Line illuminator- Katie W

"All the cook himself did was this: he poured the grits into the pot, adding salt; he divided the fat between the pot and himself (good fat didn't reach the zeks, and the rancid all went into the soup kettle, so when there was an issue of rancid fat from the warehouse, the zeks welcomed it as an extra). " (pg.70, Solzhenitsyn)

I chose this quote because I think that it really illustrates the difficulties of camp life. Some things that Ivan is often making observations about are the lack of good food for the prisoners and this quote really illustrates this. It also really conveys the idea of greed. This whole quote really centers around the greediness and laziness of the cook and the passages that follow focus on the same thing from other various management members. I think that the idea of laziness and greed is important in this story because Ivan always seems to be talking about he can make his stay in camp more comfortable and get as much as he can to do that. For example, Ivan steals extra oatmeal so he can eat as much as possible.

I think this picture illustrates greed well.

"And now Shukhov was no longer seeing that distant view where the sun gleamed on the snow. He was no longer seeing to prisoners....."(pg.90, Solzhenitsyn)

I really like this quote because I think that it shows that there can be moments of beauty, ease, and comfort during even the worst times. This quote is set during a part of the book when Ivan is working incredibly hard laying bricks. He is exhausted and completely freezing but over the years he has spent in camps he has learned to appreciate the small things that he can enjoy even if they are things that we find so difficult and terrible. He was finding focus and comfort in that grueling task and I think teaching us all a lesson about complaining about the work we have to do.

A ray of sunlight penetrating the darkness.