One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich The auth

During a quarter of a century, the vast concentration camp system created by Stalin affected directly or indirectly almost all Soviet citizens. There was hardly any family that did not have a brother, son, husband, or some other relative in the camps. The simple narrative simplicity of this work creates an eerie impression of other-worldly horror and revulsion through the mere telling of conversations, happenings, and thoughts of Shukov (xiii).

For years, this aspect of Russian life was cloaked in secrecy. Solzhenitsyn's novel was the first to lay bare the details of inhumanity in the shameful institution of concentration camp tyranny. Solzhenitsyn shows that the prisons were a microcosm of the Russian society as a whole, not an isolated feature of an otherwise civilized society. He draws parallels between life inside the camp and life outside t

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extra provisions. By the time several layers of the prison bureaucracy had taken their "share" of the goodies as it passed down to him, there was virtually nothing left for him anyway. He does not think much about his family. Quick decisions mark this man's psychology, always relying upon himself and his detailed knowledge of others' characters. He almost never judges people, even the most brutal or using of the bosses and fellow inmates, but merely objectively notes what they do on that particular day and if it is in keeping with past observed behavior. He freely uses people for what they can give him--tobacco, assistance, or extra food--and openly allows himself to be used in an interesting system of exchange of favors. He derives deep satisfaction from cooperation with others and the physical satisfactions of bodily warmth, food in his stomach, and tobacco in his lungs. There is almost no money in the camp. Money sent to prisoners is placed in an account with everybody in the various layers of prison administration taking a portion, as in the distribution of packaged goods sent from home. Shukov asked his wife not to send money because nothing is left by the time it gets to him. The economy is based on goods, basica
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Approximate Word count = 1631
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)