Life during the Soviet Gulag was not a very pleasant experience. Throughout the mid Twentieth Century in Russia individuals would be imprisoned, punished, and penalized daily not to mention, that extra ten years could be added for doing absolutely nothing. In addition to, imagine having to survive day after day in a Siberian labor camp where you were forced to work outside regardless of the weather conditions or better yet, your own health conditions. Ivan Denisovich Shukou, an inmate of the labor camp in 1951 shared his experiences as well of thoughts in detail. Throughout this book he manages to express his daily struggles on what it is the idea of surviving with dignity. Shcha-854 was the code given to him for identification as a prisoner where the corrupted prison system treated their inmates as slaves. In the book, Ivan fights the freezing cold, mediocre food, and the thoughts of hoping that his prison sentence is not extended for another ten years for a petty reason. Having spent several years of his life at the camp has managed to change his state of mind regarding survival. Throughout the books, he claims that theres only one way to survive in the camps; to those who rebel and show their fight are the first to die. …show more content…
Food was said to be very limited to the prisoners in addition, to being caught you would suffer from the burnt of the guards as well as the feelings of worry and panic as you question yourself: what if I get caught? Will my sentence be extended ten years? and so on. The narrator argues that in many ways, such feeling is not worth the