Term Paper Mohit Agrawal AP Literature, p.5 5/9106 Tenets of Tenacity in Solzhenitsyn's Ivan Denisovich ‘The recognizable adage, “The only thing that’s certain is change,” fails by overlooking several critical certainties. As governments rise and fall in revolutions and coups; as ideologies evolve from all parts of the political spectrum; and as times and. technology march forward, people have the ability to adapt to their changing environments. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for his works on the Soviet Union, has chronicled the interplay between individual and political ideology in his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. While a government may proclaim to conform to either capitalism or communism, the true lives of people instead fall on a continuum in between and are determined by three personal, instead of governmental, characteristics. ‘There is a clear mixing of both communism and capitalism in Ivan Denisovich Shukhov’s labor camp. This dual presence permeates not only the labor camp, but all societies in general. While Solzhenitsyn writes about just one day in Ivan Denisovich Shukhov’s life in a labor camp in eastern Siberia, Shukhov’s labor camp can be seen as a microcosm of Soviet society as a whole. Solzhenitsyn carefully crafts the camp with a diverse set of people, one group representing the privileged and another the downtrodden. However, the story also chronicles one day in the life of an ordinary Russian. Ivan’s name is common; he is one of many Soviet farmers; he fought in the war like millions of others. While the setting, a gulag camp, may seem extraordinary, millions share in Shukhov’s fate, Moreover, the constant fight for survival is universal. As such, extrapolations made from observation at the labor camp are applicable to humanity as a whole. At their most basic levels, societies are not predicated upon political philosophies ‘but instead on on-the-ground realities. An evaluation of the structure of life at Ivan.Agrawal 2 Denisovich’s labor camp makes it evident that society functions on a continuum between capitalism and communism, between competition and teamwork, The most prominent example of capitalism and competition in the novel is the very existence of a capitalist economy inside the labor camp. This existence suggests that there was a capitalist economy at work in the Soviet Union as a whole. “In forced-labor camps all prices were local; it was quite different from anywhere else, because you couldn’t save money and few hhad any at all, for it was very hard to come by..... Shukhov did private jobs to get money...” (139) the narrator explains. This local economy clearly represents Adam Smith's ideals of supply and demand: if the supply of money is low, prices must necessarily be low. This would help establish a new equilibrium, Moreover, the presence of private work implies the presence of a private, capitalist economy. Even a communist facade can hide a capitalist belly—the two systems are inseparable. The novel also discusses several striking examples of teamwork, communism, at play. The strongest example of communism is the firewood collection scheme instituted at the camp. Shukhov notes that “millions of rubles had gone up in smoke” (110) as the zeks, political prisoners, burned available construction materials to generate heat. “A zek calculated his own way: if everyone brought even a few sticks back with him [from the construction site to] the barracks would be warmer,” (110). Thus, each person, arranged in an eighty-rowed column to be escorted back to the camp, has a few pieces of tender picked up at the construction site, Moreover, “just before entering the zone several ranks in the column were ordered to throw their stuff down. ‘The escort, however, robbed mercifully — they had to leave something for...the zeks themselves, who otherwise wouldn’t bring any with them,” (110). The zeks collect firewood on the condition that the escorts and campAgrawal 3 officials take only a certain proportion. Thus, the camp officials and the zeks both share in the bounty. The firewood collection scheme represents the pinnacle of teamwork in the camp. In addition to the above, clear-cut examples of capitalism and communism in this, labor camp, the work squad system implemented at the camp also suggests an active interplay between the two economic systems. In work squads, a group of twenty-four inmates work together on a specific construction project. “To outsmart you they thought up work squads....Everything was so arranged in the camp that the prisoners egged one another on. It was like this: either you all got a bit extra or you all croaked,” (64). That is because each prisoner is fed according to how much work his squad has done. ‘The work squad system successfully merges both teamwork and competition, as the zeks work together in a squad but compete against the other squads. Moreover, each work squad must compete to secure bowls, utensils, and a table in the diminutive mess hall. Members of each squad work together against other squads for these limited resources, resulting in a competitive environment, Furthermore, each work squad competes in bribing, cajoling, and persuading camp officials. As the narrator explains, “More depended on the [squad leader’s] work report than on the work itself. A clever squad leader was one who concentrated on the work report. That was what kept the men fed,” (65). Shukhov’s leader, Tiurin, is a master at the system and successfully keeps the 104" from having to work at the Socialist Way of Life Settlement. Instead, another less-able group is shunted to the settlement, again emphasizing the competitive nature of the work squads. ‘The three abovementioned examples all indicate the dual presence of capitalism and communism in the labor camp, and thus in societies in general. However, all societies areAgrawal 4 composed of people, and it is those people who must adapt to the dual presence of capitalism and communism. As the title character, it is fitting that Ivan Denisovich best represents Solzhenitsyn's view of a successful individual. Shukhov understands the dynamic equilibrium between competition and teamwork. He can therefore change his own behavior to match society’s—he can be selectively competitive or team-oriented. The first example of his competitive nature is when, as earlier alluded, Shukhov does private work and builds shoes for richer inmates. Shukhov understands the power of the local free market and he aims to take advantage of it. ‘Shukhov also collects items that he thinks may hold value for other inmates. He understands the utility of knives in the life of a zek; “very handy for shoe repairing or tailoring!” (121) he remarks. Shukhov therefore is always on the lookout for bits of metal that could be sharpened into knives. However, several “stool-pigeons,” or snitches, have been murdered in their bunks recently. Thus, in the twice-daily zek patdowns, those who are caught smuggling knife-making materials into the camp are subject to severe punishment, Therefore, Shukhov’s takes risks when he smuggles in scraps of steel. Knives are also useful because Shukhov can later lend them out for an unwritten promise of something in retum, whether food or favors. As such, Shukhov represents a private entrepreneur, one who takes risks for expected gain. As the narrator explains, “For that strip of hacksaw [Shukhov] could get ten days in the cells....But a cobbler’s knife was money, it was bread,” (121). Ivan also understands the necessity of teamwork. He is not one to spurn the ties of families, young and old, and of ethnicity in the labor camp. ‘Though tor from theirAgrawal 5 families, people adapt and form new ties in the camp. The clearest bonding is, of course, within each work squad, However, other bonds form as well ‘Two Estonians, close as brothers, sat on a flat, concrete slab....These Estonians were equally fair, equally tall, equally leans, and had equally long noses and big eyes. They hung onto each other so closely that you'd think one would suffocate unless he breathed the same air as the other. (56) Like the two Estonians, Shukhov has “adopted” a 16 year-old inmate from his squad as a son, Gopchik can do much of the harder work, while Shukhov gives him advice and teaches him skills, like spoon-making, He looks after the teen like the father he could never be to his two young girls; Gopchik is also like the son Shukhov never had. Teamwork seems to satisfy a natural human urge to belong, and it is not suffocated in a labor camp. The ability to actively partake in a society with characteristics of both capitalism and communism is necessary to one’s success. The naval captain Buinovsky has been consigned to 25 years of hard labor because a British naval officer with whom he served during WWI sent Buinovsky a gift after the war. This was ample evidence that the Captain was, of course, fraternizing with dangerous democratic radicals. ‘The deep irony is, however, that Buinovsky is one of the few Soviet people who have solidly internalized the ideals of the Communist Manifesto. When Buinovsky challenges a guard for inhumanely stripping prisoners in —17 °C to search for contraband, and then also quotes Soviet law that bans such acts, the Captain is given a ten-day stint in “the cells” with half rations. “Ten days, Ten days ‘hard’ in the cells—if you sat them out to the end, your health would for ruined for the rest of your life, T.B. and nothing but hospital for you till you kicked theAgrawal 6 bucket,” (148) the narrator writes. Moreover, Buinovsky’s belief in the share-all communist system means that he usually is left with the worst pieces of equipment for himself, forall the goods one are hogged and hidden by others. Buinovsky fails to understand that there is a difference between Soviet diction and reality; he fails to adapt to the dynamic society around him; and this failure may cost the Captain his life. One will not succeed simply by understanding the duality of capitalism and communism, however. One must also preserve his individuality while complying with society. The camp does its best to destroy inmates” individualities by assigning each an alphanumeric code, The numbering system dehumanizes the prisoners, stripping away their personalities. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is simply S 854. However, the tenacious in the camp show an ability to buck this treatment and keep their individualities. Shukhov’s personality manifests itself most at dinnertime. Even in the cold, he removes his cap because he had been taught to do so as a child. He refuses to eat fish eyes unless they remain in the fish, again because of his childhood upbringing. If the cold of the labor camp drives out one’s individuality, there is little left to live life. One must adapt to society but cannot compromise oneself away. Sequestering one’s individuality is certainly successful. Tiurin, the 104 squad leader, has seen his 10-year stretch added on to several times. Imprisoned just for being the son of a well-to-do farmer, Tiurin represents the best of the tenacious zeks. He too takes his cap off before eating, and he is quite successful in crafting work reports which reward the squad. Another quite successful zek, in that he has survived in the camp, is the old prisoner U 81Agrawal 7 [Shukhov|'d been told that this old man had spent years without number in camps and prisons... Whenever one ten-year stretch had run out they shoved another onto him right away. Now Shukhov looked closely at the man. He held himself straight—the other zeks sat all hunched up... His eyes didn’t dart after everything going on in the mess hall.... All life had drained out of his face but it had been left, not sickly or feeble, but hard and dark like carved stone... But he wasn’t going to give in, on no! He [sic] wasn’t going to put his nine ounces [of bread] on the dirty, bespattered table—he put it on a well-washed bit of rag. (138). Solzhenitsyn introduces U 81 with just thirteen pages left in the novel, emphasizing the ‘thematic importance of the individual and his individuality. One who has the perseverance to preserve his individuality in a gulag also has the perseverance to survive. Another zek who perseveres is Alyosha the Baptist, Imprisoned for his religious beliefs, Alyosha actually feels emboldened in the camp, for he can worship without persecution, Strength of individuality is also the strength of staying committed to what you believe. Alyosha believes in his religion, and as his discussion with Shukhov shows late in the novel, he has found solace in it. Lastly, the third necessary tenet to survive is having a hard work ethic. Shukhov is the prime example of this, Early in the day, Shukhov had tried to get a medical absence because he had awoken with aches and pains. Though denied, Shukhov notes that he would not have found peace in the infirmary either: “A new doctor had arrived...Stepan Grigorych, 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Agrawal 8 fect... Work, he said, was a first-rate medicine for any illness,” (33). Shukhov is hostile to this new system, one that takes away the last haven of solitude from the zeks. Ironically, though, by the end of the day Shukhov no longer feels sick at all: “Funny, he'd forgotten all, about the dispensary while he'd been working....now somehow his back wasn’t aching,” (116-7). Shukhov remarks that being put in “the cells” is not bad because of solitary confinement, dampness, or lack of food; instead, the inability to work robs one of warming and time-consuming activity. Out on the Siberian tundra, only work saves the zeks from death. Their minds leave their troubles behind and focus on the task at hand. Shukhov even gets so enwrapped in his work that he willfully ignores the end-of-day bell and continues to work at a feverish pace to finish putting up another row of bricks. A hard work ethic is necessary, not only for the success of one’s work squad, but also for one’s own self-satisfaction, If one views work with drudgery and unwillingness, even the shortest labor camp stretch would be a death sentence. There are those, of course, who do not have the ability to remain committed in their beliefs and do not have good work ethics. High among these is Fetiukov, the vulture of the 104" squad. The narrator remarks about the zek’s sad state: “When you thought about it, you couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, He wouldn't live to see the end of his stretch. His attitude was all wrong,” (144). Fetiukov, who was divorced by his wife upon his arrest, has yet to form any bonds with others. He scrounges for food in the mess hall, though litte is forthcoming. He looks slyly at those who are smoking, hoping for a puff. He drags his feet at the construction site until castigated by Tiurin: “Fetuikov, on the other hand, grew lazier and lazier. He'd tilt the barrow as he came up, the lousy bastard, so that the mortar would slop out of it and then it'd be lighter to carry,” (97) comments the narrator. FetuikovAgrawal 9 quickly leaves behind his previous personality, that of a responsible foreman, and instead becomes a worm. He looks out only for himself and refuses to care for others. Lastly, he has no work ethic. While Fetuikov believes that what he is doing is best to ensure his own survival, the narrator makes it elear that his tactics will only result in his own death, Ivan Denisovich takes a unique look at the Soviet gulag system. Instead of discussing the system’s brutality by portraying death, abuse, or hardships, Solzhenitsyn focuses on how Ivan Denisovich and those around him are able to adapt to the new world in which they unjustly find themselves. People must adapt to true society, not to what society preaches itself to be. Morcover, successful people must also be able to respect themselves and must not compromise away their own individuality to a system that can mercilessly destroy. By no longer taking joy in one’s personal traditions, idiosyncrasies, and habits, all one can brood about is the hardships of the gulag, Lastly, a person must work for both his own self-satisfaction and of the work squad. Ivan Denisovich is at its core a manifesto of man’s strength and adaptability.