Brendan

POV -- what was the affect? 4/5 There were three artists in the camp. They painted pictures for the bosses, free, and also took turns painting numbers on work parade. This time it was the old man with the little gray beard. The way his brush moved as he painted a number on a cap made you think of a priest anointing a man's forehead with holy oil. He would paint for a bit and then stop to breathe into his glove. It was a thin knitted glove, and his hand would get too numb to trace the figures. The artist renewed the Shcha-854 on my jerkin. He wasn't far from the search point, so he didn't bother to fasten his jacket but overtook the rest of the gang with his rope belt in his hand. He suddenly spotted a chance of scrounging a butt: one of the gang, Tsezar, was smoking a cigarette instead of his usual pipe. I didn't ask straight out, though. Just took his stand near Tsezar, half facing him and looking past him. He was gazing at something in the distance, trying to look uninterested, but seeing the cigarette grow shorter and the red tip creep closer to the holder every time Tsezar took an absentminded drag. That scavenger Fetyukov was there too, leeching onto Tsezar, standing right in front of him and staring hot-eyed at his mouth. I had not a shred of tobacco left, and couldn't see himself getting hold of any before evening. I was on tenterhooks. Right then I seemed to yearn for that butt more than for freedom itself, but I wouldn't lower himself like Fetyukov, wouldn't look at Tsezar's mouth. Tsezar was a mixture of all nationalities. No knowing whether he was Greek, Jew, or gypsy. He was still young. Used to make films, but they'd put him inside before he finished his first picture. He had a heavy black walrus mustache. They'd have shaved it off, only he was wearing it when they photographed him for the record. p 23

Ivan abandoned his home 10 years ago the setting time, which was when Russia plunged into World War II in 1951. Moreover, he enjoys communing with his camp mates rather that his family. Ivan’s wife works in a kolkhoz and trades letters 2 times a year. An interesting thing his wife mentions is a new way of being wealthy. She said that some people got wealthy by making carpets with stencil and strongly encourages Ivan to do this. However, Ivan has not a lot of interest in dyeing carpets, and he is almost forty when out of the camp. Moreover, he does not like to use bribery, which is a substantial part in getting rich with carpets. A gang arrives in the Power station work site, and many camp members are delighted. Tyurin, the one respected by all members, is introduced. One of the gangs is assigned to the auto repair shop in the building. There are three gangs and Ivan, and the gangs talk in Estonian about when their next “blizzard” will come. Effect of Gangs? Relation with Ivan’s family and Ivan substantial?

What is challenging in the book and what methods are people using to overcome this? This intriguing novel gives the reader difficulty in language and the content it is talking about. Since it is not a exciting, fun, adventure book, it is hard for the reader to follow the book since it has many “boring” parts of the book. Moreover, the book is about a man’s life inside a barrack trying to live his life, so there are no many interesting things happening for the reader to be intrigued, yet. To overcome this, the reader should just do little amount of background research and keep on reading the book. What do u predict for the man to happen? I think the book will focus on Shukhov overcoming challenges and how he manages to survive in such a harsh condition. Therefore, he will not die nor have something devastating happend to him.