I chose to draw a pair of valenki boots for this blog post because this week's section of the book rotated around warmth, food, comfort, etc, and that all eventually came down to the boots. Not the hat he was wearing, the coat over his shoulders, or even the gloves on his hands, it was mainly the valenki or at least some kind of boots. For example, to stay warm, Shukhov would pack his boots with different kinds of rags to warm up his feet. Also, he also kept a spoon that meant a lot to him inside his boots, tying food/soups to the boots he was wearing. Adding on, he became really attached to boots he was given, and dreaded turning them in for a new pair that was better in the winter. This proves that the valenki become a very important symbol and part of life in gulag camps (or at least for Shukhov, who's the main character in the story, or at least for now,) symbolizing food sources, comfort, and heat.
I found it was a good way of demonstrating what is happening on these pages on the base of warmth, comfort, food, etc. I also found good how it was made based on the instinct of survival, because on this prison, it was full of prisoners, but the ones who took advantage, got what they found in the Gulag for their basic instinct survival. Also in the Gulag's you have to take advantage for the things you have, for example in the book, Shukhov would get his boots but to make them better he would put rags, so they would be more warm. Also sometimes when you receive something in these Gulag's, for you to take advantage of it, you would need to use these materials until it is practically unusable.
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was really good. I had never thought to connect the valenki boots with food, comfort, etc. Why do you think he became so attached to his boots and didn't want to give it up, though? I think you should mention the condition the prisoners lived in, like the fact that they could not own more than two pairs of footwear, to support your claim and help those who have never read the book understand.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I think your post was really good, you had an original idea, but you need to improve on some things
I thought that your pst helped me think about and make my own metafors to help me think more profoundly in the book. I also thought that your pictured really helped give the group a bigger perspective about the book and not just enclosed on this is horrible and other such thing.
ReplyDeleteI think that your post helped me understand what the prisoners need and how tragic their lives are, but I think that if you are more detailed it would have helped me understand it better.
ReplyDelete