“One day of Ivan Denisovich” is a story about a prisoner that describes one day of his life in prison, of which there are three thousand five hundred and sixty four. Summary - below 🙂
The protagonist of the work, the action of which takes place within one day, is the peasant Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. On the second day after the start of the Great Patriotic War, he went to the front from his native village of Temgenevo, where he left his wife and two daughters. Shukhov still had a son, but he died.
In February, one thousand nine hundred and forty-two, on the North-Western Front, a group of soldiers, which included Ivan Denisovich, was surrounded by the enemy. It was impossible to help them; from hunger, the soldiers even had to eat the hooves of dead horses soaked in water. Shukhov soon fell into German captivity, but he, along with four colleagues, managed to escape from there and get to his own. However, Soviet submachine gunners killed two former prisoners immediately. One died of wounds, and Ivan Denisovich was sent to the NKVD. As a result of a quick investigation, Shukhov was sent to a concentration camp - after all, every person who was captured by the Germans was considered an enemy spy.
Ivan Denisovich has been serving his term for the ninth year. For eight years he was imprisoned in Ust-Izhma, and now he is in a Siberian camp. Over the years, Shukhov has grown a long beard, and his teeth have become half as many. He is dressed in a quilted jacket, over which is a pea coat girded with a rope. Ivan Denisovich has cotton trousers and felt boots on his feet, and under them are two pairs of footcloths. On the trousers just above the knee there is a patch on which the camp number is embroidered.
The most important task in the camp is to avoid starvation. Prisoners are fed a nasty gruel - a soup made from frozen cabbage and small pieces of fish. If you try, you can get an extra portion of such gruel or another ration of bread.
Some prisoners even receive parcels. One of them was Tsezar Markovich (either a Jew or a Greek), a man of pleasant oriental appearance with a thick, black mustache. The prisoner's mustache was not shaved off, as without it he would not have matched the photograph attached to the file. Once he wanted to become a director, but did not have time to shoot anything - they put him in jail. Cesar Markovich lives on memories and behaves like a cultured person. He talks about the "political idea" as a justification for tyranny, and sometimes publicly scolds Stalin, calling him "dad with a mustache." Shukhov sees that the atmosphere in hard labor is freer than in Ust-Izhma. You can talk about anything without fear that they will increase the term for this. Caesar Markovich, being a practical person, managed to adapt to hard labor: from the parcels sent to him, he knows how to "put it in the mouth of those who need it." Thanks to this, he works as an assistant rater, which was pretty easy. Caesar Markovich is not greedy and shares food and tobacco from parcels with many (especially with those who helped him in any way).
Ivan Denisovich nevertheless understands that Tsezar Markovich still does not understand anything about camp procedures. Before the “search”, he does not have time to take the parcel to the storage room. The cunning Shukhov managed to save the good sent to Caesar, and he did not remain indebted to him.
Most often, Caesar Markovich shared supplies with his neighbor "on the nightstand" Kavtorang - sea captain of the second rank Buinovsky. He went around Europe and along the Northern Sea Route. Once Buinovsky, as a communications captain, even accompanied an English admiral. He was impressed by his high professionalism and after the war sent a souvenir. Because of this package, the NKVD decided that Buinovsky was an English spy. Kavtorang is in the camp not so long ago and has not yet lost faith in justice. Despite the habit of commanding people, Kavtorang does not shy away from camp work, for which he is respected by all prisoners.
There is in the camp and the one whom no one respects. This is the former clerical head Fetyukov. He does not know how to do anything at all and is only able to carry a stretcher. Fetyukov does not receive any help from home: his wife left him, after which she immediately married another. The former boss is used to eating enough and therefore often begs. This man has long since lost his self-respect. He is constantly offended, and sometimes even beaten. Fetyukov is not able to fight back: "he will wipe himself off, cry and go." Shukhov believes that it is impossible for people like Fetyukov to survive in a camp where you need to be able to position yourself correctly. The preservation of one's own dignity is necessary only because without it a person loses the will to live and is unlikely to be able to last until the end of his term.
Ivan Denisovich himself does not receive parcels from home, because in his native village they are already starving. He diligently stretches the ration for the whole day so as not to experience hunger. Shukhov does not shy away from the opportunity to "mow down" an extra piece from his superiors.
On the day described in the story, the prisoners are working on the construction of the house. Shukhov does not shy away from work. His foreman, dispossessed Andrei Prokofievich Tyurin, writes out a "percentage" - an extra bread ration at the end of the day. Work helps the prisoners, after getting up, not to live in the painful expectation of lights out, but to fill the day with some meaning. The joy that physical labor brings is especially supportive of Ivan Denisovich. He is considered the best master in his team. Shukhov competently distributes his forces, which helps him not to overstrain and work effectively throughout the day. Ivan Denisovich works with passion. He is glad that he managed to hide a piece of a saw that can be used to make a small knife. With the help of such a homemade knife, it is easy to earn money for bread and tobacco. However, the guards regularly search the prisoners. The knife can be taken away during the “shmon”; this fact gives the case a peculiar excitement.
One of the prisoners is the sectarian Alyosha, who was imprisoned for his faith. Alyosha the Baptist copied half of the Gospel into a notebook and made a hiding place for it in a crack in the wall. Not once during a search of Aleshino's treasure was found. In the camp, he did not lose faith. Alyosha tells everyone to pray that the Lord will remove the evil scale from our hearts. In penal servitude, neither religion, nor art, nor politics are forgotten: the prisoners worry not only about their daily bread.
Before going to bed, Shukhov sums up the results of the day: he was not put in a punishment cell, he was not sent to work on the construction of the Sotsgorodok (in a frosty field), he hid a piece of the saw and did not get caught in the “shmon”, during lunch he received an extra portion of porridge (“mowed down”), bought tobacco... This is what an almost happy day at the camp looks like.
And Ivan Denisovich has three thousand five hundred and sixty-four such days.
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At five o'clock in the morning, as always, the rise struck - with a hammer on the rail at the headquarters barracks. The intermittent ringing faintly passed through the panes, which were frozen to the width of two fingers, and soon died down: it was cold, and the warden was reluctant to wave his hand for a long time.
The ringing subsided, and outside the window everything was the same as in the middle of the night, when Shukhov got up to the bucket, there was darkness and darkness, but three yellow lanterns fell through the window: two in the zone, one inside the camp.
And the barracks didn’t go to unlock something, and it was not heard that the orderlies took the vat barrel on sticks - to take it out.
Shukhov never slept through the rise, he always got up on it - before the divorce there was an hour and a half of his time, not official, and whoever knows the camp life can always earn extra money: sewing a cover for mittens from an old lining; give a rich brigadier dry felt boots directly to the bed, so that he does not trample barefoot around the heap, do not choose; or run through the supply rooms, where you need to serve someone, sweep or bring something; or go to the dining room to collect bowls from the tables and carry them in slides into the dishwasher - they will also feed them, but there are many hunters there, there is no lights out, and most importantly - if there is anything left in the bowl, you can’t resist, you start licking the bowls. And Shukhov firmly remembered the words of his first foreman Kuzemin - the old one was a camp wolf, he had been sitting for twelve years by the year 943 and his replenishment, brought from the front, once said in a bare clearing by the fire:
- Here, guys, the law is the taiga. But people live here too. In the camp, that's who dies: who licks the bowls, who hopes for the medical unit, and who goes to the godfather to knock.
As for the godfather - this, of course, he turned down. They save themselves. Only their protection is on someone else's blood.
Shukhov always got up on his way up, but today he didn't get up. Ever since the evening he had been uneasy, either shivering, or broken. And didn't get warm at night. Through a dream it seemed that he seemed to be completely ill, then he was leaving a little. Everyone did not want the morning.
But the morning came as usual.
Yes, and where can you get warm - there is frost on the window, and on the walls along the junction with the ceiling throughout the barrack - a healthy barrack! - white gossamer. Frost.
Shukhov did not get up. He was lying on top of the lining, with his head covered with a blanket and a pea coat, and in a padded jacket, in one tucked up sleeve, putting both feet together. He did not see, but from the sounds he understood everything that was going on in the barracks and in their brigade corner. Here, stepping heavily along the corridor, the orderlies carried one of the eight-bucket buckets. It is considered a disabled person, an easy job, but come on, take it out, don’t spill it! Here, in the 75th brigade, a bunch of felt boots from the dryer slammed on the floor. And here - in ours (and ours today was the turn of felt boots to dry). The foreman and pom foreman put on their shoes in silence, and the lining creaks. The foreman will go to the bread cutter now, and the foreman will go to the headquarters barracks, to workmen.
Yes, not just to the contractors, as he goes every day, - Shukhov remembered: today the fate is being decided - they want to shove their 104th brigade from the construction of workshops to the new Sotsbytgorodok facility. And that Sotsbytgorodok is a bare field, covered in snow ridges, and before doing anything there, you need to dig holes, put up poles and pull barbed wire from yourself - so as not to run away. And then build.
There, sure enough, there will be nowhere to warm up for a month - not a kennel. And you can’t make a fire - how to heat it? Work hard on the conscience - one salvation.
The foreman is concerned, he is going to settle. Some other brigade, sluggish, to push there instead of yourself. Of course, you can't come to an agreement with empty hands. Half a kilo of fat to the senior worker to bear. And even a kilogram.
Trial is not a loss, why not try to touch it in the medical unit, free yourself from work for a day? Well, just the whole body separates.
And yet - which of the guards is on duty today?
He was on duty - he remembered: One and a half Ivan, a thin and long black-eyed sergeant. The first time you look, it’s downright scary, but they recognized him as the most accommodating of all the duty officers: he doesn’t put him in a punishment cell, he doesn’t drag him to the head of the regime. So you can lie down, as long as the ninth hut is in the dining room.
The carriage shook and swayed. Two people got up at once: upstairs was Shukhov's neighbor Baptist Alyoshka, and downstairs was Buinovsky, a former captain of the second rank, captain.
The old orderly men, having taken out both buckets, scolded who should go for boiling water. They scolded affectionately, like women. An electric welder from the 20th brigade barked:
- Hey, wicks! - and launched a felt boot at them. - I'll make peace!
The felt boot thudded against the pole. They fell silent.
In the neighboring brigade, the pom-brigade leader murmured a little:
- Vasil Fedorych! They shuddered in the prodstole, bastards: there were four nine hundred, and there were only three. Who is missing?
He said this quietly, but, of course, the whole brigade heard and hid: they would cut off a piece from someone in the evening.
And Shukhov lay and lay on the compressed sawdust of his mattress. At least one side took it - either it would have scored in a chill, or the aches had passed. And then neither.
While the Baptist was whispering prayers, Buinovsky returned from the breeze and announced to no one, but as if maliciously:
- Well, hold on, Red Navy men! Thirty degrees true!
And Shukhov decided to go to the medical unit.
And then someone's powerful hand pulled off his quilted jacket and blanket. Shukhov threw off his pea coat from his face and stood up. Beneath him, his head level with the top bunk of the lining, stood a thin Tatar.
It means that he was not on duty in the queue and crept quietly.
- Yes, eight hundred and fifty-four! - read the Tatar from a white patch on the back of a black pea coat. - Three days of kondeya with a withdrawal!
And as soon as his special choked voice was heard, as in the whole dim barracks, where not every light was on, where two hundred people were sleeping on fifty bedbug wagons, everyone who had not yet got up immediately began to stir and hastily dress.
- Why, Citizen Chief? Shukhov asked, giving his voice more pity than he felt.
With the conclusion to work - this is still half a punishment cell, and they will give you hot, and there is no time to think. A complete punishment cell is when there is no withdrawal.
- Didn't get up on the rise? Let's go to the commandant's office, - Tatarin explained lazily, because it was clear to him, and Shukhov, and everyone what the conde was for.
On the hairless wrinkled face of the Tatar, nothing was expressed. He turned around, looking for someone else, but everyone already, some in semi-darkness, some under a light bulb, on the first floor of the wagons and on the second, pushed their legs into black wadded trousers with numbers on the left knee, or, already dressed, wrapped themselves up and hurried to the exit - wait out Tatarin in the yard.
If Shukhov had been given a punishment cell for something else, where he deserved it, it would not have been so insulting. It was a shame that he always got up first. But it was impossible to ask Tatarin for leave, he knew. And, continuing to ask for time off just for the sake of order, Shukhov, as he was in wadded trousers, not taken off for the night (a worn, dirty patch was also sewn above their left knee, and the number Shch-854 was drawn on it with black, already faded paint), put on a padded jacket (she had two such numbers - one on her chest and one on her back), chose his felt boots from a pile on the floor, put on a hat (with the same flap and number in front) and went out after Tatarin.
"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (its original name was "Sch-854") - the first work of A. Solzhenitsyn, which was published and brought world fame to the author. According to literary critics and historians, it influenced the entire course of the history of the USSR in subsequent years. The author defines his work as a story, but by the decision of the editors, when it was published in Novy Mir, it was called a story "for weightiness". We invite you to read a short summary of it. "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is a work that certainly deserves your attention. Its main character is a soldier in the past, and now a Soviet prisoner.
Morning
The action of the work covers only one day. Both the work itself and the brief retelling presented in this article are devoted to its description. "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" begins as follows.
Shukhov Ivan Denisovich wakes up at 5 o'clock in the morning. He is in Siberia, in a camp for political prisoners. Today Ivan Denisovich does not feel well. He wants to stay in bed longer. However, the guard, a Tartar, discovers him there and sends him to wash the floor in the guardhouse. Nevertheless, Shukhov is glad that he managed to escape the punishment cell. He goes to the paramedic Vdovushkin to get a release from work. Vdovushkin measures his temperature and reports that it is low. Shukhov then goes to the dining room. Here, the prisoner Fetyukov kept breakfast for him. Taking it, he again goes to the barracks in order to hide the ration in the mattress before roll call.
Roll call, outfit incident (brief retelling)
Solzhenitsyn ("One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich") is further interested in organizational issues in the camp. Shukhov and other prisoners go to roll call. Our hero buys a pack of tobacco, which is sold by a man nicknamed Caesar. This prisoner is a metropolitan intellectual who lives well in the camp, as he receives food parcels from home. Volkov, a cruel lieutenant, sends guards to find an extra from the prisoners. It is found in Buinovsky, who stayed in the camp for only 3 months. Buynovsky is sent to a punishment cell for 10 days.
Shukhov's wife's letter
The column of prisoners finally goes to work, accompanied by guards with machine guns. Shukhov reflects on his wife's letters on the way. Their content continues our brief retelling. One day of Ivan Denisovich, described by the author, not in vain includes memories of letters. Probably Shukhov thinks about them very often. His wife writes that those who returned from the war do not want to go to the collective farm, all the young people go to work either at the factory or in the city. The peasants do not aspire to stay on the collective farm. Many of them make a living by stenciling carpets, and this brings in good income. Shukhov's wife hopes that her husband will return from the camp and will also become engaged in this "trade", and finally they will live richly.
The detachment of the protagonist that day works at half strength. Ivan Denisovich can take a break. He takes out the bread hidden in his coat.
Reflection on how Ivan Denisovich ended up in prison
Shukhov reflects on how he ended up in prison. Ivan Denisovich went to war on June 23, 1941. And already in February 1942, he was surrounded. Shukhov was a prisoner of war. He miraculously escaped from the Germans and with great difficulty reached his own. However, due to a careless story about his misadventures, he ended up in a Soviet concentration camp. Now Shukhov is a saboteur and spy for the security forces.
Dinner
So our brief retelling came to the description of lunchtime. One day of Ivan Denisovich, described by the author, is typical in many respects. Now it's time for dinner, and the whole squad goes to the dining room. Our hero is lucky - he gets an extra bowl of food (oatmeal). Caesar and another prisoner argue in the camp about Eisenstein's films. Tyurin tells about his fate. Ivan Denisovich smokes a cigarette with tobacco, which he took from two Estonians. After that, the team gets to work.
Social types, description of work and camp life
The author (his photo is presented above) presents the reader with a whole gallery of social types. In particular, he talks about Kavtorang, who was a naval officer and managed to visit the prisons of the tsarist regime. Other prisoners - Gopchik (16-year-old teenager), Alyosha the Baptist, Volkov - a cruel and merciless boss who regulates the whole life of prisoners.
A description of work and life in the camp is also presented in a work describing the 1st day of Ivan Denisovich. A brief retelling cannot be made without saying a few words about them. All thoughts of people are focused on obtaining food. The food is very scarce and bad. They give, for example, a gruel with small fish and frozen cabbage. The art of living here is to get an extra bowl of porridge or rations.
In the camp, collective work is based on how to shorten the time from one meal to the next as much as possible. In addition, in order not to freeze, you should move. You need to be able to work correctly so as not to overwork. However, even in such difficult conditions of the camp, people do not lose the natural joy from the perfect work. We see this, for example, in the scene where the crew is building the house. In order to survive, one should be more agile, cunning, smarter than the guards.
Evening
A brief retelling of the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is already coming to an end. The prisoners are returning from work. After the evening roll call, Ivan Denisovich smokes cigarettes, and also treats Caesar. He, in turn, gives the main character some sugar, two cookies and a piece of sausage. Ivan Denisovich eats sausage, and gives one cookie to Alyosha. He reads the Bible and wants to convince Shukhov that consolation should be sought in religion. However, Ivan Denisovich cannot find it in the Bible. He just goes back to his bed and before going to sleep he thinks that this day can be called successful. He had 3,653 more days to live in the camp. This concludes the brief recap. We described one day of Ivan Denisovich, but, of course, our story cannot be compared with the original work. Solzhenitsyn's skill is undeniable.
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The idea for the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" came to Alexander Solzhenitsyn during his imprisonment in a special regime camp in the winter of 1950-1951. He was able to realize it only in 1959. Since then, the book has been reprinted several times, after which it was withdrawn from sale and libraries. The story appeared in free access in the homeland only in 1990. The prototypes for the characters of the work were real-life people whom the author knew during his stay in the camps or at the front.
Shukhov's life in a special regime camp
The story begins with a wake-up signal in a special regime correctional camp. This signal was given by hitting the rail with a hammer. The main character - Ivan Shukhov never slept through the rise. Between him and the start of work, the prisoners had about an hour and a half of free time, during which they could try to earn extra money. Such a part-time job could be helping in the kitchen, sewing or cleaning the supply rooms. Shukhov was always happy to earn extra money, but that day he was not in good health. He lay and pondered whether he should go to the medical unit. In addition, the man was worried about rumors that they wanted to send their brigade to the construction of Sotsgorodok, instead of building workshops. And this work promised to be hard labor - in the cold without the possibility of heating, far from the barracks. The brigadier Shukhov went to settle this issue with the workmen, and, according to Shukhov's assumptions, took them a bribe in the form of fat.
Suddenly, the man's quilted jacket and pea jacket, with which he was covered, were roughly torn off. These were the hands of the overseer named Tatar. He immediately threatened Shukhov with three days of "conde with the withdrawal." In the local jargon, this meant three days in a punishment cell with a withdrawal to work. Shukhov began to pretend to ask for forgiveness from the warder, but he remained adamant and ordered the man to follow him. Shukhov dutifully hurried after the Tatar. It was terribly cold outside. The prisoner looked hopefully at a large thermometer hanging in the yard. According to the rules, at temperatures below forty-one degrees, they were not taken to work.
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Meanwhile, the men came to the guards' room. There, the Tatar magnanimously announced that he forgave Shukhov, but that he should wash the floor in this room. The man assumed such an outcome, but he began to thank the warden for mitigating the punishment and promised never to miss the rise again. Then he rushed to the well for water, thinking about how to wash the floor and not wet his felt boots, because he did not have a change of shoes. Once in his eight years in prison he was given excellent leather boots. Shukhov loved them very much and took good care of them, but the boots had to be handed over when felt boots were given in their place. For all the time of his imprisonment, he regretted nothing more than those boots.
After quickly washing the floor, the man rushed to the dining room. It was a very gloomy building filled with steam. Men sat in brigades at long tables, eating gruel and porridge. The rest crowded in the aisle, waiting for their turn.
Shukhov in the medical unit
There was a hierarchy in each brigade of prisoners. Shukhov was not the last person in his own, so when he came from the dining room, a guy lower than his rank was sitting and guarding his breakfast. Balanda and porridge have already cooled down and become almost inedible. But Shukhov ate it all thoughtfully and slowly, he reflected that in the camp the only personal time the prisoners had was ten minutes for breakfast and five minutes for lunch.
After breakfast, the man went to the medical unit, having almost reached it, he remembered that he had to go buy samosad from the Lithuanian who received the package. But after a little hesitation, he still chose the medical unit. Shukhov entered the building, which never ceased to amaze him with its whiteness and cleanliness. All offices were still closed. Paramedic Nikolai Vdovushkin sat at the post, and diligently wrote out words on sheets of paper.
Our hero noted that Kolya wrote something “left”, that is, not related to work, but immediately concluded that this did not concern him.
He complained to the paramedic about feeling unwell, he gave him a thermometer, but warned that the outfits had already been distributed, and it was necessary to complain about his health in the evening. Shukhov understood that he would not be able to stay in the medical unit. Vdovushkin continued to write. Few people knew that Nikolai became a paramedic only when he was in the zone. Prior to that, he was a student at a literary institute, and the local doctor Stepan Grigorovich hired him, in the hope that he would write here what he could not do in the wild. Shukhov never ceased to be amazed at the cleanliness and silence that reigned in the medical unit. He spent five whole minutes inactive. The thermometer showed thirty-seven and two. Ivan Denisovich Shukhov silently pulled on his hat and hurried to the barracks to join his 104th brigade before work.
Harsh everyday life of prisoners
Brigadier Tyurin was sincerely glad that Shukhov did not end up in the punishment cell. He gave him a ration, which consisted of bread and a pile of sugar sprinkled on top of it. The prisoner hurriedly licked off the sugar and sewed half of the given bread into the mattress. He hid the second part of the ration in the pocket of his quilted jacket. On a signal from the foreman, the men set off to work. Shukhov noticed with satisfaction that they were going to work in the same place, which means that Tyurin managed to reach an agreement. On the way, the prisoners were waiting for a "shmon". It was a procedure to find out if they were taking something forbidden outside the camp. Today, the process was led by Lieutenant Volkovoy, whom even the head of the camp was afraid of. Despite the cold, he forced the men to strip down to their shirts. Anyone who had extra clothes was confiscated. Shukhov's teammate Buinovsky, a former hero of the Soviet Union, was indignant at this behavior of his superiors. He accused the lieutenant of not being a Soviet man, for which he immediately received ten days of strict regime, but only upon returning from work.
After the raid, the convicts were lined up in fives, carefully counted and sent under escort to the cold steppe to work.
The frost was such that everyone wrapped their faces in rags and walked in silence, looking down at the ground. Ivan Denisovich, in order to distract himself from the hungry rumbling in his stomach, began to think about how he would soon write a letter home.
He was supposed to write two letters a year, and there was no need for more. He had not seen his relatives since the summer of forty-one, and now it was the fifty-first year. The man thought that now he has more in common with his bunk neighbors than with his relatives.
Wife's letters
In her rare letters, his wife wrote to Shukhov about the difficult collective farm life that only women pull. The men who returned from the war work on the side. Ivan Denisovich could not understand how one could not want to work on one's own land.
My wife said that many in their area are engaged in a fashionable profitable trade - painting carpets. The unfortunate woman hoped that her husband would also take up this business when he returned home, and this would help the family out of poverty.
In the working area
Meanwhile, the 104th brigade reached the working area, they were built again, counted and let into the territory. Everything there was dug up and dug up, boards and chips were scattered everywhere, traces of the foundation were visible, prefabricated houses stood. Brigadier Tyurin went to get an order for the brigade for the day. The men, taking the opportunity, ran into a large wooden building on the territory, a heating room. The place at the stove was occupied by the thirty-eighth brigade, which worked there. Shukhov and his comrades simply leaned against the wall. Ivan Denisovich could not resist the temptation and ate almost all the bread he had in store for dinner. About twenty minutes later the brigadier appeared, and he looked displeased. The brigade was sent to complete the building of the thermal power plant, left since autumn. Tyurin distributed the work. Shukhov and the Lettish Kildigs got the job of laying the walls, as they were the best craftsmen in the brigade. Ivan Denisovich was an excellent bricklayer, the Latvian was a carpenter. But first, it was necessary to insulate the building where the men had to work and build an oven. Shukhov and Kildigs went to the other end of the yard to fetch a roll of roofing paper. With this material they were going to close up holes in the windows. Tol had to be carried into the building of the thermal power plant secretly from the foreman and informers who monitored the plundering of building materials. The men placed the roll upright and, pressing it tightly with their bodies, carried it into the building. The work was in full swing harmoniously, each prisoner worked with the thought that the more the brigade did, each member of it would receive more rations. Tyurin was a strict but fair foreman, under his leadership everyone received a well-deserved piece of bread.
Closer to dinner, the stove was built, the windows were filled with roofing paper, and some of the workers even sat down to rest and warm their chilled hands by the hearth. The men began to tease Shukhov that he had almost one foot free. He was given a term of ten years. He has already served eight of them. Many comrades of Ivan Denisovich had to sit for another twenty-five years.
Memories of the past
Shukhov began to remember how it all happened to him. He sat for treason. In February 1942, their entire army in the North-West was surrounded. Ammunition and food ran out. So the Germans began to catch all of them in the forests. And Ivan Denisovich was caught. He stayed in captivity for a couple of days - five of them fled with their comrades. When they reached their own, the submachine gunner killed three of them with a rifle. Shukhov and his comrade survived, so they were immediately recorded as German spies. Then they beat me for a long time in counterintelligence, forced me to sign all the papers. If he hadn't signed, they would have been killed altogether. Ivan Denisovich managed to visit several camps already. The previous ones were not of a strict regime, but it was even harder to live there. At a logging site, for example, they were forced to finish their daily quota at night. So everything is not so bad here, Shukhov reasoned. To which one of his comrades Fetyukov objected that people were being slaughtered in this camp. So here it is clearly no better than in residential camps. Indeed, lately two informers and one poor hard worker were slaughtered in the camp, apparently confusing the sleeping place. Strange things began to happen.
Dinner of prisoners
Suddenly, the prisoners heard a whistle - a power train, which means it's time for dinner. Deputy foreman Pavlo called Shukhov and the youngest in the brigade, Gopchik, to take their places in the dining room.
The dining room at the factory was a roughly knocked together wooden building without a floor, divided into two parts. In one, the cook cooked porridge, in the other, the convicts dined. Fifty grams of cereals were allocated per prisoner per day. But there were a lot of privileged categories who got a double portion: foremen, office workers, sixes, a medical instructor who oversaw the preparation of food. As a result, the convicts got very small portions, barely covering the bottom of the bowls. Shukhov was lucky that day. Counting the number of servings for the brigade, the cook hesitated. Ivan Denisovich, who helped Pavel count the bowls, called the wrong number. The cook got confused, and miscalculated. As a result, the brigade got two extra portions. But only the foreman had to decide who would get them. Shukhov in his heart hoped that he. In the absence of Tyurin, who was in the office, Pavlo commanded. He gave one portion to Shukhov, and the other to Buinovsky, who had lost a lot in the last month.
After eating, Ivan Denisovich went to the office - carried porridge to another member of the brigade who worked there. It was a film director named Caesar, he was a Muscovite, a rich intellectual and never went to the outfits. Shukhov found him smoking a pipe and talking about art with some old man. Caesar took the porridge and continued the conversation. And Shukhov returned to the thermal power plant.
Memoirs of Tyurin
The brigadier was already there. He had knocked out good rations for his boys for the week and was in a cheerful mood. The usually silent Tyurin began to recall his former life. He remembered how he was expelled in the thirtieth year from the ranks of the Red Army because his father was a kulak. How he got home on the chaise longue, but he no longer found his father, how he managed to escape from his home at night with his little brother. He gave that boy to the thieves in a gang and never saw him again after that.
The convicts listened to him attentively with respect, but it was time to get to work. They started working even before the bell rang, because before lunch they were busy arranging their workplace, but they hadn’t done anything for the norm yet. Tyurin decided that Shukhov would lay one wall with a cinder block, and he enlisted the friendly deaf Senka Klevshin as his apprentice. They said that that Klevshin escaped from captivity three times, and even Buchenwald passed. The brigadier himself undertook to lay the second wall together with Kildigs. In the cold, the solution quickly solidified, so it was necessary to lay the cinder block quickly. The spirit of rivalry so captured the men that the rest of the team barely had time to bring them the solution.
This is how the 104th brigade began to work, which they barely managed to count at the gate, which is carried out at the end of the working day. Everyone was again lined up in fives and began to count with the gates closed. The second time they had to recalculate already with the open. There were supposed to be four hundred and sixty-three convicts at the facility. But after three recalculations, it turned out only four hundred and sixty-two. The convoy ordered everyone to line up in brigades. It turned out that there is not enough Moldavian from thirty-second. It was rumored that, unlike many other prisoners, he was a real spy. The foreman and assistant rushed to the object to look for the missing person, all the rest stood in the bitter cold, overwhelmed by anger at the Moldavian. It became clear that the evening was gone - nothing could be done on the territory before lights out. And there was still a long way to go to the barracks. But three figures appeared in the distance. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief - they found it.
It turns out that the missing man was hiding from the foreman and fell asleep on the scaffolding. The convicts began to vilify the Moldavian for what the world stands, but quickly calmed down, everyone already wanted to leave the industrial zone.
Hacksaw hidden in the sleeve
Already just before the search on the watch, Ivan Denisovich agreed with the director Caesar that he would go and take a turn in the parcel for him. Caesar was from the rich - he received parcels twice a month. Shukhov hoped that for his service the young man would give him something to eat or smoke. Just before the search, Shukhov, out of habit, examined all his pockets, although he was not going to carry anything forbidden today. Suddenly, in a pocket on his knee, he found a piece of a hacksaw, which he picked up in the snow at a construction site. He completely forgot about the find in his working fuse. And now it was a pity to throw a hacksaw. She could bring him a salary or ten days in a punishment cell, if found. At his own peril and risk, he hid the hacksaw in his mitten. And here Ivan Denisovich was lucky. The guard who was inspecting him was distracted. Before that, he managed to squeeze only one mitten, and did not finish the second. Happy Shukhov rushed to catch up with his people.
Dinner in the zone
Having passed through all the numerous gates, the convicts finally felt like "free people" - everyone rushed to do their own thing. Shukhov ran to the queue for parcels. He himself did not receive parcels - he forbade his wife to tear them away from the children. But still, his heart ached when a parcel came to one of the neighbors in the barracks. About ten minutes later, Caesar appeared and allowed Shukhov to eat his dinner, while he himself took his place in line.
kinopoisk.ru Inspired, Ivan Denisovich rushed into the dining room.
There, after the ritual of searching for free trays and places at the tables, the 104th finally sat down to supper. The hot gruel pleasantly warmed the chilled bodies from the inside. Shukhov thought about what a good day it was - two portions at lunch, two in the evening. I didn’t eat the bread - I decided to hide it, I also took Caesar’s rations with me. And after dinner, he rushed to the seventh barracks, he himself lived in the ninth, to buy self-garden from a Latvian. Having carefully fished out two rubles from under the lining of his quilted jacket, Ivan Denisovich paid for the tobacco. After that, he hurriedly ran home. Caesar was already in the barracks. The dizzying smells of sausage and smoked fish wafted around his bunk. Shukhov did not stare at the gifts, but politely offered the director his ration of bread. But Caesar did not take the ration. Shukhov never dreamed of more. He crawled upstairs to his bunk to have time to hide the hacksaw before the evening formation. Caesar invited Buinovsky to tea, he felt sorry for the goner. They were sitting happily eating sandwiches when they came for the former hero. They did not forgive him for his morning trick - Captain Buinovsky went to the punishment cell for ten days. And then came the test. And Caesar did not have time to hand over his products to the storage room by the beginning of the check. Now he had two left to go out - either they would be taken away during the recount, or they would be kidnapped from the bed if he left. Shukhov felt sorry for the intellectual, so he whispered to him that Caesar was the last one to come out for the recount, and he would rush in the forefront, and they would guard the gifts one by one.
Labor Reward
Everything worked out for the best. The delicacies of the capital remained untouched. And Ivan Denisovich received for his labors several cigarettes, a couple of cookies and one circle of sausage. He shared the cookies with the Baptist Alyosha, who was his bunk neighbor, and ate the sausage himself. It was pleasant in Shukhov's mouth from the meat. Smiling, Ivan Denisovich thanked God for another day lived. Today, everything turned out well for him - the disease did not bring him down, he did not end up in the punishment cell, he got hold of soldering, managed to buy self-garden. It was a good day. And in total, Ivan Denisovich had three thousand six hundred and fifty three such days ...
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One day Ivan Denisovich
This edition is the true and final one.
No lifetime publications cancel it.
At five o'clock in the morning, as always, the rise struck - with a hammer on the rail at the headquarters barracks. The intermittent ringing faintly passed through the panes, which were frozen to the width of two fingers, and soon died down: it was cold, and the warden was reluctant to wave his hand for a long time.
The ringing subsided, and outside the window everything was the same as in the middle of the night, when Shukhov got up to the bucket, there was darkness and darkness, but three yellow lanterns fell through the window: two in the zone, one inside the camp.
And the barracks didn’t go to unlock something, and it was not heard that the orderlies took the vat barrel on sticks - to take it out.
Shukhov never slept through the rise, he always got up on it - before the divorce there was an hour and a half of his time, not official, and whoever knows the camp life can always earn extra money: sewing a cover for mittens from an old lining; give a rich brigadier dry felt boots directly to the bed, so that he does not trample barefoot around the heap, do not choose; or run through the supply rooms, where you need to serve someone, sweep or bring something; or go to the dining room to collect bowls from the tables and carry them in slides into the dishwasher - they will also feed them, but there are many hunters there, there is no lights out, and most importantly - if there is anything left in the bowl, you can’t resist, you start licking the bowls. And Shukhov firmly remembered the words of his first foreman Kuzemin - the old one was a camp wolf, he had been sitting for twelve years by the year 943 and his replenishment, brought from the front, once said in a bare clearing by the fire:
- Here, guys, the law is the taiga. But people live here too. In the camp, that's who dies: who licks the bowls, who hopes for the medical unit, and who goes to the godfather to knock.
As for the godfather - this, of course, he turned down. They save themselves. Only their protection is on someone else's blood.
Shukhov always got up on his way up, but today he didn't get up. Ever since the evening he had been uneasy, either shivering, or broken. And didn't get warm at night. Through a dream it seemed that he seemed to be completely ill, then he was leaving a little. Everyone did not want the morning.
But the morning came as usual.
Yes, and where can you get warm - there is frost on the window, and on the walls along the junction with the ceiling throughout the barrack - a healthy barrack! - white gossamer. Frost.
Shukhov did not get up. He was lying on top of the lining, with his head covered with a blanket and a pea coat, and in a padded jacket, in one tucked up sleeve, putting both feet together. He did not see, but from the sounds he understood everything that was going on in the barracks and in their brigade corner. Here, stepping heavily along the corridor, the orderlies carried one of the eight-bucket buckets. It is considered a disabled person, an easy job, but come on, take it out, don’t spill it! Here, in the 75th brigade, a bunch of felt boots from the dryer slammed on the floor. And here - in ours (and ours today was the turn of felt boots to dry). The foreman and pom foreman put on their shoes in silence, and the lining creaks. The foreman will go to the bread cutter now, and the foreman will go to the headquarters barracks, to workmen.
Yes, not just to the contractors, as he goes every day, - Shukhov remembered: today the fate is being decided - they want to shove their 104th brigade from the construction of workshops to the new Sotsbytgorodok facility. And that Sotsbytgorodok is a bare field, covered in snow ridges, and before doing anything there, you need to dig holes, put up poles and pull barbed wire from yourself - so as not to run away. And then build.
There, sure enough, there will be nowhere to warm up for a month - not a kennel. And you can’t make a fire - how to heat it? Work hard on the conscience - one salvation.
The foreman is concerned, he is going to settle. Some other brigade, sluggish, to push there instead of yourself. Of course, you can't come to an agreement with empty hands. Half a kilo of fat to the senior worker to bear. And even a kilogram.
Trial is not a loss, why not try to touch it in the medical unit, free yourself from work for a day? Well, just the whole body separates.
And yet - which of the guards is on duty today?
He was on duty - he remembered: One and a half Ivan, a thin and long black-eyed sergeant. The first time you look, it’s downright scary, but they recognized him as the most accommodating of all the duty officers: he doesn’t put him in a punishment cell, he doesn’t drag him to the head of the regime. So you can lie down, as long as the ninth hut is in the dining room.
The carriage shook and swayed. Two people got up at once: upstairs was Shukhov's neighbor Baptist Alyoshka, and downstairs was Buinovsky, a former captain of the second rank, captain.
The old orderly men, having taken out both buckets, scolded who should go for boiling water. They scolded affectionately, like women. An electric welder from the 20th brigade barked.