The characters in the book each utilize different approaches to cope with the environment. The different characters included the guards, the gang bosses, assistant gang bosses, cooks, squealers, and prisoners. These groups each had their own hierarchy with a common goal of survival. One point that Ivan makes in the book is that they are all prisoners, even the guards. In the book Ivan at one point states that, "if a prisoner escapes the guard would take his place" (Solzhenitsyn, 114). The guards in the book would frequently take out their

One important survival concept that Ivan talks about in the book is the importance of living in the here and now. The author shows us one day in Ivan's life in order to show how the character concentrates on things that are happening, and not on what is yet to come or has already happened. Ivan at one point talks about the people that don't survive in the prison camp are those that get their hopes up that one day they will be released. During the story Ivan even points out that there is no going home, there is only you and the prison camp (Solzhenitsyn). Ivan does his best to live his life as it is happening. He especially does so when he is eating, "no rush, even if the place catches fire. Your time was your own only for ten minutes at breakfast, five minutes at noon, another five at supper" (Solzhenitsyn, 21).

The number one thing, in Ivan’s life is the search for food. The prisoners are given very limited rations. The rations that the prisoners were given were rarely, if ever, the specified weight. At one point Ivan comments, "you were always short weighted, the only point of interest was, by how much" (Solzhenitsyn, 28-29). The prisoners were also limited on the number of packages that they could send and receive. Packages were the secondary source of food for the prisoners, but the limit on packages meant a limit on the amount of food that could be sent by someone outside of the camp. The limit on the amount of food a prisoner could have added to the difficulty of life in the prison camp. The food situation in the prisons was difficult for all people. But even with such a burden they still worked. They worked because work meant food, and because food means life. To Ivan and these men, their existence was based on how far they were able to make their rations stretch. The men lived with the basic understanding that if they were hungry t

Some topics in this essay:
Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn Ivan, , prison camp, Shukhov Denisovich, gang bosses, amount food, food clothing shelter, ivan talks, limit amount food, prisoners guards, ivan prisoners, food prisoners, prisoners limited, protection weather, limit amount,