Despite the sub-human conditions, the starvation, cold and back-breaking work, Solzhenitsyn’s biggest lesson is about how the survivors pulled through due to the ‘small victories’ against the brutal regime they were under. His method allows the reader to glean information without departing from the main story. They all have a back story of sorts that Solzhenitsyn allows to filter through the narrative in indirect ways.
As a character, Ivan is quick-witted and lucky to be a mason which gives him some kudos in his circle.ĭespite being quite a short read, most of the characters are well-formed. Those without practical skills were often considered the bottom of the barrel. You had to be useful, you had to somehow ‘indebt’ yourself to others, be indispensable in a way. I especially liked the details of prisoner politics and how the hierarchical system worked among convicts as well as guards. Therefore the parallels between him and Shukov are many. In many ways, this is a thinly veiled autobiographical work, as Solzhenitsyn himself spent eight years in a Soviet camp for writing derogatory statements against Stalin. In order to get by, palms have to be ‘greased’ and favours done, and this account reads like a ‘how to’ guide on the finer points of deceiving the regime by the skin of your teeth. The true enemy of a ‘zek’ is the tell-tale convict, the bitter cold and a three-day sentence in the cell if you are caught smuggling more than your share of thin, cold gruel. We learn that one good turn for an inmate has its’ profits and that the phrase ‘no man is an island’ is not just a proverb, but a lifesaver. In these twenty-four hours we learn about the hardships of camp life and the complex relationships between the guards and the ‘zeks’. Those who do not close off their souls, those who show their spark and their fight are the first to die.įrom the first clang of the rail for reveille to the last clang at night, Ivan treads the fine path between obedience and rebellion of pushing the limits and tempting fate.
On the outside he is as inert and passive as can be, because it’s the only way to survive. Having already spent seven out of his ten-year mandatory sentence at the camp he has, like others, been reduced to a feral, instinctive state of mind. Meet Ivan Denisovich Shukov, better known as S854. Solzhenitsyn tells it like it is in this gruelling account of survival in a Siberian labour camp, where having to work outside in -21 degrees is considered nothing. D’you know who are the ones the camps finish off first? Those who lick other men’s left-overs, those who set store by the doctors, and those who peach on their mates.”Įver wondered what life was like in a Soviet gulag? Then you’ve come to the right place. “Here lads, we live by the law of the taiga. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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