The idea of "freedom through work" from “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

Introduction

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is the reflective novel on the life a Russian farmer and the prisoner, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It is a popular novel which deals with social protest in Russian history. It was a novel that portrays the life in a Russian prison camp in Siberia around the time of World War II. The detail of Solzhenitsyn's descriptions gives the reader a brilliant picture of camp life. This was a novel that defied Stalin's rule in Russia.

As the title states, we follow a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, who is in his eighth term of his ten-year sentence. He was arrested while serving the Russian army, and was wrongly accused of betraying his country in order to be a German spy. He confesses the crime, for he knows the latter would be death. He is the member of the 104th squad.

The Author

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, was the Russian novelist, who raised the global awareness through his suppressed writings. “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was one of his best known works and he was awarded noble price for it. His ultimate breakthrough in the field of writing was in 1959, when Alexander Solzhenitsyn's three weeks story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was published. His novel "One day of Ivan Denisovich" is a rather complex and crucial picture, which had to face lots of criticism throughout the time. We can distinguish two unequal parts of this book, which are the volume of literary creation and criticism of social and political views (the representatives of almost the entire social spectrum, in Russia and abroad) and sporadic discussion of certain "controversial" moments of his life.

The Review of Plot

The story of the novel revolves around, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, who had two personalities within him. One, he was a farmer and a veteran, and through the other side of the story, he was the spy and a state criminal, and ended up in one of Stalin's camps, like millions of Soviet people, innocent prisoners during the "personality cult" and mass repression.

The story narrated a reflective essay, in which Ivan Denisovich, a German, left his home after the break out of Nazi War. In the first part, of the story he elaborates his experiences during the war and how he managed to escape the prison from Germany. His careless attitude brought him to the prison of Soviet camp accused as a spy. The second part of the story talks about the reflections of Ivan, through his time spent in the prison of Soviet Union (Sauer 2011, Pp 8).

The novel has narrated about a day which started off as a sick morning for him. He was awarded punishment for waking up late and was not able to get medication due to punishment. The rest of the day is about Ivan's team dedication and their leader in the prison. He has ...