Denisovich: Summary Essay, Research Paper
One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich: Summary
In the book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the main character Ivan and
the other prisoners in the camp are treated very badly. Ivan tries to make
himself warm and to get enough food to keep himself alive. He does only what is
necessary to please the guards and the commanders of the camp. Ivan uses his
intelligence to make his life easier so he can save up more energy to face the
work load. He and the members of the 104th group manage to survive because of
Ivan’s personal attention to himself and his care about the others. More
importantly, Ivan survives because his intelligence, his spirit, his deception
and careful teamwork.
Ivan has to be smarter than the guards in the camp, so, he will not get into
trouble and get treated even worse than he does. When Shukhov and Senka want to
transport the hacksaw-blade that Ivan found back at the camp, Shukhov removes
both mittens, one with the blade. He then unbuttons his coat and let the guards
search him. They search him side and back and his pocket, and one guard also
crushes the mitten that Ivan holds out which is the empty one. This was in the
book as,
He was about to pass him through when,
for safety’s sake, he crushed the mitten
that Shukhov held out to him – the empty one. (Solzhenitsyn, Pg. 107)
The smart move that he does is to place the empty mitten on top and take the
risk that the guard will only search the empty one. Shukhov was lucky. Another
example of having to be smarter is after they find the wood panels, they want to
carry them back to make the place where they work warmer. Shukhov knows that if
they carry it flatways, it will be easily noticed by others, so, they hold it
upright in between them and set off. If they are seen by the superintendent, for
instance, it will look as if there are three of them walking together. In this
way, they cheat the guards as well as the superintendent, because Ivan and the
others have use their intelligence.
Ivan mush has a strong spirit to survive in the camp, he uses his spirit to make
himself feel better in the camp, so, he can live happier and longer. He always
thinks about the future, which make an outcome for himself. Without an outcome a
person may become very sad and do not want to do anything, so he actually make
himself live longer. For example, “Freedom meant one thing to him – home”
(Solzhenitsyn, Pg.140). He is still thinking of home which he thinks that he
still have hope to get out of the camp. so he wants to save his own life and go
home in order to have freedom. Also, in his mind, work is not for money, but for
satisfaction. So, he does not think that work is boring and hard to do, he
thinks that they are chagelles.
Ivan is careful about what he does in the camp, therefore he does what is
appropriate to do in the camp. He does not take other person’s left overs to eat
even when he is extremely hungry. This reduce the chances of getting disease so
he may live longer. When Ivan is sick, he goes to the sick bay and he does not
hang around very often there, unless he is feeling really ill. The man in charge
of there will not think that he is just pretending. Also, Shukhov has made his
own spoon to use, so he does not have to use hands to eat. This again can redu
the chances of Ivan getting diseases. Therefore, Ivan can survive because of
what he does in the camp.
Ivan has to be deceptive in order not to be discovered by the guards and the
prisoners. When he sees a bit of a hacksaw blade on the ground, he thinks that
he has no immediate use for it, but he still keeps it and hides it in a cobbling
knife and perhaps trade it for bread. Furthermore, a good towel can make a man’s
work better, Ivan therefore have fools the person in charge of the tool-store
and get the best trowel. He hides it so that he can work a lot easier with that
good trowel. This was in the book as, “Shukhov had fooled the man in the tool-
store and pocketed the best-trowel; and now he kept it hidden in a different
place every evening” (Solzhenitsyn, Pg.48). Also, after work, the team wants to
get back to the mess hall faster than anyone else, and after they get there,
they will look for the bowl that have the thickest food in it. In this way, they
can have more food. Moreover, Ivan hides his food for later use. He hide his
food under his mattress so that he can eat it when he is hungry at night. So,
his deception makes his life a lot easier in the camp.
Ivan survives by strong teamwork, when he and the other zeks got a new project
given by the camp authorities. The team leader separate the work assignment so
that everyone does receive similar amount of jobs. They can work more
comfortably if they have only one task to perform. However, when they are sent
to build a wall at the power station, they decide to fix the stove to keep warm
while they are mixing the motar to build the wall. Therefore, they separate the
works as follows: Shukhov is put to fixing the stove-pipe; Kilgas is to repair
the mixing box with the two Estonians to help him, Senka has to chop long laths.
Moreover, when building the wall, they have to have good work report. The
captain of the team has to make up a very good work report, that sounds much
works has been done very efficiently, so that his team can have extra food. For
example, when they crowd the iron stove, the men hear the news the team-leader
has been successful in fixing the work-report. In fact, they really have not
done anything. They get good rations for five days. It is in the book as, “A
cleverly fixed work-report meant good ration for five days” (Solzhenitsyn,
Pg.72). Also, Ivan also help other members of the team on their work, when
Gopchik brought some Aluminium wire to Shukhov and ask Shukhov to teach him how
to make a spoon. Shukhov teaches him, so, both of them can have less chances of
getting the disease. This is in the book as “it’s good for making spoons. Teach
me how to cast them.” (Solzhenitsyn, Pg.53). By teamwork, they save up more
energy and get works done easily.
Ivan survives his life in the prison camp because of his personal attention to
things such as his food and his care about the others when he works as a team
member. He is also smarter than the guards and the other prisoners so that he
does not get into trouble easily. He is also deceptive in order to get better
food and tools to work with. He also has strong spirit to face the harsh life
because he know he will have freedom in two years. When Shukhov and the other
prisoners are treated badly at the camp, Shukhov is able to do better to keep
himself alive.