Line Illuminator- Gaetano Cremoux

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Page 134- 167
Line Illuminator
Rotation #5




"No horsing around with the bowls of stew. Shukhov was careful not to stumble. [...] "Hey, you, H 920. Gently, uncle. Out of his way, boy.""

To me, this was one of the most demonstrative quotes in the book. It showed me, more than anything else, the value of those 20-ounce portions of stew to these prisoners. In the first part of the quote, you can see how much Shukhov cares about the food, and how careful he is not to spill even a tiny drop of it. The second part of it shows how people go out of their way to not only not bother the carrier of the stew, but also make sure everyone else does too. To me, it shocking how important this small bowl of stew is to them. I cannot think of any circumstance in my life where I have gone through so much trouble to prevent some stew from spilling. For those of you who don't know, 20 ounces is equivalent to a Mountain Dew, or an Arizona Iced Tea.

A stew

An Arizona Iced Tea 

"Leave envy to those who always think the radish in the other fellow's hand is bigger than yours."

I found this quote very powerful. I thought that it was quite deep, and I really liked the analogy. I like how the quote really relates to the book, and how the people there are so envious about parcels and tobacco. However, my favorite part was the analogy, of how one can simply assume that the other person has something better without knowing. I thought that this analogy was intricately woven into the book, and was applicable to many circumstances in it.

An envious face