Saturday, October 12, 2019
The Theme of Hope in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Essay
The Theme of Hope in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich     In Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the strong themes of hope and perseverance are undercut by the realization that for Ivan there is little or no purpose in life. This is not to say that the themes of hope and perseverance do not exist in the novel. There are numerous instances in the novel where Shukhov is filled with hope. However, these moments of hope amidst the banal narrative of the novel raise the interesting question: Are these moments of hope pointless? The answer to this question may lie more in the individual human nature of the reader than in Solzhenitsyn's literary technique. Whether pointless or not, Solzhenitsyn offers many instances in the novel where the themes of hope and perseverance are evident. The glimpses of hope which Ivan Denisovich sees includes the few moments after reveille that the prisoners have to themselves, respecting his fellow prisoners, taking pride in a job well done, and enjoying simple food and tobacco.         Solzhenitsyn wrote One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in such a fashion that the brutality of the Soviet labor camps is not emphasized. Instead of focusing on the brutality of the camps, Solzhenitsyn focused on one day in the life of a very ordinary prisoner. However, the fact that Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is such an ordinary man and is still able to find hope in the most menial of tasks is inspiring. Joseph Frank states that "Solzhenitsyn's fundamental theme is precisely the affirmation of character, the ability to survive in a nightmare world where mora... ... Research Inc., 1992. Lucid, Luellen. ^à ®Solzhenitsyn^à ±s Rhetorical Revolution.^à ¯        Twentieth Century Literature 23 (1977): 498-517. Rpt in        ^à ®Solzhenitsyn.^à ¯Ã‚ World Literary Criticism: 1500 to the        Present. Ed. James P. Draper. Detroit: Gale Research        Inc., 1992. Remnick, David. Ressurrection: The Struggle for a New Russia.        New York: Random House Inc., 1998 Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.        Trans. Max Hayward and Ronald Hingely. New York: Bantam        Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc., 1990. Terras, Victor. A History of Russian Literature. New Haven:        Yale University Press, 1991. Wilson, Edmund. A Window on Russia: For the Use of Foreign        Readers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1943. Â
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