Before I begin- I would like to say that everything I say here has been discussed in a real university- so it isn't just me trying to figure things out (although that may happen).Work was like a stick. It had two ends. When you worked for the knowing you gave them quality' wen you worked for a fool you simply gave him eyewash. Otherwise, everybody would have croaked long ago. They all knew that."
"How can you expect a man who's warm to understand a man who's cold? "
"But the years, they never rolled by; they never moved by a second."
"Who's the zek's main enemy? Another zeik. If only they weren't at odds with one another--ah, what a difference that'd make!"
"The belly is a demon. It doesn't remember how well you treated it yesterday; it'll only cry out for more tomorrow."
"And then it became clear that men like him wouldn't ever be allowed to return home, that they'd be exiled."
"A day without a dark cloud. Almost a happy day."
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Ivan is a special character in the book due to the fact that he is the only that one preserves his humanity. Although the circumstances would make a human being go into survival mode, and therefore turning him into a sort of animal- he still preserves himself. One can see this through the way he removes his cap before eating instead of giving into the hunger and pouncing upon the food. He is capable of disciplining himself, even something as insignificant as a slight hesitation before eating. That is a tremendous master of one's animalistic desires. In a world where sucking up to someone will get you far, Ivan still preserves his dignity and yet manages to show respect to his "superiors" and even inferiors (such as offering a cigarette to someone lower in rank than him).
The name itself is very significant, because it symbolizes the peasant "simple" man. In Russian folk tales, although simpleminded Ivan always manages to be clever in the end, and trick the rest of the system. To "pull wool over the eyes of authority" so to speak. Ivan is an icon representing traditional Russian values such as honesty and restraint even when all is chaos.
So a breakdown of the "collective family" represented in the book. Because Solzhenitsyn uses the camp life to represent the the Soviet system, each character represents a certain aspect of the said society. We have each aspect of society coming from the religious, the intellectual and the Soviet socialist.
Tiurin is the squad leader- he has to do all the paperwork- referring to the bureaucracy of the system- no matter what work gets done, the paper has to meet a certain standard. In the end- the document is more important than what realistically took place. This is also referenced when the "decree" that changed nature itself.
"The sun's already reached its peak," he [Shukhov] announced.
"If it's reached its peak," said the captain reflectively, "it's one o'clock, not noon."
"What do you mean?" Shukhov demurred. "Every old-timer knows that the sun stands highest at dinner-time."
"Old-timers, maybe," snapped the captain."but since their day a new decree has been passed, and now the sun stands highest at one."
"Who passed the decree?"
"Soviet power."
This relates to the same ideology that got Ivan put into prison too. The only reason why he was imprisoned was because he signed a document that approved a lie. The ironic thing being that everyone knew it was a lie, including himself, and yet he had to sign it. A document could change reality.
Fetiukov is an example of what one can become if one loses all one's humanity. Figuring that he can get ahead, he loses all sense of morality and gives in to all instincts the system calls for. Such as spying. In his previous life, he was a boss, one in position of power, this shows that people who were in authority cannot function when demoted to a lower level. This brings up the question- how did they get that position in the first place? And what does that say about the whole system?
The Captain- Ivan says about him that "He was a newcomer. He was unused to the hard life of the zeks. Though he didn't know it, moments like this were particularly important to him, for they were transforming him from an eager, confident naval officer with a ringing voice into an inert, though wary, zek. And only that inertness lay the chance of surviving the twenty-five years of imprisonment he'd been sentenced to." The system needed to crush him first, and turn him into a monotone being so he could survive. He needed to pace himself in order to survive. His fault was in thinking that there was hope in this system- that things will eventually work out. The trick was though, to accept the fact that things were actually never going to work out. Ivan on the other hand, did not give up but turned into a passive person. He lets things go and doesn't get worked up about almost anything except spying. Spying was in fact something that was encouraged by society (socially acceptable) but in the book we can see that Ivan cannot stand Fetiukov- therefore not being passive when it comes to morality.
The way passiveness connects to the audience of that time is tremendous. It is essentially asking- is this was you have become? Is this what it takes to survive in the Soviet system? Where has our dignity gone? Something that was seen to be accepted, the fact that one would spy on someone else for the state, seems to be criticized in the book. This brought a different viewpoint to the soviet citizen of that time. Sure, people had heard of prison camps- but what really went on there? The masterpiece of this book is that not only is it a prison camp, but a prison camp that reflects the society of that time. Paralleling it also to a prison. The fact that a prison camp reflects daily life is a direct criticism against the soviet system. That one is not as free as one thinks.
Another important detail of the book is the metaphor of the oatmeal. The way the oatmeal is lessed as it goes through the hierarchy of the system- starting at the head- and by the time it reaches the prisoner it is considerably lessened. This is very ironic because the oatmeal was in fact supposed to be for the prisoners to begin with, but doesn't turn out to be so. The head of the camp also needs food, and so does his helper, and his helper, and his helper...and so on. This leads to the conclusion that what portion do they really get from this "oatmeal" by the time it reaches the bottom of the hierarchy? This can be also said for the parcel Tsezar received.
"People imagine that hte package a man gets is a sort of nice, tight sack he has only to slit open and be happy. But if you work it out it's a matter of easy come, easy go. Shukhov had known cases when before his parcel arrived a fellow would be doing odd jobs to ear a bit of extra kasah, or cadging cigarette butts- just like anybody else. He has to share with the guard and the squad leader- and how can he help giving a little something to teh trusty in the parcels office? Why, next time the fellow may mislay your parcel and a week may go by before your name appears again on the list! And that other fellow at the place where you hand in your food to be kept for you, safe from friskers and pilferers- Tsezar will be there before the morning roll call, with everything in a sack- he must have his cut too, and a good one, if you don't want him little by little swiping more than you gave him. Sitting there all day, the rat, shut up with other people's food- try to keep an eye on him! And there must be something for services like Shukhov's. And something to the bath attendant for issuing you decent underwear- not much but something. And for the barber who shaves you "with paper" (for wiping the razon on- he usually does it on your knee). Not much to him either but, still, three or four butts. And at the C.E.D., for your letters to be kept separate and not get lost. And if you want to goof off a day or two and lie in bed, instead of going to work, you have to slip the doctor something. And what about the neighbor you share a locker with (The captain, in Tsezar's case)? He must have his cut. After all, he sees every blessed ounce you take. Who'd be nervy enough not to give him his share?"
A major theme of this book is WORK REDEEMS. The fact that Ivan is a peasant isn't just a coincidence. What does a peasant do? Does he contemplate and write books? No! He works! The only time that Ivan came into himself and became a man again was when he worked. That is what he knew, that is what he was comfortable with. No one could tell him how to work, because he just knew. Ivan got into a sort of trance-like rhythm when he was building the wall. "And now Shukhov was no longer seeing that distant view where sun gleamed on snow. He was no longer seeing the prisoners as they wandered from the warming-up places all over the site, some to hack away at the holes they hadn't finished that morning, some to fix the mesh reinforcement, some to put up beams in the workshops. Shukhov was seeing only his wall- from the junction to the left where the blocks rose in steps, higher than his waist, to the right to the corner where it met Kilgas's. He showed Senka where to remove ice and chopped at it energetically himself with the back and blade of his ax, so that the splinters of ice flew all about and into his face. He worked with drive, but his thoughts were elsewhere. His thoughts and his eyes were feeling their way under the ice to the wall itself, the outer facade of the power station, two blocks thick. At the spot he was working on, the wall had preciously been laid by some mason who was either incompetent or had stunk up the job. But now Shukhov tackled the wall as if it was his own handiwork."
He has a rhythm, he derives satisfaction and work takes over. And this is the only way, it seems, that he can escape this prison of his, through his own thoughts. Emphasizing his enjoyment and satisfaction is very Tolstoyan, that truth can be found only in work. This asks the audience to go back to the time that was, and return to the only thing that can be true.
If one thinks about it, this book could easily fit into the social realist model. Where the hero is simple but takes over and solves problems for the common good, concluding with an uplifting ending. The only difference is that the ending is not uplifting just because it fits into this model. The ending seems to be everlasting, as if this passiveness is eternal, and we have trapped ourselves in this prison forever. What have we done?- It seems to be asking. This one day seems like a lifetime, and yet it still is one day. Ending it with "Almost a happy day." (Because he managed to survive) There were three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days like that in his stretch. From the first clang of the rail to the last clang of the rail. Three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days. The three extra days were for leap years."
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Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Isaievich, Ralph Parker, Marvin L. Kalb, and Alexander Tvardovsky. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York: Signet Classic, 1963. Print.
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