One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Cold
Katie Hughes
Mr. Lewis Pd. 4
PIB LA 10
31 February 2013
Cold
Constantly being cold has numerous negative effects on the health of the human body. It decreases the ability of the brain to function, weakens the immune system, places you at risk for viruses and hypothermia, and is simply dreadful. Although it is impossible for someone who is warm to imagine what this terrible sensation is like, the idea of continuously freezing is absolutely awful. If this prison camp had a nicer setting, such as a warm region with pleasant temperatures, the novel would have painted an infinitely less horrible picture. However, the unavoidable truth is that the climate is below freezing every day and is an obstacle for zeks throughout the book. In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn uses countless references to the freezing cold temperatures to stress that the camp inmates are not only imprisoned by humans, but are also constantly being punished by nature, and in these conditions, brotherhood is the only way to stay truly warm in body and soul.
The prisoners are treated very cold-heartedly, which is a physical manifestation of the actual cold they always feel. The foremen and authorities use the cold to their advantage to make every single moment as miserable as possible. Body searches in a comfortable climate are solely embarrassing, but the fact that they happen in such cold temperatures makes it unbearably worse. The weather is also good motivation for the prisoners: “the cold was fierce, but the foreman was fiercer” (62). Another example of unfair treatment is the sick bay. The authorities only allow the first two people who sign up to stay there, which is completely unreasonable for the size of the camp. Ivan has “no other wish in the world” but to lie down in sick bay and sleep (36). Ivan is not one to abuse sick bay privileges, and this is shown throughout the novel in how he finds ways to deal with Russia’s natural torture
Mr. Lewis Pd. 4
PIB LA 10
31 February 2013
Cold
Constantly being cold has numerous negative effects on the health of the human body. It decreases the ability of the brain to function, weakens the immune system, places you at risk for viruses and hypothermia, and is simply dreadful. Although it is impossible for someone who is warm to imagine what this terrible sensation is like, the idea of continuously freezing is absolutely awful. If this prison camp had a nicer setting, such as a warm region with pleasant temperatures, the novel would have painted an infinitely less horrible picture. However, the unavoidable truth is that the climate is below freezing every day and is an obstacle for zeks throughout the book. In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn uses countless references to the freezing cold temperatures to stress that the camp inmates are not only imprisoned by humans, but are also constantly being punished by nature, and in these conditions, brotherhood is the only way to stay truly warm in body and soul.
The prisoners are treated very cold-heartedly, which is a physical manifestation of the actual cold they always feel. The foremen and authorities use the cold to their advantage to make every single moment as miserable as possible. Body searches in a comfortable climate are solely embarrassing, but the fact that they happen in such cold temperatures makes it unbearably worse. The weather is also good motivation for the prisoners: “the cold was fierce, but the foreman was fiercer” (62). Another example of unfair treatment is the sick bay. The authorities only allow the first two people who sign up to stay there, which is completely unreasonable for the size of the camp. Ivan has “no other wish in the world” but to lie down in sick bay and sleep (36). Ivan is not one to abuse sick bay privileges, and this is shown throughout the novel in how he finds ways to deal with Russia’s natural torture