Marxist Literary Theory in the most prominent anti-USSR novel
To what extent does “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” adhere to Marxist genre theory?
Marxist criticism literature explores the issue of social class and power and the treatment of lower-class people (Lisman, 1988, p.73). Within the novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, written in 1962, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn encompasses Marxist genre theory to express his socio-political criticism against the Stalinist era by portraying the social differences within the labour camp with the emphasis on the prisoners’ lives. The novel depicts one day in the life of the GULAG camp prisoner Ivan Denisovich Shukhov accentuating the atrocities of the prisoner’s life, depicting the division of power within a society and the treatment of the lower-class. The novelist achieves this through contrasting characterization of the prisoners and authority which highlights the flaws in the Stalinist regime. Solzhenitsyn reveals the conventions of the Marxist genre theory such as political, social, and religious contexts as reflections of social institutes to formulate his contempt against the oppressive totalitarian system of the USSR (Lisman, 1988, p.75).
The depiction of the political context within the novel embodies the first convention of the Marxist genre theory. Solzhenitsyn portrays the political context and expresses his prejudice through the characterization of authority as opportunistic. The novelist highlights the guards using power for their benefit when the captain tells Shukhov that the sun now stands highest at one so that they would have to work one more hour. The captain answers Shukhov’s question, “Who has passed that decree?” — “Soviet Power” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.57), underlying the force of those in authority. The capitalization depicts the dominion of authority over men, as the guards seek any opportunity to make the prisoners work longer through their power. This portrays the unfair treatment of the lower-class citizens, which adheres to the genre theory. The novelist expresses his critique of the USSR’s overuse of power by portraying the authority as a machine that has total control over its citizens, which is intensified through the symbolism of the authority controlling the sun.
Intending to develop his criticism through the depiction of the political context of the Stalinist era as one of the conventions of the Marxist genre theory, Solzhenitsyn characterizes the authority as animalistic — a predator hunting its prey, which further depicts the unfair treatment of the citizens. This is evident from Solzhenitsyn’s description of the Lieutenant when he forces the prisoners to take off their undershirts and describes him as “… a wolf indeed. He was dark, tall, with a scowl, very quick in movements” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.30). The novelist’s zoomorphism naming the character “Volkovoi” reflects the predatory characteristics of this character as in Russian “volk” means wolf. Moreover, the use of adjectives “dark”, “quick” creates unappealing visual imagery intensifying the authority’s animalism, directly criticizing its politics where citizens are portrayed as the prey for the predators such as Volkovoi, which reflects an unfair treatment of the lower-class.
To strengthen the negative portrayal of the political context in the form of an unfair governing, Solzhenitsyn characterizes the authority as unadmirable to highlight the flaws in the social power representations, thus, adhering to the Marxist genre theory. In the exposition, when Shukhov is asked to clean the guard-room, Solzhenitsyn emphasizes that “two guards in grubby tunics were playing draughts, and a third… lay snoring on a narrow bench” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.13). The auditory imagery portrayed through the use of the verbs “snoring”, “playing” characterizes the guards as shiftless objects not performing the required job. Furthermore, towards the denouement, Solzhenitsyn accentuates on the corrupt nature of the authority when he enters the parcel office, as he narrates, “If there was anything home-baked, or some tasty sweet-meats or sausage or smoked fish, the guard would take a bite at it himself” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.110). The reflexive pronoun “himself” depicts the greedy nature of the parcel office guard, as he steals from the lower-class, which further develops the writer’s criticism of the power divisions and unfair governing. The characterization of the guards in the camp as a microcosm of the political system of the Stalinist era reflecting the significant flaws in this system, such as greed, exaggeration of authority, and idleness. Therefore, this correlates with the Marxist genre theory, where the political bodies are usually presented as greedy screws within an oppressive authoritarian machine (Lisman, 1998, p.83).
The portrayal of the social context represents the second convention of the Marxist genre theory. It focuses on the treatment of the lower-class and social atmosphere. The prisoners can be viewed as the representations of the Soviet citizens trapped within the totalitarian boundaries. To depict the hardships of being a soviet citizen, the novelist characterizes the prisoners as mistreated. Solzhenitsyn outlines the improbity towards the prisoners as Shukhov referring to the former army sailor, as he states, “this man, who had sailed round Europe … leaned happily over half a ladleful of thin oatmeal kasha…” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.69). The author’s ironic tone is aimed to highlight the unfairness towards the labor camp prisoners as the man who fought for the USSR is now equated to the traitor. The inclusion of this example suggests how easy it was to be betrayed by the political system. This portrays the Marxist criticism characteristics of mistreatment of citizens and the inability of an individual to decide his destiny.
Solzhenitsyn characterizes the prisoners as hopeless to reflect on the social atmosphere within the USSR, thus further depicting the social context. As the prisoners march together from the power station to the camp, Shukhov reflects, “Hands clasped behind their backs, heads lowered, the column of prisoners moved on, as though at a funeral” (Solzhenitsyn 35). The synecdoche of a column depicts hopeless visual imagery suggesting the prisoners being operated by the totalitarian body as if these prisoners are a single mechanism. Moreover, the simile outlines the hopeless social mood within the USSR as the prisoners are being led towards their not only physical but rather metaphysical death.
Solzhenitsyn develops his social context portrayal through characterizing the prisoners as dehumanized, thus depicting the effect of the overpowered authority which maltreats its citizens. The novelist highlights such dehumanization when Shukhov describes the mess-hall and the image of a prisoner’s hunger. Thus, he states, “If someone doesn’t finish his skilly … there are always people hustling to pounce on it, like vultures” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.121). The unappealing kinesthetic imagery alongside the simile emphasizes their complete dehumanization, suggesting the triumph of the Stalinist machine in overpowering society. This relates to the Marxist genre theory as Solzhenitsyn examines the treatment of the lower-class people. Through the characterization of the prisoners, Solzhenitsyn depicts the social context prompting the hard truth of what it is like being a Soviet citizen — being under the omnipresent control (Lisman, 1988, p.76).
Furthermore the Marxist literary theory presents religion as an “opium of the masses” (Sashi, 1991, p.2563). This implies that the citizens seek a mental escape and, thus, come to religion in response to alienation experienced due to the suppressing authority. With an intention of portraying the religious context Solzhenitsyn depicts citizens as being addicted to faith, highlighting its negative effects. The prisoners who represent the citizens of the USSR resort to religion to console themselves with such opium. Solzhenitsyn is critical of faith as he characterizes it as deceptive. The character of Alyosha the Baptist states, “Why d’you want freedom? You should rejoice that you’re in prison… you have time to think about your soul” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.140). The sarcastic rhetorical question suggests that faith acts as an opiate to numb the pain of the hurting truth, creating the comforting imagery. Solzhenitsyn implies that faith misguides the citizens supplementing their willingness for a change, which maintains the separation between the social classes.
The novelist characterizes faith as justifying the suffering. The implied criticism of religion accentuates the prisoners being distanced from facing reality. Alyosha states, “But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he should … confess that name to the honor of God” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.25). The declarative sentence structure implies that faith distracts the believer’s attention from the desire for survival allowing the suffering to be maintained and perpetuated.
Lastly, Solzhenitsyn characterizes faith as surreal which correlates with the Marxist comparison to an opium. From Alyosha’s perspective, “If you have real faith you tell a mountain to move and it will move…” (Solzhenitsyn, 2000, p.138). The novelist’s hyperbolic expression suggests the surrealistic nature of faith. Solzhenitsyn views faith and religion as features that justify one’s social position by instilling false hope for salvation into the lower-class citizen’s mind.
Ultimately, the significant conventions of such a theory are embedded in the narrative, suggesting that the novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, adheres to the Marxist genre theory. Through contrasting characterizations of the prisoners and authority, Solzhenitsyn conducts his socio-political criticism through the Marxist lens highlighting the difference between the upper and lower classes. The novelist demands a change, thus highlighting the flaws in the Soviet system focusing on the treatment of the lower-class citizens. The result is a work that stands as a projection of the Stalinist era transported onto the pages of political fiction, which fully exemplifies the Marxist genre theory.
