How the character of Ivan Denisovich is revealed. What qualities of the hero of the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" manifested themselves in the scene of collective work at the construction site? Spiritual Foundations of Confrontation
We need to pray for the spiritual: so that the Lord removes the evil scum from our hearts ...
A. Solzhenitsyn. One day Ivan Denisovich
A. Solzhenitsyn deliberately made the main character of the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” an ordinary peasant who suffered a fate characteristic of many Russian people of the 20th century. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov was an economic and thrifty owner in a small village. When the war came, Shukhov went to the front and fought honestly. He was wounded, but did not recover well, hastening to return to his place at the front. The German captivity also fell to the lot of Ivan Denisovich, from which he escaped, but ended up in the Soviet camp as a result.
The harsh conditions of the terrible world, fenced with barbed wire, could not break Shukhov's inner dignity, although many of his neighbors in the barracks had long lost their human appearance. Having turned from a defender of the Motherland into a convict Shch-854, Ivan Denisovich continues to live according to those moral laws that have developed into a strong and optimistic peasant character.
There are few joys in the minute-by-minute daily routine of camp prisoners. Every day the same thing: getting up on a signal, a meager ration that leaves even the skinniest half-starved, exhausting work, constant checks, “spies”, complete lack of rights for convicts, lawlessness of escorts and guards ... And yet Ivan Denisovich finds the strength not to humiliate himself because of excess rations, because of cigarettes, which he is always ready to earn with honest labor. Shukhov does not want to turn into an informer for the sake of improving his own fate - he himself despises such people. Developed self-esteem does not allow him to lick a plate or beg - the harsh laws of the camp are merciless to weaklings.
Belief in himself and unwillingness to live at the expense of others make Shukhov refuse even the parcels that his wife could send him. He understood “what those programs are worth, and he knew that you couldn’t pull them from your family for ten years.”
Kindness and mercy are one of the main qualities of Ivan Denisovich. He is sympathetic to prisoners who do not know how or do not want to adapt to camp laws, as a result of which they endure unnecessary torment or miss out on benefits.
Ivan Denisovich respects some of these people, but more than that, he regrets, trying, if possible, to help and alleviate their plight.
Conscience and honesty before himself do not allow Shukhov to feign illness, as many prisoners do, trying to avoid work. Even when he feels seriously unwell and arrives at the medical unit, Shukhov feels guilty, as if he is deceiving someone.
Ivan Denisovich appreciates and loves life, but understands that he is not able to change the order in the camp, the injustice in the world.
Centuries-old peasant wisdom teaches Shukhov: “Groan and rot. And if you resist, you will break, ”but, resigning himself, this person will never live on his knees and kowtow before those in power.
A reverent and respectful attitude to bread is given out in the image of the main character of a true peasant. During the eight years of camp life, Shukhov never learned to take off his hat before eating, even in the most severe frost. And in order to carry with him the remnants of bread rations left “in reserve”, carefully wrapped in a clean cloth, Ivan Denisovich specially sewed an inner pocket on the padded jacket in a secret way.
Love for work fills Shukhov's seemingly monotonous life with a special meaning, brings joy, allows him to survive. Disrespecting stupid and forced work, Ivan Denisovich is at the same time ready to take on any business, showing himself to be a clever and skillful bricklayer, shoemaker, stove-maker. He is able to carve a knife from a fragment of a hacksaw blade, sew slippers or covers for mittens. Earning extra money by honest labor not only gives Shukhov pleasure, but also makes it possible to earn cigarettes or an additive to rations.
Even while working at the stage when it was necessary to quickly put down the wall, Ivan Denisovich became so excited that he forgot about the bitter cold and that he was working under duress. Thrifty and economic, he cannot allow the cement to be wasted or the work to be abandoned in the middle. It is through labor that the hero acquires inner freedom and remains unconquered by the terrible conditions of the camp and the gloomy monotony of a miserable life. Shukhov is even able to feel happy that the day ended successfully and did not bring any unexpected troubles. It is these people, according to the writer, who ultimately decide the fate of the country, carry the charge of people's morality and spirituality.
[in the camp]? [Cm. summary of the story "One day of Ivan Denisovich" .] After all, is it not just the need to survive, not the animal thirst for life? This need alone breeds people like canteens, like cooks. Ivan Denisovich is at the other pole of Good and Evil. That is Shukhov's strength, that with all the inevitable moral losses for a prisoner, he managed to keep his soul alive. Such moral categories as conscience, human dignity, decency determine his life behavior. Eight years of hard labor did not break the body. They didn't break their souls either. So the story about the Soviet camps grows to the scale of the story about the eternal strength of the human spirit.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn. One day of Ivan Denisovich. The author is reading. Fragment
The hero of Solzhenitsyn himself is hardly aware of his spiritual greatness. But the details of his behavior, seemingly insignificant, are fraught with deep meaning.
No matter how hungry Ivan Denisovich was, he ate not greedily, attentively, he tried not to look into other people's bowls. And although his shaved head was freezing, he certainly took off his hat while eating: “no matter how cold, but he could not allow himself is in the hat. Or - another detail. Ivan Denisovich smells the perfumed smoke of a cigarette. “... He was all tense in anticipation, and now this cigarette tail was more desirable to him than, it seems, the will itself, - but he wouldn't hurt himself and, like Fetyukov, he would not look into his mouth.
Deep meaning lies in the words highlighted here. Behind them lies a huge inner work, a struggle with circumstances, with oneself. Shukhov "forged his own soul, year by year", managing to remain a man. "And through that - a particle of his people." With respect and love speaks of him
This explains the attitude of Ivan Denisovich towards other prisoners: respect for those who survived; contempt for those who have lost their human form. So, he despises the goner and jackal Fetyukov because he licks bowls, because he “dropped himself”. This contempt is aggravated, perhaps also because “Fetyukov, you know, in some office he was a big boss. I went by car." And any boss, as already mentioned, is an enemy for Shukhov. And now he does not want this goner to get an extra bowl of gruel, he rejoices when he is beaten. Cruelty? Yes. But one must also understand Ivan Denisovich. It cost him considerable spiritual effort to preserve human dignity, and he suffered the right to despise those who have lost their dignity.
However, Shukhov not only despises, but also feels sorry for Fetyukov: “To figure it out, so sorry for him. He won't live to see his time. He doesn't know how to put himself." Convict Shch-854 knows how to put himself. But his moral victory is expressed not only in this. Having spent many years in hard labor, where the cruel "law-taiga" operates, he managed to save the most valuable asset - mercy, humanity, the ability to understand and pity the other.
All sympathy, all Shukhov's sympathy is on the side of those who survived, who have a strong spirit and mental fortitude.
Like a fairy-tale hero, Ivan Denisovich imagines brigadier Tyurin: “... the brigadier has a steel chest /... / it’s scary to interrupt his high thought /... / Stands against the wind - he won’t frown, the skin on his face is like oak bark" (34) . The prisoner Yu-81 is the same. "... He sits in the camps and in prisons innumerable, how much Soviet power costs ..." The portrait of this man matches the portrait of Tyurin. Both of them evoke images of heroes, like Mikula Selyaninovich: “Of all the hunched camp backs, his back was excellently straight /... / His face was all exhausted, but not to the weakness of a disabled wick, but to a hewn, dark stone” (102).
This is how “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” reveals “human fate” – the fate of people placed in inhuman conditions. The writer believes in the unlimited spiritual powers of man, in his ability to withstand the threat of bestiality.
Rereading Solzhenitsyn's story now, one involuntarily compares it with " Kolyma stories» V. Shalamova. The author of this terrible book draws the ninth circle of hell, where suffering reached such an extent that, with rare exceptions, people could no longer retain their human appearance.
“Shalamov’s camp experience was bitter and longer than mine,” A. Solzhenitsyn writes in The Gulag Archipelago, “and I respectfully admit that it was he, and not me, who got to touch that bottom of brutality and despair, to which the whole camp life pulled us.” But paying tribute to this mournful book, Solzhenitsyn disagrees with its author in his views on man.
Addressing Shalamov, Solzhenitsyn says: “Perhaps anger is not the most durable feeling after all? With your personality and your poems, do you refute your own conception? According to the author of The Archipelago, “... even in the camp (and everywhere in life) there is no corruption without ascent. They are close".
Noting the steadfastness and fortitude of Ivan Denisovich, many critics, however, spoke of the poverty and earthiness of his spiritual world. So, L. Rzhevsky believes that Shukhov's horizons are limited by "one bread". Another critic argues that Solzhenitsyn's hero "suffers as a person and a family man, but to a lesser extent from the humiliation of his personal and civic dignity"
A. Solzhenitsyn's story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" was published in the 11th issue of the Novy Mir magazine in 1962, after which its author suddenly became a world famous writer. This work is a small gap that reveals the truth about the Stalinist camps, a cell of a huge organism called the Gulag.
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, a prisoner of Shch-854, lived like everyone else, or rather, how the majority lived - it was difficult. He honestly fought in the war until he was captured. But this is a man with a solid moral foundation, which the Bolsheviks tried to eradicate. They needed class, party values to stand above human values in everyone. Ivan Denisovich did not succumb to the process of dehumanization, even in the camp he remained a man. What helped him to survive?
It seems that everything in Shukhov is focused on one thing - just to survive: “In counterintelligence, Shukhov was beaten a lot. And Shukhov's calculation was simple: if you don't sign it, you'll have a wooden pea jacket, if you sign it, you'll live a little longer. Signed." Yes, and in the camp, Shukhov calculates his every step. He never woke up in the morning. In his spare time, he tried to work. During the day, the hero is where everyone is: "... it is necessary that no guard see you alone, but only in the crowd."
Shukhov has a special pocket sewn under his quilted jacket, where he puts his saved ration of bread so that he can eat it without haste. While working at the CHP, Ivan Denisovich finds and hides a hacksaw. For her, they could be put in a punishment cell, but a shoe knife is bread. After work, bypassing the dining room, Shukhov runs to the mailbox to take a queue for Caesar, so that Caesar owes him. And so - every day.
It seems that Shukhov lives one day. But no, he lives for the future, thinks about the next day, thinks about how to live it, although he is not sure that they will be released on time. Shukhov is not sure that he will be released, he will see his own, but he lives as if he is sure.
Ivan Denisovich does not think about why many good people are in the camp, what is the reason for the emergence of the camps and, it seems, does not try to understand what happened to him: “It is considered in the case that Shukhov sat down for treason. And he testified that yes, he surrendered, wanting to betray his homeland, and returned from captivity because he was carrying out the task of German intelligence. What kind of task - neither Shukhov could come up with, nor the investigator. For the only time throughout the story, Ivan Denisovich thinks about this question, but does not give a specific answer: “What did I sit down for? For the fact that in the forty-first they did not prepare for the war, for this? What about me?”
Ivan Denisovich belongs to those who are called a natural, natural person. A natural person values, first of all, life itself, the satisfaction of the first simple needs - food, drink, sleep: “He began to eat. At first, I drank one straight slurry, drank. How hot it went, spilled over his body - already his insides are fluttering towards the gruel. Good-hoo! Here it is, a short moment, for which the prisoner lives. That is why the hero took root in Ust-Izhma, although the work there was harder and the conditions worse.
The natural man never thinks. He does not ask himself: why? Why? He does not doubt, does not look at himself from the outside. Perhaps this explains Shukhov's resilience, his high adaptability to inhuman conditions. But this quality must be distinguished from opportunism, humiliation, loss of self-esteem. After all, throughout the story, Shukhov never drops himself.
Ivan Denisovich has his own attitude to work. His principle: earned - get it, and "do not untie someone else's belly on someone else's good." And Shukhov works at the “object” just as conscientiously as he does outside. And the point is not only that he works in a brigade, but “in a camp, a brigade is such a device that it is not the bosses who goad the prisoners, but the prisoners each other.” Shukhov treats his work like a master who is fluent in his craft, and enjoys it. Labor is life for Shukhov. The Soviet government did not corrupt him, did not force him to hack, to shirk. That way of life, those norms and those unwritten laws by which the peasant lived for centuries turned out to be stronger. They are eternal, rooted in nature itself, which takes revenge for the thoughtless, careless attitude towards it.
In any life situation, Shukhov is guided by common sense. It turns out to be stronger than fear even before the afterlife. Ivan Denisovich lives according to the old peasant principle: trust in God, but don't make a mistake yourself!
Solzhenitsyn draws this hero as having his own special philosophy of life. This philosophy absorbed and generalized the long camp experience, the difficult historical experience of Soviet history. In the person of the quiet and patient Ivan Denisovich, the writer recreated an almost symbolic image of the Russian people, capable of enduring unprecedented suffering, deprivation, bullying of the communist regime, lawlessness that reigns in the camp and, in spite of everything, survive in this hell. And at the same time remain kind to people, humane and irreconcilable to immorality.
One day of the hero Solzhenitsyn, which ran before our eyes, grows to the limits of a whole human life, to the scale of a people's destiny, to a symbol of an entire era in the history of Russia.
The story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" brought popularity to the writer. The work was the author's first published work. It was published by Novy Mir magazine in 1962. The story described one ordinary day of a camp prisoner under the Stalinist regime.
History of creation
Initially, the work was called “Sch-854. One day for one convict, but censorship and a lot of obstacles from publishers and the authorities influenced the name change. The main character of the described story was Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.
The image of the main character was created on the basis of prototypes. The first was a friend of Solzhenitsyn, who fought with him at the front in the Great Patriotic War, but did not end up in the camp. The second is the writer himself, who knew the fate of the camp prisoners. Solzhenitsyn was convicted under Article 58 and spent several years in the camp working as a bricklayer. The action of the story takes place in the winter month of 1951 at hard labor in Siberia.
The image of Ivan Denisovich stands apart in Russian literature of the 20th century. When there was a change of power, and it became permissible to speak aloud about the Stalinist regime, this character became the personification of a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp. The images described in the story were familiar to those who suffered such a sad experience. The story served as an omen of a major work, which turned out to be the novel The Gulag Archipelago.
"One day of Ivan Denisovich"
The story describes the biography of Ivan Denisovich, his appearance and how the daily routine in the camp is drawn up. The man is 40 years old. He is a native of the village of Temgenevo. Leaving for the war in the summer of 1941, he left his wife and two daughters at home. By the will of fate, the hero ended up in a camp in Siberia and managed to serve eight years. At the end of the ninth year, after which he will again be able to lead a free life.
According to the official version, the man received a term for treason. It was believed that, having been in German captivity, Ivan Denisovich returned to his homeland on the instructions of the Germans. I had to plead guilty to stay alive. Although the reality was different. In battle, the detachment found itself in a disastrous position without food and shells. Having made their way to their own, the fighters were met as enemies. The soldiers did not believe the story of the fugitives and handed them over to the court, which determined hard labor as a punishment.
First, Ivan Denisovich ended up in a camp with a strict regime in Ust-Izhmen, and then he was transferred to Siberia, where the restrictions were not enforced so strictly. The hero lost half of his teeth, grew a beard and shaved his head. He was assigned the number Shch-854, and the camp clothes make him a typical little man, whose fate is decided by higher authorities and people in power.
For eight years of imprisonment, the man learned the laws of survival in the camp. His friends and foes among the prisoners had the same sad fate. Relationship problems were a key disadvantage of being incarcerated. It was because of them that the authorities had great power over the prisoners.
Ivan Denisovich preferred to be calm, behave with dignity and observe subordination. A savvy man, he quickly figured out how to ensure his survival and a worthy reputation. He had time to work and rest, correctly planned the day and food, skillfully found a common language with those with whom he needed. The characteristic of his skills speaks of the wisdom inherent at the genetic level. Similar qualities were demonstrated by serfs. His skills and experience helped him become the best foreman in the team, earning respect and status.
Illustration for the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" Ivan Denisovich was a full-fledged manager of his own destiny. He knew what to do in order to live in comfort, did not disdain work, but did not overwork himself, could outwit the warder and easily bypassed sharp corners in dealing with prisoners and with superiors. Ivan Shukhov's happy day was the day when he was not put in a punishment cell and his brigade was not assigned to Sotsgorodok, when the work was done on time and it was possible to stretch the rations for a day, when he hid the hacksaw and it was not found, and Tsezar Markovich let him earn some money for tobacco.
Critics compared the image of Shukhov to a hero - a hero from the common people, broken by an insane state system, found himself between the millstones of a camp machine that breaks people, humiliates their spirit and human self-consciousness.
Shukhov set a bar for himself, below which it was impermissible to fall. So he takes off his hat as he sits down at the table, ignoring the fish eyes in the gruel. So he preserves his spirit and does not betray honor. This elevates the man above the prisoners licking bowls, vegetating in the infirmary and knocking on the authorities. Therefore, Shukhov remains free in spirit.
The attitude to work in the work is described in a special way. The laying of the wall causes unprecedented excitement, and the men, forgetting that they are camp prisoners, put all their efforts into its rapid construction. Production novels filled with a similar message supported the spirit of socialist realism, but in Solzhenitsyn's story it is more of an allegory for The Divine Comedy.
A person will not lose himself if he has a goal, so the construction of a thermal power plant becomes symbolic. Camp existence is interrupted by satisfaction from the work done. Purification, brought by the pleasure of fruitful work, even allows you to forget about the disease.
The main characters from the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" on the stage of the theater The specificity of the image of Ivan Denisovich speaks of the return of literature to the idea of populism. The story raises the theme of suffering in the name of the Lord in a conversation with Alyosha. The convict Matrona also supports this theme. God and imprisonment do not fit into the usual system of commensuration of faith, but the argument sounds like a paraphrase of the Karamazovs' discussion.
Productions and film adaptations
The first public visualization of Solzhenitsyn's story took place in 1963. The British channel "NBC" released a teleplay with Jason Rabards Jr. in the title role. Finnish director Kaspar Reed made the film One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1970, inviting actor Tom Courtney to collaborate.
Tom Courtenay in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich The story is of little demand for film adaptation, but in the 2000s it found a second life on the theater stage. A deep analysis of the work, carried out by the directors, proved that the story has great dramatic potential, describes the past of the country, which should not be forgotten, and emphasizes the importance of eternal values.
In 2003, Andriy Zholdak staged a performance based on the story at the Kharkiv Drama Theater. Solzhenitsyn did not like the production.
Actor Alexander Filippenko created a one-man show in collaboration with theater designer David Borovsky in 2006. In 2009, at the Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Georgy Isaakyan staged an opera to music by Tchaikovsky based on the story One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. In 2013, the Arkhangelsk Drama Theater presented a production by Alexander Gorban.
Ivan Denisovich is the protagonist of Solzhenitsyn's story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". His prototypes were followed by two really existing people. One of them is a middle-aged warrior named Ivan Shukhov, who served in the battery, the commander of which was the author himself, who is at the same time the second prototype, who once served time in prison under Article 58.
This is a 40-year-old man with a long beard and shaved head, who is in prison because he and his comrades escaped from German captivity and returned to their own. During interrogation, without any resistance, he signed papers stating that he himself voluntarily surrendered and became a spy, and he returned back for reconnaissance. Ivan Denisovich agreed to all this only because this signature gave a guarantee that he would live a little longer. As for clothing, it is the same as that of all campers. He is wearing wadded trousers, a quilted jacket, a pea coat and felt boots.
Under the jacket he has a spare pocket where he puts a piece of bread to eat later. He seems to be living the last day, but at the same time with the hope of serving time and going free, where his wife and two daughters are waiting for him.
Ivan Denisovich never thought about why there are so many innocent people in the camp, who also allegedly "betrayed their homeland." He is the kind of person who simply appreciates life. He never asks himself unnecessary questions, he simply accepts everything as it is. Therefore, for him, the satisfaction of needs, such as food, water and sleep, was paramount. Perhaps it was then that he got accustomed there. This is an amazingly resilient person who was able to adapt to such terrifying conditions. But even in such conditions, he does not lose his own dignity, does not “drop himself”.
For Shukhov, life is work. In his work, he is a master who knows his business perfectly and receives only pleasure from it.
Solzhenitsyn draws this hero as a person who has developed his own philosophy. It is based on the camp experience and the hard experience of Soviet life. In the face of this patient man, the author showed the entire Russian people, who are able to endure a lot of terrible suffering, bullying and still survive. And at the same time, do not lose morality and continue to live, treating people normally.
Composition on Shukhov Ivan Denisovich
The main character of the work is Shukhov Ivan Denisovich, presented by the writer in the form of a victim of Stalinist repressions.
The hero is described in the story as a simple Russian soldier of peasant origin, distinguished by a toothless mouth, a bald patch on his shaved head, and a bearded face.
For being in fascist captivity during the war, Shukhov was sent to a special hard labor camp for a ten-year term under the number Shch-854, from which he has already served eight years, leaving his family at home in the village, consisting of his wife and two daughters.
Shukhov's characteristic features are his self-esteem, which allowed Ivan Denisovich to retain his human appearance and not become a jackal, despite the difficult period of his life. He realizes that he is unable to change the current unfair situation and the cruel order established in the camp, but since he is distinguished by his love of life, he resigns himself to his difficult situation, while refusing to crawl and kneel, although he does not hope to gain the long-awaited freedom.
Ivan Denisovich seems to be a proud, not arrogant person, capable of showing kindness and generosity towards those convicts who have broken down from being in prison conditions, respecting and pitying them, while being able to show some kind of cunning that does not harm others.
Being an honest and conscientious person, Ivan Denisovich cannot afford to take time off from work, as is customary in prison camps, feigning illness, therefore, even when seriously ill, he feels guilty, forced to turn to the sanitary unit.
During his stay in the camp, Shukhov showed himself to be a rather hardworking, conscientious person, a master of all hands, not shy of any work, participating in the construction of a thermal power plant, sewing slippers and laying stone, becoming a good professional bricklayer and stove-maker. Ivan Denisovich tries by any possible means to earn extra money to get additional rations or cigarettes, receiving not only extra earnings from work, but also real pleasure, carefully and economically treating the assigned prison work.
At the end of the ten-year term, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is released from the camp, allowing him to return to his native places with his family.
Describing the image of Shukhov in the story, the writer reveals the moral and spiritual problem of human relations.
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