A Comparison of Ivan Denisovich and The Narrative of Frederick Douglass
The pieces One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (ODIL) and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass texts that were published over a century apart and written under different circumstances. However, the stories that these Solzhenitsyn and Douglass tell in these books are very similar: ODIL presents a slice of the life of an everyman, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, who has been sentenced to ten years in a Soviet labour camp, but On the other hand Douglass's Narrative is an autobiographical account of Douglass’s early life. Both stories focus on how the trajectory of one’s life can be changed: one shows how a veteran can come back to his country and be thrown in prison, while …show more content…
At times the situations that both Shukhov and Douglass live in cause them to become disheartened, however as time progresses they look to the future and the positive outcomes it may hold. In the beginning of Douglass's Narrative, he views his position of servitude as his permanent place in society, as evidenced by him saying "You will be free when you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life!" (Douglass 83) to the white orphans. However when Mrs. Auld teaches Douglass how to read, he realizes his place in society and becomes determined to escape his fate as shown by his statement, "Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell" (Douglass 82). Even later in Douglass’s life, his hope manifests itself in his fight for abolition and the black vote which allowed him to induce major changes in the society around him. Shukhov also experiences the loss and gain of hope in ODIL. Many of the other inmates in the camp look forward to being released, however Shukhov is aware that he is unlikely to be let out on time since "Those zeks who finished their time during the war had all been 'retained pending special instructions' and had been released only in '46. Even those serving three-year sentences were kept for another five." (Solzhenitsyn 42). The fact that members of the 104th, namely Tyurin, have been given and second term and are regularly threatened with a third further decreases Shukhov’s optimism. Despite the large odds that he could get another term, Shukhov still remains clings onto hope for the future. The quote at the end of the book, "The end of an unclouded day. Almost a happy one. Just one of the 3,653 days of his sentence, from bell to bell." (Solzhenitsyn 182) proves that Shukhov remains confident that the future will be better for him. Solzhenitsyn and Douglass both cover the darker portions of their subjects’ lives; in order to show how
The pieces One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (ODIL) and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass texts that were published over a century apart and written under different circumstances. However, the stories that these Solzhenitsyn and Douglass tell in these books are very similar: ODIL presents a slice of the life of an everyman, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, who has been sentenced to ten years in a Soviet labour camp, but On the other hand Douglass's Narrative is an autobiographical account of Douglass’s early life. Both stories focus on how the trajectory of one’s life can be changed: one shows how a veteran can come back to his country and be thrown in prison, while …show more content…
At times the situations that both Shukhov and Douglass live in cause them to become disheartened, however as time progresses they look to the future and the positive outcomes it may hold. In the beginning of Douglass's Narrative, he views his position of servitude as his permanent place in society, as evidenced by him saying "You will be free when you are twenty-one, but I am a slave for life!" (Douglass 83) to the white orphans. However when Mrs. Auld teaches Douglass how to read, he realizes his place in society and becomes determined to escape his fate as shown by his statement, "Mistress, in teaching me the alphabet, had given me the inch, and no precaution could prevent me from taking the ell" (Douglass 82). Even later in Douglass’s life, his hope manifests itself in his fight for abolition and the black vote which allowed him to induce major changes in the society around him. Shukhov also experiences the loss and gain of hope in ODIL. Many of the other inmates in the camp look forward to being released, however Shukhov is aware that he is unlikely to be let out on time since "Those zeks who finished their time during the war had all been 'retained pending special instructions' and had been released only in '46. Even those serving three-year sentences were kept for another five." (Solzhenitsyn 42). The fact that members of the 104th, namely Tyurin, have been given and second term and are regularly threatened with a third further decreases Shukhov’s optimism. Despite the large odds that he could get another term, Shukhov still remains clings onto hope for the future. The quote at the end of the book, "The end of an unclouded day. Almost a happy one. Just one of the 3,653 days of his sentence, from bell to bell." (Solzhenitsyn 182) proves that Shukhov remains confident that the future will be better for him. Solzhenitsyn and Douglass both cover the darker portions of their subjects’ lives; in order to show how