Ivan Denisovich

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The novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich follows Ivan Denisovich Shukhov through one of his days in a Russian prison camp. Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was in a prison camp in Russia for several years. The camp he was sentenced to was very similar to the camp he wrote about. He also had very similar experiences to Ivan Denisovich. Solzhenitsyn laid bricks in a work camp, just as Ivan did. He was liberated from the camp the day Stalin died. Although he did not use any real names, many people feel he wrote this novel as a memoir and a way to expose the lies of the Russian prison camp system. Solzhenitsyn knew from a very young age he wanted to be an author. After he published this book in 1962, Solzhenitsyn was essentially…show more content…
Tiurin is a nice and respectful squad leader who actually works with his squad instead of just ordering the men around. If anyone threatens his squad, Tiurin can be intimidating. Tiurin has been in a prison camp for nineteen years, so he knows about the lifestyle in the camp. In the morning, for roll call, he has “never turned his men out for the roll call a minute too soon” (26). The men of his squad know they have to trust Tiurin, especially in the morning, when they can get in trouble for being late to roll call. Solzhenitsyn makes Tiurin have this punctuality because Solzhenitsyn knows how valuable two short minutes can be in the prison camp. The men of the squad have no trouble trusting Tiurin, which makes him an important figure in the book. Tiurin is not only a leader to his own men, but to his fellow squad leaders as well. In the morning, before roll call, when Tiurin tells his men to go outside, “the leader of the 20th, following Tiurin’s example, called in turn ‘Out you go’” (26). Even other squads depend on Tiurin to not let them be late. Squad leaders may seem important, but they are still prisoners, so they do not have very much authority in the overall scheme of the
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