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Genre

Prison novel; political novel

Point of View

The narrator closely follows Shukhov’s experiences, perceptions, and feelings. When an important event occurs, the narrator discusses it within the frame of Shukhov’s understanding. This narrative technique, known as free indirect discourse, often makes it difficult to tell the difference between what the narrator is saying and what Shukhov is thinking.

Tone

The narrator uses a very simple vocabulary and syntax. There are few complex clauses or phrases, and the narrator speaks the way an uneducated peasant like Shukhov might speak. However, the narrator sometimes separates himself from Shukhov to show that he understands what Shukhov is too unschooled to grasp. For instance, he explains that the medical orderly Kolya is writing a poem, while Shukhov himself does not understand what Kolya is doing.

Tense

Past

Setting

A Russian labor camp called HQ, which is probably in Siberia, in the winter of 1951

Foreshadowing

Shukhov is threatened with a punishment of time in the hole at the beginning of the novel; Buynovsky receives this punishment at the end. Shukhov hides a bit of steel in his mitten at the Power Station, worrying about a guard discovering it; a guard nearly discovers it later. Tsezar is famed for the parcels of food he receives; he receives such a parcel toward the end.

Major Conflict

The protagonist, Shukhov, and his fellow inmates battle the unjust Soviet camp system and the cruelty of some of its officers. Shukhov experiences an inner conflict between an appreciation of material goods and a respect for spiritual well-being.

Rising Action

The menace of punishment in the hole for his belated morning rise, ferocious guards, and the dread of another day of work with aching muscles and a fever threaten Shukhov’s physical and mental well-being.

Climax

Shukhov avoids disaster and outperforms all his colleagues at the Power Station, laying bricks at breakneck speed. He asserts his personal worth through hard work, for which he is abundantly rewarded with extra rations of bread.

Falling Action

Shukhov enjoys the fruits of his hard bricklaying work, savoring the extra bread and double helping of gruel at supper; he is further satsified later when he gets some of Tsezar’s bounty.

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