ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH

ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN,

ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH

What was camp life like? What work did they do? What work did Shukov do?

What were the rules of the camp?

What was Shukov’s crime?

How often was food mentioned? Why?

How often was the weather mentioned? Why?

What kind of day was this, according to the author?

A good day? A bad day?

Why write a novel about a single day?

“A day without a dark cloud. Almost a happy day.” (167)

What does that tell us?

Was there any resistance in the camp?

Was it only the body that the Gulag controlled or also the mind? Did prisoners own their thoughts?

PARALLELS WITH PRIMO LEVI, SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ

Primo Levi wrote the following: “I read Ivan Denisovich with a red and blue pencil in my hand, marking in red the things that had been the same for us and in blue the things that were different.” (Conversations with Primo Levi, page 46)

When Levi was finished reading, was there more blue or red pencil in his copy of this One Day…?

“There are many things in common. In the first place, the lack of solidarity. There the prisoner is called a zek. And who is the zek’s worst enemy? Another zek—and this completely corresponds to my experience. Then, Ivan Denisovich has been selected by Solzhenitsyn as one who’s already been through the mill; he’s the equivalent of what among us was called ‘a low number,’ someone who knows how to organisieren, which means to operate illegally.”

One of the key differences between these two systems is that one was engineered to maintain life at the margins while instructing a fallen citizen and one was engineered to extract as much labor from an illegal person while ushering him to his death.

WRITING GUIDELINES

On the midterm, the written presentation of the essay was not a consideration. On the out of class essay, it is. Be sure to review your final draft before turning it into turnitin.com.

To fall into the A category, the essay has the following characteristics: demonstrate superior control of syntax and vocabulary, engage in sophisticated prose, fully explore ideas and offer effective examples and analysis, represent strong analytical thinking and precise logic, and be virtually free of errors.

Essays falling in the B category will have solid examples and some analytical reasoning, ideas that are explored with some relevant analysis, a variety of sentence types and use of precise vocabulary, and be largely free of errors.

Essays that fall into the C category will have flawed or imprecise thinking, ineffective connections between ideas or critical connections that are unexplored, some organizational weakness to the paragraphs, and marginal awkwardness or imprecision to the prose. Errors in the C paper will be noticeable but will not obscure meaning.

Essays in the D category will show flawed thinking or a lack of an original argument, mention ideas without exploring them, provide sweeping generalities rather with little or no analysis, have paragraph and structural weaknesses that disrupt the essay’s fluency, and have simplistic vocabulary and frequent errors that impede meaning.

In terms of how to write the essay that is due next Friday, consider the following ideas.

1. STRIVE FOR SIGNIFICANCE! Do not just describe the what. We practice deep thinking every day, and even if the participation has not been all that widespread this quarter, you probably notice that students make good claims based on the questions in class. Pay attention to those questions and responses. And how often is the question a what, when, or who question? It is usually something like this: what is the meaning of this source, event, image, or document? You MUST STRIVE FOR MEANING in your writing. When you write academic essays, you are supposed to be offering a thesis and providing evidence that suggests why your thesis is correct. If you are having trouble creating a thesis, it means you need to do more reading on the subject. Then, test your thesis: can you disagree with it? If not, then it is no good.

2. EDIT LIKE CRAZY! Do not allow yourself to turn in a final draft that has a single typo, misspelled word, missing capital letter or period, or any other simple editing mistake. Simple editing mistakes will be penalized with great severity. Now, I am not talking about comma errors—those are more difficult to learn. But if you turn in a finished product that is edited in a sloppy way, do not expect any grade above a D.

SOME SIMPLE EDITING ISSUES THAT MIGHT FALL INTO THE PET PEEVE CATEGORY FOR SCHMOLL:

1.      “would of” versus  “would have”….there is NO SUCH THING AS WOULD OF!!!! Never ever write “would of” again;

2.     it’s versus its…This is a simple editing issue. It’s always means it is;

3.     With quotes, the period goes inside the quote, “like this.”

4.     You need a comma before the “and” in a list. I have friends named Tim, Bill, and Pam;

5.     The word very is very bad…okay, seriously, this is not a major issue, but just stop using the word very. (In fact, one goal in life should be to stop using adverbs: “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Stephen King);

6.     1960s is correct. There is not apostrophe there (1960’s is incorrect);

7.     Fragments are basic writing errors. Fragments sometimes occur unexpectedly in history papers because of the misuse of colons or semi-colons. For instance, check out the following:

The subjects I will study will be: art, history, and music. (that is a fragment)

The subjects I will study will include: art, history, and music. (this too is a fragment)

The subjects I will study will include the following: art, history, and music. (NOT A FRAGMENT)

8.     Run-ons. These are not as grammatically serious as fragments, but you should be slowly excising all run-ons from your written world.

Finally, since we do not have class next week, you have ample opportunity to get help.

YOU ALREADY PAY FOR IT. So use it.

GRAMMAR SUPPORT

You pay to have access to mywritinglabsplus. So use it! This is a program that will help you identify and target your specific grammar flaws.

Also, through this program you can send someone your essay and have it revised. It can be a great resource. Here is the contact info:  http://www.csub.edu/mwl/

RUN-ONS: Finally, one common issue at this level is the run-on sentence. Here is a way to understand it and fix it:  http://depts.dyc.edu/learningcenter/owl/run-ons.htm

Finally, feel free to email me next week as you go through the writing process. I will have access to email all week long.

WEEK EIGHT CLASS WORK

For the week that I am gone, I have devised a plan for you to be fully enveloped in historical thinking, so that you do not miss the class too much. Here is what you get to do during that week:

1.     WATCH ONE CRASH COURSE VIDEO:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HjvHZfCUI

USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War: Crash Course World History #39.

ANSWER THIS QUESTION AND BRING IT TO CLASS WITH YOU: While watching this video, answer the following question: How was Germany a battleground during the Cold War?

2.     WATCH ONE VIDEO ABOUT THE BERLIN WALL:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KQ88UEOxtZc

ANSWER THIS QUESTION AND BRING IT TO CLASS WITH YOU:  Who is Robert Lochner? Who is Brigitte Flunker? Write one sentence about each.

That is it.  Bring these answers with you to class, typed or written out.