In his novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander Solzhenitsyn illustrates the struggle for the survival of the Zeks within the Gulag. He explains this effectively through the portrait of the experiences of a day in the life of Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, a prisoner worker in a Stalinist labor camp. Having had direct experiences with this communist regime himself, Solzhenitsyn defines Ivan and his routine as typical of those of an ordinary citizen within Russian society; just like he once was. It vividly presents the character of Ivan using various techniques to depict Ivan's existential approach to his imprisonment and survival within a brutal system of injustice. In One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Solzhenitsyn develops Ivan as an existential character to juxtapose and contrast the grueling environment propagated by Gulag authority through the example of Ivan's code of behavior and his smooth transition towards the absurd setting of the Gulag, in turn, producing symbols that serve to complement Ivan's existential characteristics. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Solzhenitsyn develops Ivan's existential nature through one of his most significant traits; the code of behavior by which he lives. Existential notions, according to the philosopher Sartre, frequently emphasize the idea of ​​choice; “Individuals are condemned, because they are free, to choose what they are going to be through their daily actions.” In other words, to distinguish himself, Ivan must remain in control of his actions by choosing to act rather than simply follow instructions. Solzhenitsyn underlines this through the description of the code of life that Ivan defends entirely on his own. From the beginning of the novel in which the awakening was called, Solzhenitsyn suggests that the aspect of choice not only defines the day, but allows Ivan to maintain his worth despite the strict disciplines of the camp. For example, Solzhenitsyn reveals that “[Ivan] never overslept…for the next ninety minutes…belonged to him, not to the authorities…”. Additionally, Ivan always remembered the words of his first squad leader, who told him that self-sufficiency was the key to survival – words that Ivan uses to maintain his individuality. By this, Solzhenitsyn illustrates Ivan's insistence on retaining his freedom of choice by refusing to devote his time to the authorities. Ivan's attitude towards food and the way he chooses to eat is also directly related to this, as Ivan strongly believes in his own strict approach to how food should be properly perceived and consumed within the camp ; “one had to eat thinking entirely about the food” (Solzhenitsyn 43), because when “[it is] gobbled up, [it] is…wasted” (Solzhenitsyn 25). Are the camp authorities determined to strip the prisoners of their humanity by tampering with one of the most basic human needs? food. However, Ivan's ability to differentiate when and how he eats places him "in the place of the prison guards"? master of his own actions, and therefore his choices maintain his existentialism. Despite Ivan's ability to conduct himself with dignity through his code, the Gulag remains a setting of chaos and absurdity, deepening Ivan's connection to existentialism. The idea of ​​absurdism in the existential world is present when "the world is not thus explainable, but it exists without apparent justification, foundation or purpose" ("What is existentialism? "). Ivan readily accepts his sentence and readily assumes the role of a prisoner, despite existing in a world "without apparent justification." A world where people frequently die of cold and hunger. The Gulag itself is based on absurdity, a camp in which most of the prisoners are innocent people who die condemned; a place where even corruption is dismissed as something usual and where corruption is the basis on which the entire regime is built. However, Ivan doesn't spend his time thinking about the reason for his reality, because after all, he himself was the one who pleaded guilty in the first place. Instead, he accepts the consequences because it is his reality, which is another quality of an existentialist; “[he] realized what [his] situation was and who [a], in that situation, chose to engage responsibly with the world around him in order to assert [his] freedom” (“Qu "is existentialism?" Ivan conducts himself in a way that is necessary despite the circumstances, and in a way, underplaying his chaotic surroundings only emphasizes the chaos present. Solzhenitsyn further uses specific literary devices to demonstrate Ivan's approach to life within the Gulag, namely symbolic objects, produced through his establishment of the absurd. Existential philosophy suggests that one of its defining characteristics is its emphasis on personal freedom, and as adapted from Sartre, “To be free is to recognize one's complete independence; make one's own life by one's own initiative” (“What is Existentialism?”). Ivan's hand-made spoon, of which he is extremely proud and which he even calls "his little baby", is a way for Ivan to maintain his "own initiative", allowing him to distance himself from the absurd behavior favored by environment of the Gulag (Solzhenitsyn 84). This gives him independence, which sets him apart from the majority of prisoners. The spoon itself becomes a means in which Ivan can freely express himself as an individual of his own free will, further isolating himself from the Gulag and allowing him to not only focus on survival, but to survive with decency . In a way, Ivan himself becomes a symbol, namely that of independence. This is linked to Kierkegaard's adapted existential philosophy of alienation, in which "the task of the self is to overcome alienation through self-becoming" ("What is Existentialism?"). This concept is present within the GULAG where “a zek's worst enemy is another zek,” further emphasizing the true isolation that Ivan experiences, even in relation to his fellow inmates (Solzhenitsyn 90). However, Ivan's ability to overcome this alienation by focusing on his own existence is not only what further defines him as an agent of existentialism, but also what allows him to defeat the other zeks and, more importantly , the Gulag authority. While opposing Soviet ideology, these concepts reflect existential philosophies. Solzhenitsyn uses this philosophy to oppose Stalin's regime, where unity characterized as conformity, as opposed to independence, is expected. He does this by revealing the control and empowerment that Ivan creates through his free will despite the system's constant pressures and orders to do the opposite. Thus, through the use of symbolism specific to Ivan, Solzhenitsyn establishes Ivan as an existential agent in order to oppose the power of the Gulag. At the end of the novel, Ivan reflects on his day, calling it “almost a happy day” because “he had not fallen ill” or been imprisoned (Solzhenitsyn 139). This reflects the existential quality of facticity as discussed by Sartre and de Beauvoir. These notions.