historical context- Blog post 3

1. How did historical events influence the ideas in the novel?  What cultural issues may have influenced, challenged, or inspired the author?
   
   
   The day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, is in fact, a historical fiction. But, according to Shmoop: "Though it's a work of fiction, One Day is set in the very real gulag prison system of the Soviet Union." One example of how the historical events influence the novel:
   "Go to the mess to stack bowls and carry them to the washers-up. You’d get something to eat, but there were too many volunteers, swarms of them. And the worst of it was that if there was anything left in a bowl, you couldn’t help licking it."
   
   
   Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (2005-03-16). One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel (Kindle Locations 143-145). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition. 
   According to Wikipedia: "His experiences at Ekibastuz formed the basis for the book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." As you can clearly tell, the book was written because of his personal experiences, so the quote above is probably one of the horrible and un-human things he had to do.
   
   
   
   
   
   Another example:
   "Because he had eaten only cold food, and gone without his bread ration at breakfast, Shukhov felt emptier than usual.
   
   
   Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (2005-03-16). One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: A Novel (Kindle Locations 569-570). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition. 
   
   
   
   
   Here, we can see how Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes Ivan denisovich's shortage of food, and this shortage is in fact, true: "To meet rising demand, prisoners worked longer and longer hours, and on lower food rations than ever before." Wikipedia. The book has a lot of different events from history and is very inspired from it.