(I EDITED THIS POSTED FOR MY SUMMATIVE BLOG)
Question #2: Historical Content
I chose this image to represent Shukhov and Alexandr as I ended my post by stating, "it can be said that Shukhov is Alexandr's mirror, as he sees the world the way Alexandr saw it" (Rechulski, 2014). I thought there wasn’t a more suitable image to represent this quote as it is both simple and complex at the same time. This image shows the simple/superficial component of the sentence. It is literally showing two “different” people that happen to be each other’s mirror, exactly like Shukov is Alexandr’s
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The book is based on a true story. Alexandr, the author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, has experienced what it was like to be a prisoner in a labor camp during the Soviet Union. He was accused of an anti-soviet propaganda and of "founding a hostile organization" in February 1945 and was sent to to a federal prison in Moscow to be interrogated. After the interrogation, he was named guilty and consequently sentenced to a 8 year term in a labor camp.
Alexandr was sent to 3 different camps throughout his life and his experiences inspired most of his books, including One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which was written based on the second camp he was sent to. This was a "special camp" for political prisoners, where he faced similar challenges to the ones the main character of the book faces such as, lack of food, rest, freedom, etc.
It is possible to say that the protagonist of the novel, Shukhov, is in fact, Alexandr in the time in which he was at the “special camp” for political prisoners. Shukhov clearly shows the reader how difficult life was for Alexandr in the camps, allowing the readers to understand further a prisoner's point of view. Such as their despair for food and for various other things which were being either kept away from them or been given to them in limited amounts. Overall, it can be said that Shukhov is Alexandr's mirror, as he sees the world the way Alexandr saw it.
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This image "defines" Gulags. I thought this image was the best one to represent both my post and the entire book because it is basically a summary of Shukhov's challenges and what he went/goes through in the camps. By writing this book Alexandr had the intent to spread awareness of what happened inside the camps since the government was "lying to the citizens." I believe this image does the same, as it "describes" what are Gulags in just one sentence. This image symbolizes Alexandr's work as we can say it is a summary/simpler form of it.
Gabi, I think your post was very informative and showed that you researched a lot clearly. After reading your post, I learned that Alexandr Solzhenitsyn wrote this novel based on his experience at the second camp. I agree that Shukhov represents the author while he was in the labor camp, because the descriptions of life in that place is so detailed, which showed me the author had actually experienced this himself. Also, it says that Shukhov has been in the labor camp for eight years, which is approximately how long the author has been in it. By the way, if you think Shukhov represents the author in the novel, do you think the other characters represent real people as well? Overall, good job!
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