Ivan Denisovich

One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich is a book written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the main protagonist of this book is named Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, in which the novel is based around. Shukhov is an ordinary prisoner in the Gulag at the Soviet Union alongside many others, while in the Gulag, he tries his best to avoid trouble at all costs, and this is shown in this quote “Shukhov never overslept reveille. He always got up at once, for the next ninety minutes, until they assembled for work, belonged to him, not the authorities, and any old-timer could earn a bit.” Shukhov had very limited time for himself, had very limited food, and very limited resources for survival. While in the Gulag, Shukhov’s gang was called ‘gang 104’, Tyurin being its foreman. Tyurin is the one who tells gang 104 what to do, according to Shukhov, Tyurin is a fair leader and due to that, the gang respects him and work for him. However, not all the leaders are fair like Tyurin in the Gulag, for instance, Lieutenant Volkovoy is one of the

Follow me to the camp commandant’s office” said the Tartar lazily.

If you were sick, you were to at least be excused not to go work for a couple of days. However, this isn’t the case with the Gulag. If one was sick, one has to deal with it. And would be punished if decided to not work for a day.

While that was the case with Shukhov, Shukhov still went to the camp infirmary, however, this doctor was still as harsh as he can get. Stepan Grigorich was the doctor “a fussy, loud voiced fellow who gave neither himself nor his patients any peace. He invented jobs in and around the infirmary for all the patients who could stand on their feet – fencing the garden, laying paths, bring soil to the flowerbeds, and, in winter time, erecting snow barriers. Work, he said, was a first-rate medicine for any illness.” As he is described in the