him in control of his world. In a way, although he is a slave, he is still the king of his little area of the world. He is not an aristocrat by blood, but inwardly he is proud, supreme, and untouchable.

SECONDARY CHARACTERS:

            Tyurin, a foreman at the labor camp, is tough and heroic. Shukhov notes that Tyurin does not even squint when the fierce icy Siberian wind blows straight into his face. At the beginning of the novel, Tyurin is a distant and terrifying authority figure, associated with the dread of punishment. Tyurin’s character shows the camp’s lack of justice since, like everyone else in the camp, he has been thrown into prison without deserving this fate. Tsezar is a well-to-do, cultured prisoner who strikes awe in Shukhov and who represents worldliness and abundance. His regular parcels of lush food items grant him special privileges in the camp that make his fellow prisoners envious. A sniveler and incorrigible beggar, the prisoner Fetyukov is the opposite of the dignified and self-reliant Shukhov. While Shukhov earns extra bread by breaking his back at the Power Station work site, Fetyukov gets extra bread by playing on others’ pity.

CONFLICT:

            The protagonist, Shukhov, and his fellow inmates battle the unjust Soviet camp system and the cruelty of some of its officers. Shukhov experiences an inner conflict between an appreciation of material goods and a respect for spiritual well-being. The menace of punishment in the hole for his belated morning rise, ferocious guards, and the dread of another day of work with aching muscles and a fever threaten Shukhov’s physical and mental well-being.

THEME:

            An important theme in this story is the outrage of unjust punishments. An important aspect of the Stalinist work camp that the novel describes is that the inmates have been convicted of activities that do not seem criminal to us. Gopchik took milk to freedom fighters hiding in the woods; Shukhov was captured by Germans and then accused by the Russians of being a spy; Tyurin was the son of a rich peasant father. The laws and punishment within the labor camp are as unjust as those outside the camp. Shukhov gets into trouble and is threatened with three days in the hole not for any active wrongdoing but simply for being ill. Similarly, Buynovsky receives ten days in the hole for trying to bundle up against the cold with a flannel vest. Neither Shukhov’s illness nor Buynovsky’s attempt to stay warm harm anyone, but the camp treats both as deep violations of the law, worthy of severe punishment. Such harsh retribution for such small offenses is absurd, and the heaping of more punishment upon men already locked into long, hard prison sentences seems like nothing more than a cruel exercising of power by Soviet officials.