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One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Essay

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One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Essay
How does the characterization of the prisoners within gang 104 in "One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" depict the Soviet Union's communist society and views?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is one of the most prominent authors of Russian society. He was a soldier serving as the commander of a battery for the Red Army during the Second World War, and one of Russia’s most crucial critics of the Soviet Union's totalitarian regime. The intricately designed characterization in his masterpiece “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, which was published in November 1962, depicts the flaws of the society he lived in, with everyone being “equal”. As the novel unfolds, the reader is exposed to one day of the life of Ivan, a prisoner, and his gang within the labour camp. Aleksandr was once a prisoner of the Soviet Union himself, being arrested for writing a letter containing derogatory comments regarding …show more content…
Shukhov likes to feel as though he is an integral part of the camp. This desired feeling acts as a microcosm for society’s need of individualism and the yearning for importance. Shukhov also demonstrates this with the quote of: “His mind and his eyes were studying the wall, the façade of the Power Station, two cinder blocks thick, as it showed from under the ice. Whoever had been lying there before was either a bungler or a slacker. Shukhov would get to know every inch of that wall as if he owned it.” Shukhov notices the tiniest of minutiae, with these things giving him hope and meaning to live as a human being. Small actions and decisions such as these results hope being instilled in the commoner, and the will to survive within the harsh conditions of the camps. This symbolizes how restrictive the Soviet Union is towards its people, reducing the society to bits and pieces while the sole construct left to the people is
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