Solzhenitsyn's One Day: Literal and Allegorical Levels

Soviet Russia has remained, since its inception and long after its downfall, one of the most inscrutable enigmas of modern history. Arguably one of the most secretive and dangerous states of the modern era, very little information went in or came out of Stalin’s totalitarian state. As a result, some of the most vivid and eye opening literature about Soviet Russia is realistic fiction, inspired by the precious few personal accounts of what actually went on behind the Iron Curtain.

One of the most captivating and horrifying aspects of Soviet Russia is the Gulag, or the Russian labor camp system. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is an account of the fictional character Ivan Denisovich Shukhov’s experience in a Soviet labor camp, and it delves into deep detail regarding the prison itself as well as the way it reflects the greater social structure in Soviet Russia as a whole. In the novel, Alexander Solzhenitsyn draws upon his own experiences in the Soviet Union prison camp system in order to paint a thorough picture of and criticize the political and historical landscape of the time period as well as the atrocities that occurred in the Gulag prison camps.

The most obvious interpretation of One Day involves looking at it strictly as a prison story. Especially in the eyes of modern, Western readers, the novel paints a horrifying picture of the barbaric practices employed by the Soviets through their Gulag prison camp system. Ivan’s description of how the guards “strip[ped) men in the cold” and arbitrarily sentenced prisoners to inhumane forms of punishment draws eerie parallels to the treatment of prisoners in German concentration camps during the Holocaust (Solzhenitsyn 17).

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Another piece of evidence that shows the inhumane and terrible treatment of Soviet prisoners is Ivan’s description of the prisons; their characterization as “large, bleak edifices” shows how oppressive they are (20). However, Ivan’s comment about how “a second wing had been added” to the prison because “there wasn’t room enough in the first” is extremely telling about the arbitrary and unjust penal system in the Soviet Union; the fact that such a large area was needed to house all the prisoners suggests that a large quantity of the prisoners had been convicted unjustly and unfairly (21). The most shocking aspect of labor camp life is embodied through “the hole”, or the solitary confinement cell that is regarded as the ultimate punishment for a prisoner (9).

Especially considering the questions being thrown around in the news today regarding the constitutionality of solitary confinement, the regularity with which prisoners were forced to live in solitary confinement acts as an accurate representation of the brutal manner in which prisoners were treated in the Soviet Gulag camps. While, on a literal level, One Day acts solely as a prison novel, one a deeper level, it forms a veritable cross section of Soviet society at the time period in which the novel takes place, and in doing so, Solzhenitsyn criticizes the Soviet system of government. The diversity of characters in the novel ranges from artists to criminals to soldiers, and this conveys the diverse nature of Russian society.

Ultimately, however, through the events that occur in the plot of the novel, Solzhenitsyn conveys the way the Gulag labor camp system can allegorically symbolize the societal problems faced by Soviet citizens. One of the most common themes echoed in the novel is that of shortage; from the “shortage of matches” to the “food in short supply”, Solzhenitsyn’s novel highlights the insecurities faced by the Soviet government and uses the events of the novel to condemn the shortages that plagued the Soviet system for a large part of its existence (9, 54). This idea is more explicitly stated in Ivan’s thoughts of the kolkhoz or communal farm that he is from; he reflects on the letters he received from his mother, which tell him of the horrible fate that has befallen the farm. The letter says that “the farmers were failing to fulfill their quota of work” which is symbolic of the missed quotas and lack of production that plagued the Soviet Union (19). Finally, the system of bribery and corruption that runs rampant in the labor camp is symbolic of the corruption that was so deeply inserted into the Communist party’s daily activities.

Through these symbols, Solzhenitsyn effectively conveys to the reader information about the sociopolitical landscape and setting during the timeframe in which the book takes place and condemns the Soviet system’s lack of production and its corruption. Ultimately, Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich can be interpreted on two different levels; a literal level, which gives the reader a deep understanding of the Soviet Russian Gulag system and an allegorical level which offers insight into the social and political landscape during the Soviet era. Together, these interpretations of One Day paint a vivid picture of life behind the Iron Curtain and give the stories of what happened during the Soviet era yet another dimension.

Works Cited

1. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isaevich, Ralph Parker, Marvin L. Kalb, and  A. Tvardovskiỉ. One Dayin the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York: Dutton, 1963. Print.