What is the main thing for Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. "One day of Ivan Denisovich" main characters

“Here, guys, the law is the taiga. But people live here too. In the camp, this is who dies: who licks the bowls, who hopes for the medical unit, and who goes to knock on the godfather ”- these are the three fundamental laws of the zone told to Shukhov by the “old camp wolf” foreman Kuzmin and since then strictly observed by Ivan Denisovich. “Licking bowls” meant licking already empty plates in the dining room for convicts, that is, losing human dignity, lose their face, turn into a “goal”, and most importantly, fall out of the fairly strict camp hierarchy.

Shukhov knew his place in this unshakable order: he did not seek to get into the “thieves”, take a higher and warmer position, but he did not allow himself to be humiliated. He did not consider it shameful for himself “to sew a cover for mittens from an old lining; give a rich brigadier dry felt boots right on the bed ... ”etc. However, Ivan Denisovich at the same time never asked to pay him for the service rendered: he knew that the work performed would be paid for at its true worth, the unwritten law of the camp rests on this. If you start begging, groveling, it won't be long to turn into a "six", a camp slave like Fetyukov, whom everyone pushes around. Shukhov earned his place in the camp hierarchy by deed.

He also does not hope for the medical unit, although the temptation is great. After all, relying on the medical unit means showing weakness, feeling sorry for yourself, and self-pity corrupts, deprives a person of his last strength to fight for survival. So on this day, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov "overcame", and at work the remnants of the illness evaporated. And to “knock on the godfather” - to report on his own comrades to the head of the camp, Shukhov knew, was generally the last thing. After all, this means trying to save yourself at the expense of others, alone - and this is impossible in the camp. Here, either jointly, shoulder to shoulder, to do a common forced labor, standing up for each other in case of emergency (as the Shukhov brigade stood up for their foreman at work before the construction foreman Der), or live trembling for their lives, expecting that at night you will be killed by your own people. or comrades in misfortune.

However, there were also rules that were not formulated by anyone, but nevertheless were strictly observed by Shukhov. He firmly knew that it was useless to fight the system directly, as, for example, captain Buinovsky is trying to do. The falsity of Buinovsky’s position, refusing, if not to reconcile, then at least outwardly submit to circumstances, was clearly manifested when, at the end of the working day, he was taken away for ten days to an ice cell, which in those conditions meant certain death. However, Shukhov did not intend to completely submit to the system, as if he felt that the entire camp order served one task - to turn adults, independent people into children, weak-willed performers of other people's whims, in a word - into a herd.

In order to prevent this, it is necessary to create your own world, in which there is no access to the all-seeing eye of the guards and their minions. Almost every camp inmate had such a field: Tsezar Markovich discusses art with people close to him, Alyoshka the Baptist finds himself in his faith, while Shukhov tries, as far as possible, to earn an extra piece of bread with his own hands, even if it requires him sometimes break the laws of the camp. So, he carries through the "shmon", a search, a hacksaw blade, knowing what threatens him with its discovery. However, you can make a knife out of linen, with the help of which, in exchange for bread and tobacco, mend shoes for others, cut spoons, etc. Thus, he remains a real Russian peasant in the zone - hardworking, economic, skillful. It is also surprising that even here, in the zone, Ivan Denisovich continues to take care of his family, even refuses parcels, realizing how difficult it will be for his wife to collect this parcel. But the camp system, among other things, seeks to kill in a person this sense of responsibility for another, to break all family ties, to make the convict completely dependent on the order of the zone.

Work occupies a special place in Shukhov's life. He does not know how to sit idle, does not know how to work carelessly. This was especially evident in the episode of the construction of the boiler house: Shukhov puts his whole soul into forced labor, enjoys the very process of laying the wall and is proud of the results of his work. Labor also has a therapeutic effect: it drives away ailments, warms, and, most importantly, brings the members of the brigade together, restores to them a sense of human brotherhood, which the camp system unsuccessfully tried to kill.

Solzhenitsyn also refutes one of the stable Marxist dogmas, along the way answering a very difficult question: how did the Stalinist system manage to raise the country from ruins twice in such a short time - after the revolution and after the war? It is known that much in the country was done by the hands of prisoners, but official science taught that slave labor was unproductive. But the cynicism of Stalin's policy lay in the fact that in the camps, for the most part, the best turned out to be - such as Shukhov, the Estonian Kildigs, the captain Buinovsky and many others. These people simply did not know how to work poorly, they put their soul into any work, no matter how difficult and humiliating it was. It was the hands of the Shukhovs who built the White Sea Canal, Magnitogorsk, Dneproges, and restored the country destroyed by the war. Cut off from families, from home, from their usual worries, these people gave all their strength to work, finding their salvation in it and at the same time unconsciously asserting the power of despotic power.

Shukhov, apparently, religious man, however, his life is consistent with most Christian commandments and laws. “Give us our daily bread today,” says main prayer All Christians Our Father. The meaning of these deep words is simple - you need to take care only of the essentials, being able to refuse the necessary for the sake of the necessary and be content with what you have. Such an attitude to life gives a person an amazing ability to enjoy the little.

The camp is powerless to do anything with the soul of Ivan Denisovich, and one day he will be released as a man unbroken, not crippled by the system, who survived in the fight against it. And Solzhenitsyn sees the reasons for this firmness in the primordially correct life position a simple Russian peasant, a peasant, accustomed to coping with difficulties, finding joy in work and in those little joys that life sometimes bestows on him. Like the once great humanists Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, the writer urges to learn from such people the attitude to life, to stand in the most desperate circumstances, to save face in any situation.

The idea of ​​the story came to the mind of the writer when he was serving time in the Ekibastuz concentration camp. Shukhov - main character“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is a collective image. He embodies the features of the prisoners who were with the writer in the camp. This is the first published work of the author, which brought Solzhenitsyn worldwide fame. In his narrative, which has a realistic direction, the writer touches on the topic of the relationship of people deprived of their freedom, their understanding of honor and dignity in inhuman conditions of survival.

Characteristics of the heroes of "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

Main characters

Minor characters

Brigadier Tyurin	In Solzhenitsyn's story, Tyurin is a Russian peasant who cheers for the brigade with his soul. Fair and independent. The life of the brigade depends on his decisions. Smart and honest. He got into the camp as the son of a fist, he is respected among his comrades, they try not to let him down. This is not the first time in the Tyurin camp, he can go against the authorities.
Captain of the second rank Buinovsky	A hero of those who do not hide behind the backs of others, but impractical. He has recently been in the zone, so he still does not understand the intricacies of camp life, the prisoners respect him. Ready to stand up for others, respects justice. He tries to stay cheerful, but his health is already failing.
Film director Cesar Markovich	A person who is far from reality. He often receives rich parcels from home, and this gives him the opportunity to get a good job. Likes to talk about cinema and art. He works in a warm office, so he is far from the problems of cellmates. There is no cunning in him, so Shukhov helps him. Not spiteful and not greedy.
Alyosha - Baptist	Calm young man, sitting for the faith. His convictions did not waver, but were further strengthened after the conclusion. Harmless and unpretentious, he constantly argues with Shukhov about religious issues. Clean, with clear eyes.
Stenka Klevshin	He is deaf, so he is almost always silent. He was in a concentration camp in Buchenwald, organized subversive activities, smuggled weapons into the camp. The Germans brutally tortured the soldier. Now he is already in the Soviet zone for "treason against the motherland."
Fetyukov	Only negative characteristics prevail in the description of this character: weak-willed, unreliable, cowardly, unable to stand up for himself. Causes contempt. In the zone, he is engaged in begging, does not disdain to lick plates, and collect cigarette butts from a spittoon.
Two Estonians	Tall, thin, even outwardly similar to each other, like brothers, although they met only in the zone. Calm, not warlike, reasonable, capable of mutual assistance.
Yu-81	Significant image of an old convict. He spent his whole life in camps and exiles, but he never caved in to anyone. Causes universal respectful respect. Unlike others, bread is placed not on a dirty table, but on a clean rag.

This was an incomplete description of the heroes of the story, the list of which is much larger in the work “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” itself. This table of characteristics can be used to answer questions in literature lessons.

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Ivan Denisovich Shukhov- a prisoner. The prototype of the protagonist was the soldier Shukhov, who fought with the author in the Great Patriotic war but never sat. The camp experience of the author himself and other prisoners served as material for creating the image of ID. This is a story about one day of camp life from getting up to lights out. The action takes place in the winter of 1951 in one of the Siberian hard labor camps.

ID, forty years old, left for the war on June 23, 1941, from the village of Temgenevo, near Polomnia. His wife and two daughters remained at home (the son died young). I.D. served eight years (seven in the North, in Ust-Izhma), he is serving the ninth - the term of imprisonment ends. According to the “case”, it is believed that he sat down for treason - he surrendered, and returned because he was carrying out the task of German intelligence. During the investigation, he signed all this nonsense - the calculation was simple: "if you don't sign it - a wooden pea coat, if you sign it - you'll live a little longer." But in reality it was like this: they were surrounded, there was nothing to eat, nothing to shoot with. Little by little, the Germans caught and took them through the forests. Five of them made their way to their own, only two of them were laid down by the submachine gunner on the spot, and the third died of his wounds. And when the two remaining said that they had escaped from German captivity, they did not believe them and handed them over to the right place. At first he ended up in the Ust-Izhma general camp, and then from the general fifty-eighth article they were transferred to Siberia, to hard labor. Here, in convict, I. D. considers, it’s good: “... freedom here is from the belly. In Ust-Izhmensky you say in a whisper that there are no matches outside, they put you in jail, they rivet a new ten. And here, shout whatever you like from the upper bunks - the informers don’t report it, the operas waved their hand. ”

Now I.D. has no half of his teeth, but his healthy beard is sticking out, his head is shaved. He was dressed like all camp inmates: wadded trousers, a worn, dirty patch with the number Sh-854 was sewn above the knee; padded jacket, and on top of it - a pea jacket, belted with a rope; boots, under boots two pairs of footcloths - old and newer.

For eight years I. D. adapted to camp life, understood its main laws and lives by them. Who is the prisoner main enemy? Another prisoner. If the zeks had not quarreled with each other, the authorities would not have had power over them. So the first law is to remain human, not to fuss, to maintain dignity, to know your place. Not to be a jackal, but he must also take care of himself - how to stretch the soldering so as not to feel constantly hungry, how to have time to dry the felt boots, how right tool to learn how to work when (at full or half-hearted), how to talk with superiors, who should not be seen, how to earn extra money to support yourself, but honestly, not dexterously and without humiliation, but using your skill and ingenuity. And this is not only camp wisdom. This wisdom is rather even peasant, genetic. I. D. knows that working is better than not working, and working well is better than bad, although he will not take any job, it is not in vain that he is considered the best foreman in the team.

The proverb applies to him: trust in Vogue, but don’t make a mistake yourself. Sometimes he prays, “Lord! Save! Don't give me a punishment cell!" - and he will do everything to outwit the warden or someone else. The danger passes, and he immediately forgets to give thanks to the Lord - once and already inopportunely. He believes that “those prayers are like statements: either they do not reach, or “the complaint is denied.” Rule your own destiny. Common sense, worldly peasant wisdom and truly high morality help I. D. not only survive, but also accept life as it is, and even be able to be happy: “Shukhov fell asleep completely satisfied. During the day, he had a lot of luck: they didn’t put him in a punishment cell, they didn’t send the brigade to the Sotsgorodok, at lunch he mowed down the porridge, the brigadier closed the percentage well, Shukhov laid the wall cheerfully, didn’t get caught with a hacksaw on a raid, worked part-time with Caesar and bought tobacco. And I didn't get sick, I got over it. The day passed, unmarred by anything, almost happy.

The image of I. D. goes back to classic images old peasants, for example - Tolstoy's Platon Karataev, although it exists in completely different circumstances.

[in the camp]? [Cm. summary of the story "One day of Ivan Denisovich" .] After all, is it not just the need to survive, not the animal thirst for life? This need alone breeds people like canteens, like cooks. Ivan Denisovich is at the other pole of Good and Evil. That is Shukhov's strength, that with all the inevitable moral losses for a prisoner, he managed to keep his soul alive. Such moral categories as conscience, human dignity, decency determine his life behavior. Eight years of hard labor did not break the body. They didn't break their souls either. So the story is about Soviet camps grows to the scale of a story about the eternal power of the human spirit.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn. One day of Ivan Denisovich. The author is reading. Fragment

The hero of Solzhenitsyn himself is hardly aware of his spiritual greatness. But the details of his behavior, seemingly insignificant, are fraught with deep meaning.

No matter how hungry Ivan Denisovich was, he ate not greedily, attentively, he tried not to look into other people's bowls. And although his shaved head was freezing, he certainly took off his hat while eating: “no matter how cold, but he could not allow himself is in the hat. Or - another detail. Ivan Denisovich smells the perfumed smoke of a cigarette. “... He was all tense in anticipation, and now this cigarette tail was more desirable to him than, it seems, the will itself, - but he wouldn't hurt himself and, like Fetyukov, he would not look into his mouth.

Deep meaning lies in the words highlighted here. Behind them lies a huge inner work, a struggle with circumstances, with oneself. Shukhov "forged his own soul, year by year", managing to remain a man. "And through that - a particle of his people." With respect and love speaks of him

This explains the attitude of Ivan Denisovich towards other prisoners: respect for those who survived; contempt for those who have lost their human form. So, he despises the goner and jackal Fetyukov because he licks bowls, because he “dropped himself”. This contempt is aggravated, perhaps also because “Fetyukov, you know, in some office he was a big boss. I went by car." And any boss, as already mentioned, is an enemy for Shukhov. And now he does not want this goner to get an extra bowl of gruel, he rejoices when he is beaten. Cruelty? Yes. But one must also understand Ivan Denisovich. It cost him considerable spiritual effort to preserve human dignity, and he suffered the right to despise those who have lost their dignity.

However, Shukhov not only despises, but also feels sorry for Fetyukov: “To figure it out, so sorry for him. He won't live to see his time. He doesn't know how to put himself." Convict Shch-854 knows how to put himself. But his moral victory is expressed not only in this. After spending long years in hard labor, where the cruel "law-taiga" operates, he managed to save the most valuable asset - mercy, humanity, the ability to understand and pity the other.

All sympathy, all Shukhov's sympathy is on the side of those who endured, who possess strong spirit and mental fortitude.

Like a fairy-tale hero, Ivan Denisovich imagines brigadier Tyurin: “... the brigadier has a steel chest /... / it’s scary to interrupt his high thought /... / Stands against the wind - he won’t wince, the skin on his face is like oak bark" (34) . The prisoner Yu-81 is the same. "... He sits in the camps and in prisons innumerable, how much Soviet power costs ..." The portrait of this man matches the portrait of Tyurin. Both of them evoke images of heroes, like Mikula Selyaninovich: “Of all the hunched camp backs, his back was excellently straight /... / His face was all exhausted, but not to the weakness of a disabled wick, but to a hewn, dark stone” (102).

This is how “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” reveals “human fate” – the fate of people placed in inhuman conditions. The writer believes in the unlimited spiritual powers of man, in his ability to withstand the threat of bestiality.

Rereading Solzhenitsyn's story now, one involuntarily compares it with " Kolyma stories » V. Shalamova. The author of this terrible book draws the ninth circle of hell, where suffering reached such an extent that, with rare exceptions, people could no longer retain their human appearance.

“Shalamov’s camp experience was bitter and longer than mine,” writes A. Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago, “and I respectfully admit that it was he, and not me, who got to touch that bottom of brutality and despair, to which the whole camp life was pulling us ". But paying tribute to this mournful book, Solzhenitsyn disagrees with its author in his views on man.

Addressing Shalamov, Solzhenitsyn says: “Perhaps anger is not the most durable feeling after all? With your personality and your poems, do you refute your own conception? According to the author of The Archipelago, “... even in the camp (and everywhere in life) there is no corruption without ascent. They are close".

Noting the steadfastness and fortitude of Ivan Denisovich, many critics, nevertheless, spoke of his poverty and earthiness. spiritual world. So, L. Rzhevsky believes that Shukhov's horizons are limited by "one bread". Another critic argues that Solzhenitsyn's hero "suffers as a person and a family man, but to a lesser extent from the humiliation of his personal and civic dignity"

The story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" brought popularity to the writer. The work was the author's first published work. It was published by the magazine New world in 1962. The story described one ordinary day of a camp prisoner under the Stalinist regime.

History of creation

Initially, the work was called “Sch-854. One day for one convict, but censorship and a lot of obstacles from publishers and the authorities influenced the name change. chief actor described history was Ivan Denisovich Shukhov.

The image of the main character was created on the basis of prototypes. The first was a friend of Solzhenitsyn, who fought with him at the front in the Great Patriotic War, but did not end up in the camp. The second is the writer himself, who knew the fate of the camp prisoners. Solzhenitsyn was convicted under Article 58 and spent several years in the camp working as a bricklayer. The action of the story takes place in the winter month of 1951 at hard labor in Siberia.

The image of Ivan Denisovich stands apart in Russian literature of the 20th century. When there was a change of power, and it became permissible to speak aloud about the Stalinist regime, this character became the personification of a prisoner in a Soviet labor camp. The images described in the story were familiar to those who suffered such a sad experience. The story served as an omen major work, which turned out to be the novel "The Gulag Archipelago".

"One day of Ivan Denisovich"

The story describes the biography of Ivan Denisovich, his appearance and how the daily routine in the camp is drawn up. The man is 40 years old. He is a native of the village of Temgenevo. Leaving for the war in the summer of 1941, he left his wife and two daughters at home. By the will of fate, the hero ended up in a camp in Siberia and managed to serve eight years. At the end of the ninth year, after which he will again be able to lead a free life.

By official version The man was sentenced for treason. Considered that, having been in German captivity, Ivan Denisovich returned to his homeland on the instructions of the Germans. I had to plead guilty to stay alive. Although the reality was different. In battle, the detachment found itself in a disastrous position without food and shells. Having made their way to their own, the fighters were met as enemies. The soldiers did not believe the story of the fugitives and handed them over to the court, which determined hard labor as a punishment.

First, Ivan Denisovich ended up in a camp with a strict regime in Ust-Izhmen, and then he was transferred to Siberia, where the restrictions were not enforced so strictly. The hero lost half of his teeth, grew a beard and shaved his head. He was assigned the number Shch-854, and the camp clothes make him a typical little man, whose fate is decided by higher authorities and people in power.

For eight years of imprisonment, the man learned the laws of survival in the camp. His friends and foes among the prisoners had the same sad fate. Relationship problems were key disadvantage existence in prison. It was because of them that the authorities had great power over the prisoners.

Ivan Denisovich preferred to be calm, behave with dignity and observe subordination. A savvy man, he quickly figured out how to ensure his survival and a worthy reputation. He had time to work and rest, correctly planned the day and food, skillfully found mutual language with whoever was needed. The characteristic of his skills speaks of the wisdom inherent at the genetic level. Similar qualities were demonstrated by serfs. His skills and experience helped to become the best master in the brigade, earn respect and status.

Illustration for the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich"

Ivan Denisovich was a full-fledged manager of his own destiny. He knew what to do in order to live in comfort, did not shun work, but did not overwork himself, could outwit the warden and easily bypassed sharp corners in communication with prisoners and with the authorities. Ivan Shukhov's happy day was the day when he was not put in a punishment cell and his brigade was not assigned to Sotsgorodok, when the work was done on time and it was possible to stretch the rations for a day, when he hid the hacksaw and it was not found, and Tsezar Markovich let him earn some money for tobacco.

The image of Shukhov was compared by critics with a hero - Hero from common people, broken insane state system, found himself between the millstones of the camp machine, breaking people, humiliating their spirit and human self-consciousness.

Shukhov set a bar for himself, below which it was impermissible to fall. So he takes off his hat as he sits down at the table, ignoring the fish eyes in the gruel. So he preserves his spirit and does not betray honor. This elevates the man above the prisoners licking bowls, vegetating in the infirmary and knocking on the authorities. Therefore, Shukhov remains free in spirit.

The attitude to work in the work is described in a special way. The laying of the wall causes unprecedented excitement, and the men, forgetting that they are camp prisoners, put all their efforts into its rapid construction. Production novels filled with a similar message supported the spirit of socialist realism, but in Solzhenitsyn's story it is more of an allegory to " Divine Comedy» .

A person will not lose himself if he has a goal, so the construction of a thermal power plant becomes symbolic. Camp existence is interrupted by satisfaction from the work done. Purification, brought by the pleasure of fruitful work, even allows you to forget about the disease.

The main characters from the story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" on the stage of the theater

The specificity of the image of Ivan Denisovich speaks of the return of literature to the idea of ​​populism. The story raises the theme of suffering in the name of the Lord in a conversation with Alyosha. The convict Matrona also supports this theme. God and imprisonment do not fit into the usual system of commensuration of faith, but the argument sounds like a paraphrase of the Karamazovs' discussion.

Productions and film adaptations

The first public visualization of Solzhenitsyn's story took place in 1963. The British channel "NBC" released a teleplay with Jason Rabards Jr. leading role. Finnish director Kaspar Reed made the film One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1970, inviting actor Tom Courtney to collaborate.

Tom Courtenay in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

The story is of little demand for film adaptation, but in the 2000s found a second life on theater stage. A deep analysis of the work, carried out by the directors, proved that the story has great dramatic potential, describes the past of the country, which should not be forgotten, and emphasizes the importance of eternal values.

In 2003, Andriy Zholdak staged a performance based on the story in Kharkov drama theater them. Solzhenitsyn did not like the production.

Actor Alexander Filippenko created a one-man show in collaboration with theater designer David Borovsky in 2006. In 2009 in Perm academic theater Opera and Ballet Georgy Isahakyan staged an opera to Tchaikovsky's music based on the short story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". In 2013, the Arkhangelsk Drama Theater presented a production by Alexander Gorban.