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Hope In Solzhenitsyn

’s “One Day In The.. Essay, Research Paper


The Theme of Hope in One Day in the


life of Ivan Denisovich


In Alexander Solzhenitsyn?s novel One day in the life of


Ivan Denisovich, the strong themes of hope and perseverance are


undercut by the realization that for Ivan there is little or no


purpose in life. This is not to say that the themes of hope and


perseverance do not exist in the novel. There are numerous


instances in the novel where Shukhov is filled with hope.


However, these moments of hope amidst the banal narrative of the


novel raise the interesting question: Are these moments of hope


pointless? The answer to this question may lie more in the


individual human nature of the reader than in Solzhenitsyn?s


literary technique. Whether pointless or not, Solzhenitsyn


offers many instances in the novel where the themes of hope and


perseverance are evident. The glimpses of hope which Ivan


Denisovich sees includes the few moments after reveille that the


prisoners have to themselves, respecting his fellow prisoners,


taking pride in a job well done, and enjoying simple food and


tobacco.


Solzhenitsyn wrote One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in


such a fashion that the brutality of the Soviet labor camps is


not emphasized. Instead of focusing on the brutality of the


camps, Solzhenitsyn focused on one day in the life of a very


ordinary prisoner. However, the fact that Ivan Denisovich


Shukhov is such an ordinary man and is still able to find hope in


the most menial of tasks is inspiring. Joseph Frank states that


?Solzhenitsyn?s fundamental theme is precisely the affirmation of


character, the ability to survive in a nightmare world where


moral character is the only safeguard of human dignity and the


very conception of humanity itself is something precious and


valuable? (3302). Much of the Soviet leadership despised


Solzhenitsyn because he instilled within the Soviet people much


of the same hope that is visible in Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.


Solzhenitsyn gave people hope:


Solzhenitsyn?s literary mission, the process of giving


voice to the tens of millions of victims of Soviet


terror, went on secretly, even collectively. Much of


Gulag was based on the hundreds of letters and memoirs


that former prisoners mailed to Solzhenitsyn after One


Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published.


Andropov had an intuitive sense that this new work


could do as much, in its way, to undermine Soviet power


as all the nuclear arsenals in the West. (Remnick 118)


Solzhenitsyn uses the every-day occurrences of Ivan Denisovich


Shukhov?s life to accentuate this point about humanity.


Shukhov?s day began with reveille. ?Shukhov never slept through


reveille but always got up at once. That gave him about an hour


and a half to himself before the morning roll call? (Solzhenitsyn


1). This short amount of time at the beginning of the day was


precious because it was the only time during the day, except for


a few minutes in the evening, that the prisoners had to


themselves. This short amount of time provided hope for the


prisoners in a number of ways. It was ?a time when anyone who


knew what was what in the camps could always scrounge a little


something on the side? (Solzhenitsyn 2). For Ivan Denisovich


Shukhov this meant doing anything from sewing someone a cover for


his mittens out of a piece of old lining to bringing one of the


big gang bosses his dry felt boots while he was still in his


bunk. Tasks like these, done for his own personal satisfaction


rather than the satisfaction of the gang bosses gave Shukhov hope


and reinforced his own personal self worth. On the one day which


Solzhenitsyn presents, however, Ivan Denisovich does not get out


of his bunk at reveille. ?He?d been feeling lousy since the


night before–with aches and pains and the shivers, and he just


couldn?t manage to keep warm that night. All the time he dreaded


the morning? (Solzhenitsyn 3). Is Solzhenitsyn foreshadowing


that because Shukhov did not get out of his bed at reveille, as


usual, this will not be an average day in his life in the labor


camps? In fact, exactly the opposite is the case. Solzhenitsyn


is attempting to express that this could be one day in the life


of any average prisoner in the Gulag. Clive states that ?Ivan


Denisovich is the Everyman of the Soviet prison system? (143).


An average prisoner would not wake up every morning of his


sentence feeling inspired and hopeful. Although Solzhenitsyn


later depicts Ivan as hopeful and inspired, it would have been


misleading to the themes of the novel if he had made Ivan hopeful


and inspired all of the time. While still lying in bed after


reveille Shukhov decided that he ?would try to get himself on the


sick list so he could have the day off. There was no harm in


trying. His whole body was one big ache? (Solzhenitsyn 4). This


attempt to get out of working for the day proved to be futile.


In addition, if Shukhov had managed to get on the sick list and


stay in bed all day it would not have been an accurate depiction


of one day in the life of an ordinary prisoner. In


Solzhenitsyn?s depiction of this ordinary day he manages to show


what could be the worst morning possible for a prisoner. Ivan


does not get on the sick list and he is dragged out of bed to


complete the menial task of mopping a floor simply because he


failed to get up at reveille. While he is moping the floor,


despite his aches and pains and the freezing cold, Shukhov is


able to ponder a hopeful philosophy: ?There?s work and work.


It?s like the two ends of a stick. If you?re working for human


beings, then do a real job of it, but if you work for dopes, then


you just go through the motions. Otherwise they?d all have


kicked the bucket long ago? (Solzhenitsyn 14). The glimmers of


hope in this morning are so vibrant that after the publication of


the novel ?Solzhenitsyn was informed by thousands of letters from


former prisoners, the integrity of his peasant hero had returned


to them the conviction of their own human worth? (Kelly 3311).


This morning, like the other three thousand six hundred and


fifty-three mornings which Ivan Denisovich Shukhov had spent in


the camp, was not perfect but instead held glimmers of hope for


the future and for the day to come.


The bulk of Solzhenitsyn?s novel takes place outside the


camp at a work area where Shukhov and his gang, gang 104, are


building a power plant. It is during this period of work that


Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is the most inspired and the most


hopeful. Even at the very outset of the workday Shukhov and the


men of gang 104 were hopeful. ?Though they had been sitting down


for barely twenty minutes, and the workday–a short winter


one–went on only till six, they all thought this had been


wonderful luck, and the evening didn?t seem far off now?


(Solzhenitsyn 57). The positive attitudes of these men is


astounding. Shukhov and another prisoner, Kilgas, were first


assigned to find any kind of material which would be sufficient


to cover the large windows of the power plant which gang 104 was


building. Both men were enthusiastic about their task because


not only was it physical it was also mentally demanding. They


had to use the miniscule resourses they had to get the job done.


Perseverance over the cold was also very important to


successfully completing, or starting, a job. Before Shukhov and


Kilgas went in search of roofing felt to cover the windows of the


power plant, Shukhov made sure he had the perseverance to begin


the days work. He thought to himself, ?never mind how hard it


was to begin the workday in such freezing cold, the thing was to


get over the beginning–that was the important part?


(Solzhenitsyn 60). After setting himself in the right frame of


mind Ivan Denisovich Shukhov had to do one more thing before he


would go off with Kilgas in search of the roofing felt. He


needed to find his special trowel. Shukhov knew that after he


and Kilgas had covered the windows of the power plant it would be


their job to lay bricks. For Shukhov, his special trowel was


both a symbol of joy and hope. Shukhov was a skilled man. A


?lack of skilled labor in the ca

mps? made any man with any skill


whatsoever a commodity (Wilson 270). When he had been free he


had been a carpenter. Therefore, he knew which tools he would


work with best. Also, by hiding his special trowel every night,


Shukhov was able to have something which was completely his. In


the camps, ownership of anything was a rare and special


occurrence. Shukhov ?rolled away a small stone and stuck his


fingers in a crack. There it was! He pulled it out?


(Solzhenitsyn 61). Such hope and joy from a tool is


incomprehensible to the modern reader.


It is not only tools from which Ivan Denisovich is able to


find hope but people as well. Once inside the power plant, a


young prisoner named Gopchik comes to Ivan Denisovich and asks


him if he will teach him how to make a spoon out of aluminum


wire. Ivan then reflects upon his feelings for Gopchick and


comes to some realizations about humanity:


Ivan Denisovich liked this little rascal Gopchik (his


own son had died young, and he had two grownup


daughters at home). Gopchik had been arrested for


taking milk to Bendera partisans in the woods. They


gave him the same sentence a grownup got. He was


friendly, like a little calf, and tried to please


everybody. But he could be sly too. He ate the stuff


in the packages he got, all by himself, at night. But


come to think of it, why should he feed everybody?


(Solzhenitsyn 69)


Shukhov does not get any food from this young boys packages and


he doesn?t feel any animosity although he is constantly starving


himself. Ivan Denisovich respects this young boy and possibly


even lives vicariously through his youthfulness. The fact that


Ivan Denisovich respects this young boy is remarkable in the


harsh conditions of the camp. Shukhov respects others because he


respects himself. Terras states that ?Ivan Denisovich is a


survivor, not because he will steal from or inform on his fellow


prisoners, but because he has retained his self-respect and human


dignity? (592). Shukhov also has a great deal of sympathy for


Senka Klevshin. According to all accounts Senka had really been


through the mill. Most of the time he didn?t talk. He couldn?t


hear what people were saying and usually kept his mouth shut.


Therefore, the other prisoners did not know much about him. All


they knew was that he had been in Buchenwald and was in the camp


underground there. He had smuggled arms in for an uprising.


Then the Germans hung him up with his arms tied behind his back


and beat him. Shukhov is always kind to Senka Klevshin. He


explains things to him when he can not hear and is generally


helpful. Almost all of the prisoners displayed this kind of


humanitarianism when it came to helping Senka because they all


knew that someday they might be in the same situation. Levitzky


reiterates this point concerning humanitarianism by stating that


Shukhov?s ?soul is radiated by his belief in humanity, by the


ease with which he establishes human contacts? (3300).


The most hopeful part of the entire day for Ivan Denisovich


was during the period of hard labor when he worked laying a brick


wall with Kilgas in the power plant. Ivan Denisovich ?does an


honest day?s work on his work detail, because that is the only


way he knows how to work? (Terras 592). Shukhov took pride in


his work and did not take kindly to those who did not. Of the


brick wall Shukhov said that ?he didn?t know the man who?d worked


on it in his place before. But that guy sure didn?t know his


job. He?d messed it up? (Solzhenitsyn 107). It was moments like


these that Ivan Denisovich lived for. To make a wall out of


brick and mortar was the closest thing to art that anyone in the


camps would ever create. Art gives people hope. The


construction of the brick wall gave Shukhov hope. He took pride


in the wall; he ?was now getting used to the wall like it was his


own? (Solzhenitsyn 107). Even after the work day was finished


Shukhov still kept working. He took tremendous pride in his


work. ?He was pleased. Not bad, eh, for one afternoon?s work?


(Solzhenitsyn 123) Not only did Shukhov take pride in his own


work but others took pride in what he was capable of as well.


This was inspirational for Ivan Denisovich. The boss of gang 104


asked, ?what the hell are we going to do without you when you?ve


served your time? We?ll all be crying our hearts out for you?


(Solzhenitsyn 123). By portraying this one day in the live of


Ivan Denisovich in such a positive light, Solzhenitsyn is


allegorically and symbolically representing the Soviet system.


Luellen Lucid states:


the novel?s portrayal of one good day in the life of a


typical prisoner constitutes a reversal of socialist


realism, which Solzhenitsyn underscores stylistically


by referring to the prisoners familiarly through the


consciousness of Ivan Denisovich while regarding the


prison personnel and government officials impersonally


as they. (3304)


Therefore, Solzhenitsyn?s use of style is also responsible for


accentuating the theme of hope in the novel.


Food also gave Ivan Denisovich Shukhov hope. Time in the


camp was not measured by days or hours or minutes but by meals.


To Shukhov the time between meals could seem an eternity if there


was nothing else to occupy his mind. Shukhov had come to the


realization that to enjoy the time he had eating his food he had


to concentrate on nothing else but the food. ?He had to give all


his time to eating. He had to scrape the stuff out from the


bottom, put it carefully in his mouth, and roll it around with


his tongue? (Solzhenitsyn 88). Shukhov would do favors for


others with the small chance of getting a food reward. When the


gang returned from their work detail, Shukhov saved a place in


line for the captain so that he would be able to take his time


reading the list to see if he even had a package. If there was


no package then Shukhov would get no other thanks than a simple


?thank you.? However, on this one day Shukhov?s humanitarianism


paid off once again and the captain rewarded Shukhov by giving


him his meal. Situations like these gave Ivan Denisovich Shukhov


a great deal of hope. Apart from the hopefulness of Ivan


Denisovich and his good-natured, peasant cunning, ?we feel in him


a man of goodwill whose spirit is not filled with bitterness,


despite the crying injustice of his punishment and despite, too,


the inhuman conditions of life in the so-called corrective labor


camp? (Levitzky 3300). Often, after eating, Shukhov would find


hope and comfort in smoking a cigarette. This, however, was not


an easy task. Tobacco was a very rare and precious commodity in


the camps. While gang 104 was working at the power plant Shukhov


had had the desire to smoke and had borrowed just enough tobacco


from a generous Estonian. Later in the day, after Shukhov had


saved the captains place in line and had eaten his dinner and the


captains portion as well, he went and spent two precious rubles


on a small amount of tobacco. Shukhov?s generosity,


humanitarianism and hope is displayed when ?he pulled out his


pouch. He took out as much tobacco as he?d borrowed earlier that


day, reached it over to the Estonian in the top bunk across from


him, and said ?Thanks?? (Solzhenitysn 183). The fact that so


much pleasure and joy is derived from food and tobacco makes Ivan


Denisovich Shukhov a very hopeful character.


Solzhenitsyn presents the reader with an average day in the


life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. A day remarkably similar to the


other three thousand six hundred and fifty-three days which


Shukhov has spent in the forced labor camp. This day was filled


with small glimpses of hope. Are these glimpses of hope


pointless due to the fact that if Shukhov does serve his ten


years the camp will simply add another ten or maybe twenty-five


years to his sentence? No, of course that is not the case.


Whether, Shukhov spends the rest of his life in that camp or not,


he has found a way to find pleasure and hope in the most brutal


and difficult of situations. Therefore, the theme of hope in One


Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is not undercut by the fact


that Shukhov?s very existence may be meaningless.

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