One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Quiz

Answer: "the man with the moustache."

Censorship in the Soviet Union was strict and encompassed all of Soviet society. This included personal letters between people, and in 1944-1945 while writing to a school friend about Joseph Stalin, Solzhenitsyn was arrested. The authorities viewed certain remarks as disrespectful, even though Solzhenitsyn had tried to disguise their discussion of Stalin by describing him as "the man with the moustache." He was sentenced to eight years.

Answer: "First to go."

Early in the novel, Shukhov reminiscences about the advice his first gang boss, Kuzyomin, gave him. Kuzyomin, who had already been in the labor camp for twelve years said "it's the law of the jungle here, fellows. But even here you can live. The first to go is the guy who licks out bowls, puts his faith in the infirmary, or squeals to the screws."

The Soviet labor camps, known as Gulags, operated from April 25, 1930 to January 13, 1960 across the Soviet Union, including in Siberia. They housed a range of prisoners, be it farmers (Kulaks), those of the Polish army (Osadniks), those who had failed to meet a level of socially beneficial work (Ukazniks), those who were on their first or second criminal offence, hardened criminals and those imprisoned for political and religious reasons. Special camps were established for the wives and children over fifteen of the prisoners under the title 'Traitors of the Motherland'; the children under fifteen were placed in orphanages. The disabled and mothers who were still breastfeeding were likewise placed in separate camps, and scientists, some prominent, that had been arrested were placed in research camps (Sharashka).

Answer: A jersey

The prisoners were only allowed to wear the standard labor camp uniform. If they wore anything outside of those clothes the wardens feared that they maybe attempting to escape. In The Captain's case, he was wearing "some kind of jersey". When it was removed from him, he retorted "You're not Soviet people... you're not Communists!" This earned him ten days in solitary confinement.

The men's labor camp uniform consisted of an undershirt, trousers, boots, a cap, gloves and a black coat with a number on it. The coat was reminiscent of an old Soviet proverb: "A poor man's fur coat is of fish fur." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in his trilogy "Gulag Archipelago" describes the prisoner's clothes as being made of "Stalin's fur" in another testament to its lack of lining and warmth.

Answer: The Cooler

The Cooler refers to the solitary confinement cells located in the prison block. It is the only building within the camp that is made from stone, the rest of the camp being made from wood, and as Shukhov remarks "they'd finished building the second wing this Autumn -- one wasn't enough". Stone boxes in freezing conditions, the term "The Cooler" seems apt.

Answer: Shukhov

Throughout the book, the protagonist is rarely referred to by the name Ivan Denisovich, and is primarily called Shukhov. There are a few exceptions, such as Alyoshka who said "Didn't they put you in the cooler, Ivan Denisovich?" To which Shukhov replied in thought "they simply couldn't teach Western Ukrainians to change their ways. Even in camp they were polite to people and addressed them by their full name".

Another name assigned to Shukhov was his prisoner number which is the title by which the wardens called him, as this line illustrates: "S-854! the Tartar read from the white patch on the back of the black coat."

Answer: A blizzard

Early in the novel, Shukhov passes the thermometer, and muses on the unfortunate lack of extreme coldness, as he says "if it went down to forty-two below they weren't supposed to be marched out to work". Later that day, the men bemoaned that it hasn't been a real Winter this year: "you know there hasn't been a blizzard for a long time!... Not one storm all Winter! What kind of a Winter is that?" The rest of the men agreed "Yes... not a single blizzard... not a single blizzard."

The wardens were very hesitant to take the prisoners "out of the barracks -- let alone work" during a blizzard. They didn't fear that a prisoner may die in the extreme cold, but rather that he could escape in the blinding conditions.

Answer: His shoe

Eating utensils, including spoons, were not supplied to prisoners, so Shukhov's spoon was seen as a luxury. He had made it himself out of "aluminium wire and cast it in sand. And scratched on it: Ust-Izhma, 1944." At meal times he "pulled his spoon out of his boot."

Self-made spoons, mugs, pots and dishes have all been found in areas that were once Gulags, as prisoners were only given the option to eat with small bowls and their hands to eat the gruel or soup.

Answer: The two Estonians

Shukhov very carefully set out the twenty bowls for this gang: "twelve close together... six on top of them... two on top of those" to try and ensure that none of the bowls were stolen by another prisoner. Shukhov and Pavlo quickly rotated the bowls into the cook through a hatch two at a time, and the cook and Pavlo counted the amount off. Part way through the count, however, the cook turned to yell at one of the dishwashers and became distracted allowing Shukhov to speedily grab the two extra bowls and whisper to Pavlo to set the count at fourteen. The reason why he was able to add in the extra bowls to the full set of bowls that the cook could see through his hatch without him realising it was because the two Estonians took two of the filled bowls away. The two extra were later given to The Captain and to Caesar.

The way the two Estonians helped Shukhov's gang by not eating the much needed food for themselves was more than just currying favour in order to get something else. It was another instance of friendship and humanity in the novel.

Answer: Power plant

Tyurin, the gang boss of Gang 104, began to set out the work orders for the day to the men: "he sent the two Estonians and Klevshin and Gopchik to get the big cement-mixer from nearby and take it to the power plant. It was clear from this that the gang was being put on the unfinished power plant that they'd stopped working on in the Autumn."

In the Russian Arctic, some of the industrial cities used to be Gulags, such as Norilsk, Vorkuta, and Magadan, and thus the structures within these cities were built by prisoners.

Answer: Partial deafness

Senka is partially deaf after having "one of his eardrums burst back in forty-one". His advice to his fellow gang members, and particularly to The Captain who was new to the camps, was "if you kicked up a fuss you were finished."