Analysis: One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

“Communism is the death of the soul. It is the organization of total conformity - in short, of tyranny - and it is committed to making tyranny universal.” is a quote said by Adlai E. Stevenson. This quote is stating that which is evident by the use of the word “tyranny” which means the “arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power”, mainly from an absolute ruler. When picked apart, this quote is stating that communism only spreads arbitrariness through the total conformity that communism instills. The message that this quote is sending is alluded to in the book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This book follows Ivan Denisovich, or commonly referred to as Shukhov, through a normal day in a Soviet prison camp called

a “gulag” in Siberia during the reign of communism in the Soviet Union. In the camp, he experiences hard labor, is given slop for food, and is conditioned to fall in line with the rest of the thousands of prisoners that are in the camp alongside him. The prisoners also have to endure the cold, which is used against them as a punishment from the higher-ups and guards. In this book, cold is used as a symbol for the state of isolation that the prisoners are in, thus proving that true communism cannot exist because a hierarchy will always fall into place.
In the gulag, the cold is something that the prisoners could never escape from.

In the book, it is referenced numerous times and not only in the context of weather. The quote “When you’re cold, don’t expect sympathy from someone who’s warm.” (18) holds meaning to this. This quote means that the prisoners shouldn’t expect sympathy from higher-ups or guards because they are isolated within the cold themselves. The comparison between being warm and cold explains this. In the context of this quote, the prisoners are represented by the cold whereas the guards and higher-ranked individuals in the camp are represented by the warmth. This comparison can be validated by looking at characteristics and privileges that the two groups have: prisoners work and live in the cold, are not mixed in with the guards, and they are not allowed to have personal possessions, whereas guards and higher-ups live in the warmth of better offices and buildings, are separated from the prisoners, and receive at least a share of the unique possessions that the prisoners have. Because of the privileges that the higher-ups have, there is no reason they should be sympathetic towards the prisoners, thus making the prisoners isolated. This theme is reminiscent in the book Night by Elie Wiesel when the Jewish prisoners in concentration camps are also given limited privileges and are isolated from the guards because of a difference they have. Both groups of prisoners were shown very little compassion and received no sympathy, even when the conditions were

fatal.
In both the gulag and the Soviet Union as a whole, communism was an ideology that was very enforced, but didn’t always have its intended effect. Communism is the idea that there should be common ownership of products, and also that there should be no social classes/rank. However, this quote refutes that it is the case in the gulag.
“The first ones inside had a head start -- they were first in the mess hall, first to get their packages if they had any, first into the kitchen to get the stuff they’d asked to have cooked in the morning, first to the CES to pick up letters from home, first to the censors to hand in a letter for mailing, first to the barbers, the medics, and the bathhouse -- in fact, first everywhere.” (92)

This quote demonstrates that the formation of a hierarchy has taken place. This is evident because the quote states that the people who got inside of the camp first were before the rest of the prisoners, which goes against the mentality of communism where all resources are shared among the general public. This is emphasized with the addition of the phrase “in fact, first everywhere” because it states that the prisoners who were able to get the the camp first were before everyone entirely, not partially. This quote demonstrates that a natural hierarchy will take place in a communist society because being first is something that cannot be prevented as someone will always have to be first in any situation, and arriving first in this case brings about a privilege which is to advance the other prisoners.
Not only was there a hierarchy and privilege regarding access to locations, but also physical possessions. Through communism, every prisoner was only allowed the possessions they were given by the guards because it would make the prisoners uniform. The Soviet Union as a whole took away or destroyed anything that set one person or group apart to maintain uniformity. A quote that represents this is:
“If there was any pastry or candy or something fancy like that, or any sausage or fish, the warder always bit off a hunk. (And it wasn’t worthwhile kicking up a fuss because then he’d say it was forbidden and you weren’t supposed to have it.)” (109)

This quote is meant to demonstrate hierarchy between the prisoners and the warders. The warder is able to get away with taking parts of a prisoner’s package because he is higher ranked than the prisoners. This is evident by the fact that the prisoner can be easily silenced by the warder saying that the item that they have is forbidden and can take the contents for himself. This quote proves that a hierarchy will form within a communist society because when Caesar was forced to give up the contents of his package, they went right to the higher ups, which goes against the message of equal/common resources among a society that communism is meant to convey. This action is similar to the collective farms enacted by Stalin’s first five-year plan that formed large collective farms by joining smaller family farms together. Even when the peasants and citizens during these times were starving, the crops, grain, and money earned from cultivating had to be sent directly to the government under law.
In the gulag, the cold was representative of the separation between the prisoners and the warders which caused the ranks of division to become clear. The emphasis that Alexander Solzhenitsyn puts on the cold also shows how much affected life in the gulag mentally and physically because was something that could not be avoided. Regardless of the degree to which communism is enforced, a hierarchy will form because of the human need for people to take charge and lead, as well as people taking advantage of privileges that they are given through communism.