One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Analysis Essay Example
One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Analysis Essay Example

One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich Analysis Essay Example

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  • Pages: 5 (1107 words)
  • Published: December 10, 2017
  • Type: Book Review
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The book "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn gives a detailed account of a labourer who is forced to serve a sentence of up to ten years in a work camp situated somewhere in Russia. The book follows Ivan from the time of getting up in the morning to the time he falls asleep much later on in the day, during this day you see him work through his chores at the camp. The narrative technique and descriptive detail in the story helps bring the reader into the story so that you not only see the physical struggle upon the workers but also the mental strain it has on them. The simplicity of the story sets it apart from an adventure story and brings it more towards reality to make the reader se

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e that events like this did happen.

Aleksandr uses the structure in which he writes the novel to portray his message of what working in the camps was like in that time. It is clear to see how Aleksandr goes beyond literary techniques to emphasise his views of the camp but to what extent does this affect the novel?The narrative technique of the story is what makes the book so successful. The narrator of the story is unknown to the reader but it seems he has a clear view of what Ivan is thinking. The narrator knows his past, how he feels and what is going through his mind at any point in the day, so it would seem that the narrator is in fact Ivan. Aleksandr uses the perspective of Ivan to draw the reader into the

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story so that they can understand and feel what is happening and what it must of felt like to work in such a camp.

With the mind of Ivan Aleksandr also shows the mental strain of working in a camp and not only the physical hardship of long hours of labour.When looking at a work camp the immediate reaction is the physical strain of little food and hard work but not the effect it can have on someone's mental state. To work all day and watch the guards and leaders sit in warm huts and cheat their way into extra food rations or other privileges at your expense could easily drive someone crazy. From Ivan's perspective it makes the reader feel horrible that people had to go through these conditions for no real sound reason.

The title of the book one day in the life of Ivan Denisovich is exactly what the book is about. There is no magnificent plot or story just a typical day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. It follows him from the time he wakes up at the sound of reveille to him finally falling asleep at the end of the novel. The novel's simplicity of text and story line enables the reader to understand what is going on easily without being overwhelmed by continuos events of suffering and torment felt by the workers. The story is easy to take in and understand even if it was toned down for the public.

The quality of the story is not measured in the level of suffering so showing what it was really like would not make it more effective. With this book

Aleksandr didn't want sympathy or pity from anyone but the public to understand what actually went on behind all the propaganda of Stalin.This day isn't much different from any other person living anywhere in the world. Their day begins by getting up, followed by breakfast, then to work, stop for lunch, back to work, returning home for dinner and then finally to sleep. This similarity makes you realise that although we find at some time our days are long and boring but there are people in work camps living relatively the same life but having a much harder time. There is also the possibility that we could be one of these people in a work camp as they are just as innocent as any one of us.

Looking at what is actually written in the story we can see that the book is written like one long chapter. That begins with Ivan waking up and the going to bed at the end, there aren't any chapters in the novel or separate sections anywhere. This is what sets it aside from some fantasy or adventure book and brings it more towards reality. Writing the book without chapters and sub sections helps keep the chronology of the story, which help the story to flow more continuously.

It emphasises the fact that it is just a day in the life of someone not an adventure story full of excitement.The lack of chapters however does tend to make the story drag on there are no breaks in time for you to take in what just happened just one long story. This dragging on of time symbolises the length of Ivan's

camp sentence in a way that the days and years drag on much like the story.The last paragraph of the book which tells you how many days where in a sentence of ten years just makes the reader realise that if Ivan went through all this to get through one day, what it must have been like for the other three thousand six hundred and fifty-two days. This point is where you realise that although the novel has finished Ivan's life in the camp is not over and he must continue to work there.The structure of the novel clearly relates to the hardships of working in a camp.

Aleksandr goes further than literary techniques but also uses the layout and narrative techniques to give the reader a better idea. The way of writing it as one long chapter and good chronological order really puts the emphasis on it being one day of his life. Without these techniques the novel wouldn't be half as successful in putting forth Aleksandr's views of the camp. If it were written as any other normal novel then the sense of the story being true and actually happening would be taken away from it. This sense of reality is what makes the book so successful as this way the reader can relate to the book and understand Aleksandr's point of view. In conclusion Aleksandr has successfully written a novel that really does portray the experience of a work camp to someone who might never of seen or heard of one before with the help of narrative and structural techniques.

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