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->''“Can a man who's warm understand one who's freezing?”''
-->--pondered by Shukov as he haggles with the med bay clerk

Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is a prisoner ("zek") in the Soviet Gulag system, imprisoned on charges of being a spy after being captured by the Germans and escaping, and sentenced to 10 years. At the time of the story, sometime during January, 1951[[note]]specifically the 23rd, going by the phases of the moon[[/note]], Shukhov is serving out his sentence in a special camp in Siberia. His number is Щ-854[[note]]the letter Щ is called "shcha", although the actual Russian pronounciation is closest to the Japanese "っしゃ" ("ssha")[[/note]] and he is part of squad 104. This book details [[DayInTheLife one day in his life]], as he struggles to live through another day.

This book, written in 1962 by Creator/AleksandrSolzhenitsyn and based on his own experiences in the camps, was the first widely distributed account of Stalinist repression, and helped raise awareness globally of the conditions in the system.

You can read it in its entirety [[http://www.davar.net/EXTRACTS/FICTION/ONE-DAY.HTM here.]]
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!! This book contains the following tropes:
%%* AssholeVictim: Those who squeal on their fellow zeks.
* BadBoss: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] by Shukhov when reflecting on the work gang leaders, noting that since the entire gang requires the leader to be competent enough to get his men favorable rations and work orders, one who can't is this by default.
* BeigeProse: Shukhov's narration tends towards clipped, simple sentences, regardless of his condition or the world around him--makes sense, given that he's apparently from a collective farm and a conscript, with no immediately evident higher education (it also makes sense in a meta way, since Solzhenitsyn absolutely HATED the sort of educated loyalist political prisoner who would get uppity about his conditions and make speeches to that effect [[{{Hypocrite}} while saying everybody else was guilty]]).
%%* ButtMonkey: the scavenger Fetyukov.
%%* TheCaptain: Bunovsky still acts like one, even though he's a prisoner.
* EasyComeEasyGo: The contents of Tzezar's care packages. Shukhov sympathetically points out that with all the bribes and "favors" he has to reward, the intellectual spends many days living on his camp-designated rations like the rest of them.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It's one day in the life of the zek Shukov, nothing more, nothing less.
%%* AFatherToHisMen: Tyurin.
%%* GuileHero: Shukhov. In fact, if you want to survive in the Gulag, this is practically a survival prerequisite.
* HandicappedBadass: Senka. Being deaf in one ear didn't make him any less able to kick some ass, which [[DirtyCoward Der]] nearly finds out first hand.
%%* InstitutionalApparel: "They weigh nothing, the numbers ..."
%%* KangarooCourt: Many people got imprisoned because the Soviet legal system is this up to eleven.
%%* KleptomaniacHero: Shukhov. However, he only takes things that don't clearly belong to anyone in particular.
%%* LikeASonToMe: Gopchik is this to Shukhov.
* MagikarpPower: Shukhov notes Gopchik is young but is learning how to survive very quickly, and lampshades this trope when musing about well off he will be.
* NoEnding: The book brings up several points and resolves them within the day presented, but ultimately, the book is exactly what it says it is: one day in the life of a gulag prisoner. At the end, he has not gained his freedom, and has nothing more to look forward to than another day in his sentence tomorrow, which will likely be similar to the one he just experienced.
* OneSteveLimit: Subverted? Averted? Whatever: Shukhov and Kildigs call each other "Vanya", as Kildigs' name is Jānis (or Jan or Johanns, depending on translation); both Jānis and Ivan are respectively the Latvian and Russian equivalents of "John" and under [[UsefulNotes/RussianNamingConvention Russian naming conventions]] shorten to "Vanya."
* ThePollyanna: Kildigs, who is always upbeat and cheerful despite being a prisoner.
* TheQuisling: Der, The Limper, the unnamed cooks who are in tight with the guards. This does not apply to all the prisoners, however, just the ones who use their positions for the explicit purpose of screwing over their fellow zeks for their own gain.
%%* PenalColony
* PrinciplesZealot: The navy captain who is still a devoted and committed supporter of the Soviet system, despite his sentence and status as a prisoner. He argues over his rights with a guard and is punished severely by the end of the story.
* PrisonersWork: The Gulag prisoners have to build the walls of a new building, and the main character mentions another labor camp where he had to cut trees.
* TakeThat: Just one example, from a different translation:
-->You don't have to be very bright to carry a handbarrow. So the squad leader gave such work to people who'd been in positions of authority.
* TrueArt: [[invoked]] Tzesar and another inmate discuss this in regards to Creator/SergeiEisenstein, specifically whether or not he's [[DancingBear style over substance]] or if the artistic merits of ''Film/IvanTheTerrible'' elevate it despite being apologia for [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin a horrible tyrant]]. Shukov doesn't have an opinion but can't get them to stop when he needs to talk to Tzesar.
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