One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Analysis

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One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, was written within the time of Stalinism, and thus within the era of the Soviet Union’s gulag system. Therefore, Solzhenitsyn presents the lifestyle that a person may have experienced if they had been a part of the gulag system where dehumanization was the ultimate goal. The conservation of dignity, whether individual or communal, presents itself through the interactions within the community, the work on the compound, and the spiritual discipline of Ivan Denisovich. The accumulation of the above strategies warrants Ivan to not only retain his humanity but also to aid in the protection of human dignity of those around him. There is evidence that contributes to the protection …show more content…

Although there is no choice given, Ivan is constantly in rigorous deprivation, especially in terms of the meals he was administered. The meals are described to have “no taste and it didn’t fill you,” (13) but even given this, Ivan explains that “You had to eat with all your mind on the food like now nibbling the bread bit by bit, working the crumbs up into a paste with your tongue and sucking it into your cheeks. And how good it tasted that soggy black bread” (39). Even this simple fact lends to the idea of discipline because, despite the fact that he is starving, Ivan takes the time to savor every bite, almost religiously. Also, bread is savored more so than anything else as “He always brought this much with him to work and never touched it before the meal break” (38) and when he did eat it “he (takes) the bread in a piece of white cloth and cradled it behind the flap of his coat not to lose a single crumb” then he slowly eats it by “nibbling at it” (39). Moreover, Ivan says that “he didn’t leave anything (…) he ate the eyes too when they were still in place, but when they’d come off and were floating around in the bowl on their own he didn’t eat them” (13). This shows that even as he starves, he, again, will not abandon his morals no matter how strange they may

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