From the start of Tyurin’s story to the foreman’s check
The foreman of the gang, Tyurin, tells his tale of being
discharged from the army, despite a commendable performance, for
being the son of a kulak, or rich peasant. The
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin swore to eliminate this class in Russia.
Tyurin was told the authorities had been after him for two years.
When Tyurin was discharged, the Soviet army gave him a last meal,
then left him stranded at a remote outpost with neither rations
to get by on nor a travel pass with which to go anywhere. At this
point in Tyurin’s story, Shukhov begs his Estonian friend for a
cigarette. The friend gives him just enough tobacco for one cigarette,
which Shukhov puffs on, feeling immediately dizzy.
Tyurin’s tale continues. Stranded, Tyurin hocked his belongings and
bought bread under the table. He managed to sneak onto a train,
hiding among some students who protected him. When he got home he
found his family under siege. As a last hope for his younger brother,
Tyurin gave him away to a gang of roughnecks, hoping that a life
of crime would be good for him. Tyurin says he never saw his brother
again, adding that the Power Station is his new home, as well as
that of the whole gang.
“Come on, boys, don’t let it get you
down! It’s only a Power Station, but we’ll make it a home away from home.”
See Important Quotations Explained
Shukhov reminds the men that they should apply the mortar
before it gets dark. The men wonder who should be involved; four
men are needed. Thinking a while, Tyurin agrees to be the fourth
man on the mortar team. Pavlo jumps up, eager for work. The narrator
comments that love for one’s foreman can be a great motivator. The
men must chip away the ice on the walls before applying mortar. Shukhov
sets to work with total concentration, getting to know “every inch
of that wall as if he owned it.” Shukhov never makes mistakes, even
though he works quickly.
A business overseer named Der chastises Tyurin for the
tar paper in the windows. He warns Tyurin that the tarpaper could
mean another sentence for him. Shukhov feels bad for Tyurin. Meanwhile Gang 104 continues
to work furiously, even though Gang 82 is
quitting. Alyoshka politely and efficiently delivers more cinder
blocks; Shukhov reflects that he wishes all the men could be as
helpful as Alyoshka. Buynovsky hauls in another load of blocks,
and Shukhov compares him to a horse he once owned, who survived
under Shukhov’s loving care but died soon after the collective farm
took possession of him.
The sun has set. Tyurin inspects the work,
pleased with the gang’s achievements in half a day of labor. Tyurin
tells Shukhov to throw away the rest of the mortar and return to
camp. Shukhov, addressing Tyurin in a spirit of equality as “foreman” rather
than by his full name, tells him to go back without him. Senka,
another member of Gang 104, and Shukhov continue
laying blocks after the quitting signal. Senka urges Shukhov to
stop, but Shukhov realizes he must hide the trowel, and tells Senka
to go on ahead. When he has finished, Shukhov races to catch up. The
guards are gathered, ready for the count.
Shukhov asks Buynovsky where the moon goes when it wanes. Buynovsky
gives a scientific explanation that Shukhov rejects, asserting that
the moon is not hidden each night but destroyed, and that God breaks
it up to make stars. Meanwhile the guards note that a prisoner is
missing. Tyurin worries that one of Gang 104 was
left behind. The gang stays behind for a recount. Finally it is
announced that all members of Gang 104 are
present.
Analysis
Whoever had been laying there before
was either a bungler or a slacker. Shukhov would get to know every inch
of that wall as if he owned it.
See Important Quotations Explained
This section marks a change in the depiction of Tyurin’s
character from distanced foreman to sympathetic companion. Once
we find out that Tyurin’s punishment is just as unfair as the others’
punishments, we begin to see him as their equal. Before this point
in the story, Tyurin has been a vaguely sympathetic figure in the
background. He is a decent fellow, but at a mental and emotional
distance from the prisoners. He is above them in rank and power;
he is not one of them. But when the prisoners gather around the
fire and listen to Tyurin’s biography, they warm up to him without
losing any of their earlier awe or respect. Tyurin’s crime of being
the son of a kulak is not his fault, just as Shukhov’s
own crime for which he is punished at the opening of the novel,
being sick one morning, is not Shukhov’s fault either. The similar
undeservedness of Tyurin’s, Shukhov’s, and others’ punishments leads
us to see Tyurin as a friend to the other inmates rather than their
oppressor.
Shukhov’s growing warmth toward Tyurin shows the communist
ideal of hard work fostering camaraderie. Shukhov’s hard work earns
him the right to address Tyurin as an equal rather than as a superior.
He feels instinctively that because he has performed extraordinarily
well as a bricklayer he can address Tyurin familiarly as “foreman,”
rather than as the more official and polite “Andrei Prokofyevich”
that he usually calls him. Labor is the key to equality in Shukhov’s
mind, a sentiment that fits neatly with Soviet propaganda. According
to communist theory, class distinctions result from an unfair division
of labor in the capitalist system where some work and others do
not. When everyone works together, according to this logic, those
distinctions disappear. Tyurin and Shukhov become true comrades
in their common labor.
Buynovsky’s and Shukhov’s chat about the moon contrasts
peasant oral traditions with cold Soviet logic. Shukhov is interested
in understanding the way the moon waxes and wanes in terms of mythology,
not in terms of scientific fact. He really does not know that when
the moon wanes in its monthly cycle it is simply hidden from view.
He prefers the fanciful theory of God breaking up the old moon into
stars because it presents a strong visual image that he can readily
understand. Buynovsky, on the other hand, offers a strict, logical
explanation—the kind of rational analysis that the Soviet government
would offer. Shukhov rejects it, however, because it is too abstract
for him—it does not offer a visual picture that makes sense to him.
Shukhov’s clinging to peasant notions is symbolic of his general
resistance to the Soviet state.
Shukhov’s moon theory shows how relying on his own perception
of the world rather than on scientific logic has helped Shukhov survive
the prison camps. Shukhov conceives of the world with himself at
its center. He shuns the idea that the moon could hide every night
because he believes that if he cannot see the moon, it does not exist.
He does not rely on others’ researched explanations. Likewise, Shukhov
does not try to interpret the injustices of the camp in terms of
abstract notions of right and wrong. Rather, he focuses on his own
daily experiences. This personal point of view allows Shukhov to
survive in the camp when the more objective perspective that he
is nobody, an official statistic forgotten by society, would kill him
off. He is sturdily and stubbornly fixed at the center of his existence,
with nothing but questions of work, food, and colleagues keeping
him occupied.
