Week #4
“Step Lively!“ shouted the guard. “Step lively you in front“. To hell with your “Step Lively“. The zecks marched with measure tread, hanging their heads as at the funeral. Now we´ve nothing to lose--we´d been the last back anyhow. Ha would´t treat us like a human beings,now let him burst himself shouting.“
The prisoners were so hopeless, careless, etc. at that moment they thought they had nothing to lose, they thought that the guards had the right to treat them like trash because of the many years Ivan Denisovich and the other ones had been in jail they stop believing in a possibility to have human rights again
“Who is the zeck main enemy. Another zeck“
This is an opinion but I think the prisoners where terrified about everyone, they learned that the only people you can believe is in yourself. Being in a gulag makes you a cold person not literary, they turn into people that are only searching for food or just for surviving, like animals and they don´t care to betray their friends they start to care only about themselves. That is why they were so careful about the next movement of their mates.
Habibeh,
ReplyDeleteI thought that your choice of quotes was very interesting.
The first one speaks of a theme that I believe is very present in the book. Throughout the novel, we see various scenes where the prisoners are declined of basic human rights, and give a lot of importance to small things. At this point, the last gram of food or the smallest tool they can find is worth so much. That is because, as you said, they have nothing to lose. They are treated so badly and given so little, that they start to give value to the smallest things. Something that can be seen by your quote is the fact that the prison guards treat the zeks like animals, and at one point there is no point in fighting, however there is also no point in obeying. In this scene, they have nothing that can be taken away from them, yet they also have nothing to take away from the guards, so they just continue walking and let him shout. It is a interesting concept. Do you think that this could be extremely demoralizing? If so, is it one of their strategies, taking away the prisoner's hope?
For your second quote, it also struck me when I read it. As you said, I also believe that it reaches a point where they can only trust themselves. In this situation, the men become so desperate to make their lives the teeniest bit better that they will start taking away from others. That is what I believe happens when people have so little, they lose trust. However, there are men like Shukhov, who maintain their honour and values even when it means that it would not benefit them. This could be connected to our everyday society. I also think of the scene in the book when all the men are held back because one of them is missing. They become desperate, and start cursing and yelling. This is another situation when it only makes it worse that they have to be treated the same. If one of them will make all of them suffer, they will start becoming his enemies. This is a technique that will benefit the guards, in my opinion. Because the men will turn on each other, the guards will not need to worry about punishing the zek on their own.
Hello Ha !
ReplyDeleteI really think these two pieces from the text you chose are very interesting. The first one, as Bianca said, refers to the lack of human rights in the prison. I really think Gulag Camps are unfair because they treat the prisoners in a bad way. Even though, I do think criminals should be punished, the idea of these camps is too extreme. Do you agree ?
As the quote states, they've got nothing, to loose. That is because they have nothing! Literally! They have few amount of food and few privileges.
For the second one, I agree. This idea that everyone in the prison are friends but also enemies has been proven a lot times. It is true, if you are treated badly, you at least want to keep yourself alive. Many prisoners in these Gulag Camps have died and prisoners try avoid being part of that group.
Do you think there could be another place or way the criminals could be punished ? Are Gulag Camps the only option ?
-Good Job ! Great Post !