There are many examples in this novel where Ivan Denisovich and his fellow prisoners witness others getting punished and they learn from other people mistake’s or their own to keep themselves out of trouble. The “Camp Commandant” and “Disciplinary Officer” (32) make rules that the prisoners have to follow and when rules are broken there will be consequences. These consequences are not punishments that people get as a child where they are “grounded”. They are life threatening punishments that are meant to inflict fear and render the prisoners inhuman. The prisoners know “ten days in [the] cell block […] meant your health was ruined for life” (168) (they can only know that if a fellow prisoner came out of the cell block in that condition or they
