Ten years. In a Siberian work camp. Winter temperatures that reach zero during the day. Bad food and worse clothing. If you're lucky you won't freeze to death. Any motivation to keep going in this hell has to come from inside a person's heart and soul. And Ivan Denisovich Shukhov has plenty of both.
A surprisingly uplifting account of life in a prison camp, "One Day in the Life..." is about making the most out of whatever situation comes along. Shukhov was wrongfully convicted, but as he says, "if I signed guilty, I would live...if I claimed innocence and refused they would shoot me." So begins his life in the camp. But even this environment can bring small pleasures, and small victories. An extra bowl of soup at dinner - doing good work during the day - not getting sick - all of these things are small triumphs to be celebrated. To stoke the fires of the human spirit and make it possible to live another day.
"One Day..." is free of the political heaviness of many such works, and that's sort of the point. It doesn't matter WHY Shukhov is in the camp - it's that he's there at all. To fret about the fairness of his plight would be pointless. And so, in his own small ways, he perseveres. And while most of us (thankfully) cannot relate to what he is going through, his perseverance cannot help but speak to something inside each of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment