One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

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Stalinism V. Socialism: A Struggle One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a Russian novel that was published in 1962 after the death of Joseph Stalin. During the rule of Stalin, countless numbers of people were sent to the Gulag, or labor camp, to serve time for being anti-socialist. During Stalin’s reign, the public lived in fear and was oppressed regularly. The author of this novel, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, depicts the daily life of a prisoner in one of the Soviet imprisonment camps. This novel illustrates how a man struggles to keep his Socialist beliefs while under Stalinist tyranny. In the Gulag, horrible conditions were forced upon inmates. The main character, Ivan Denisovich or “Shukhov” as he is commonly referred to as, recalls one of the days where the winter cold was unbearable. That morning, a mildly ill Shukhov went to the infirmary to receive treatment for aches and pains he felt. Shukhov is denied any treatment because his fever isn’t high enough to get him out of work for the day. Denied treatment and still feeling ill, Shukhov gets ready to go out for the days work. Before they can work, the prisoners are forced to strip down, in forty-below zero weather, to be searched for any contraband items. Upon being searched, one of the inmates, Buynovsky, was wearing an extra layer of clothing. For his punishment, Buynovsky was sentenced to ten days in solitary confinement. “The hole,” as it was called, was a common punishment for minor infractions to the rules. This treatment is a clear indication of how life was under Stalinist rule. Mistreatment continued when it came time for meals. When it came time to eat, the inmates were only given one portion of what they considered oatmeal. However little the prisoners got, they still tried to stay civilized while they ate. “Next, he removed his cap from his shaven head—however cold it was, he wouldn’t let

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