Problems of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's story Cancer Ward. Problems of the story by A.I.
The work of the great genius, Nobel Prize winner, a man about whom so much has been said, is scary to touch, but I cannot help but write about his story “Cancer Ward” - a work to which he gave, albeit a small, but part of his life, to which he They tried to deprive us for many years. But he clung to life and endured all the hardships of the concentration camps, all their horror; he cultivated within himself his own views on what was happening around him, not borrowed from anyone; He outlined these views in his story.
One of its themes is that, no matter what a person is, good or bad, educated or uneducated; no matter what position he holds, when an almost incurable illness befalls him, he ceases to be a high-ranking official and turns into an ordinary person who just wants to live. Solzhenitsyn described life in the cancer ward, in the most terrible of hospitals, where people doomed to death lie. Along with describing a person’s struggle for life, for the desire to simply coexist without pain, without torment, Solzhenitsyn, always and under any circumstances distinguished by his thirst for life, raised many problems. Their circle is quite wide: from the meaning of life, the relationship between a man and a woman to the purpose of literature.
Solzhenitsyn brings together in one of the chambers people of different nationalities, professions, committed to different ideas. One of these patients was Oleg Kostoglotov, an exile, a former prisoner, and the other was Rusanov, the complete opposite of Kostoglotov: a party leader, “a valuable worker, an honored person,” devoted to the party. Having shown the events first through the eyes of Rusanov, and then through the perception of Kostoglotov, Solzhenitsyn made it clear that power would gradually change, that the Rusanovs with their “questionnaire management”, with their methods of various warnings, would cease to exist, and the Kostoglotovs would live, who did not accept such concepts as “remains of bourgeois consciousness” and “social origin”. Solzhenitsyn wrote the story, trying to show different views on life: both from the point of view of Bega, and from the point of view of Asya, Dema, Vadim and many others. In some ways their views are similar, in others they diverge. But mainly Solzhenitsyn wants to show the wrongness of those who think, like Rusanov’s daughter, Rusanov himself. They are used to looking for people somewhere downstairs; think only about yourself, without thinking about others. Kostoglotov is an exponent of Solzhenitsyn’s ideas; through Oleg’s arguments with the ward, through his conversations in the camps, he reveals the paradoxical nature of life, or rather, the fact that there was no meaning in such a life, just as there is no meaning in the literature that Avieta extols. According to her concepts, sincerity in literature is harmful. “Literature is to entertain us when we are in a bad mood,” says Avieta, not realizing that literature is truly a teacher of life. And if you have to write about what should be, then it means there will never be truth, since no one can say exactly what will happen. But not everyone can see and describe what exists, and it is unlikely that Avieta will be able to imagine even a hundredth part of the horror when a woman ceases to be a woman, but becomes a workhorse, which subsequently cannot have children. Zoya reveals to Kostoglotov the full horror of hormone therapy; and the fact that he is deprived of the right to continue himself horrifies him: “First I was deprived of my own life. Now they are depriving them of the right... to continue themselves. To whom and why will I be now?.. The worst of freaks! For mercy?.. For alms?..” And no matter how much Efrem, Vadim, Rusanov argue about the meaning of life, no matter how much they talk about it, for everyone it will remain the same - to leave someone behind. Kostoglotov went through everything, and it left its mark on his value system, on his concept of life.
The fact that Solzhenitsyn spent a long time in the camps also influenced his language and style of writing the story. But the work only benefits from this, since everything that he writes about becomes accessible to the person, he is, as it were, transported to the hospital and he himself takes part in everything that happens. But it is unlikely that any of us will be able to fully understand Kostoglotov, who sees a prison everywhere, tries to find and finds a camp approach in everything, even in the zoo. The camp has crippled his life, and he understands that he is unlikely to be able to start his old life, that the road back is closed to him. And millions more of the same lost people are thrown into the vastness of the country, people who, communicating with those who did not touch the camp, understand that there will always be a wall of misunderstanding between them, just as Lyudmila Afanasyevna Kostoglotova did not understand.
We mourn that these people, who were crippled by life, disfigured by the regime, who showed such an insatiable thirst for life, endured terrible suffering, are now forced to endure rejection from society. They have to give up the life to which they have strived for so long, which they deserve.
TOthe work of the great genius, Nobel Prize laureate,the man about whom so much has been said is scary to touch, but I don’tI can’t help but write about his story “Cancer Ward” - a work to whom he gave, albeit a small, but part of his life, which
the swarm tried to deprive him of it for many years. But he clung to life andendured all the hardships of the concentration camps, all their horror; he's backharbored his own views on what was happening around him, notborrowed from no one; he expressed these views in his rake tee.
One of its themes is that, no matter what a person is, bad or good, having received a higher education or, conversely, noteducated; whatever position he holds, when he issuffers from an almost incurable disease, he ceases to be highlyappointed official, turns into an ordinary person,who just wants to live. Solzhenitsyn described life in cancerin the first building, in the most terrible of hospitals, where people lie,condemned to death. Along with describing a person's struggle for life,for the desire to simply coexist without pain, without torment, Solzhenitsyn,always and under any circumstances, distinguished by its craving forlife, raised many problems. Their circle is quite wide: fromthe meaning of life, the relationship between a man and a woman to its destinationreadings of literature.
Solzhenitsyn pushes people of different nationalities together in one of the wardsnationalities, professions, committed various ideas. Oneone of these patients was Oleg Kostoglotov - an exile, a former prisoner, and the other was Rusanov, the complete opposite of Kostogloto wu: party leader, “valuable worker, honored Human", loyal to the party. By showing the events of the story first through the eyes of Rusanov, and then through the perception of Kostoglotov, Solzhenitsyn made it clear that power would gradually change, that the existence oflet the Rusanovs with their “questionnaire management”, with their techniquespersonal warning and will live Kostoglotovs, which are notaccept such concepts as “remnants of bourgeois consciousness” and"social origin". Solzhenitsyn wrote the story while tryingtake different views on life: both from the point of view Run and from the pointAsya's view, Dems, Vadim and many others. In some ways their viewssimilar, but divergent in some ways. But basically Solzhenitsyn wantsto show those who think wrong, like Rusanov’s daughter, Ru himselfdignitaries They are used to looking for people somewhere downstairs; du the mother only cares about herself, without thinking about others. Kostoglotov - Vyra creator of Solzhenitsyn's ideas; through Oleg's disputes with the chamber, through hisconversations in the camps, he reveals the paradoxical nature of life, andher, that there was no meaning in such a life, just likethere is no point in the literature that Avieta extols. According to her concepts of sincerity in literature are harmful. “Literature is to entertain us when we are in the mood bad*,- says Avieta, not realizing that literature is truly the teacher of life. And ifyou have to write about what should be, which means it will never betruth, since no one can say exactly what will happen.But not everyone can see and describe what exists, and it’s unlikelyWill Avieta be able to imagine even a hundredth part of the horrorwhen a woman ceases to be a woman, but becomes a workhorse who subsequently cannot have children. Zoya revealshows Kostoglotov all the horrors of hormone therapy; and the fact that he is being deprivedthe right to continue himself horrifies him: “First I was deprived of my
own life. Now they are depriving them of the right... to continue themselves. To whom And Why should I be now?.. The worst of freaks! For mercy?.. On alms?..” Andno matter how much they argue about the meaning of life Ephraim,Vadim, Rusanov, no matter how much they talk about him, he remains for everyone It’s not the same thing - to leave someone behind. Kosto- Glotov went through everything, and it left its mark on his system the theme of values, on his concept of life.
The fact that Solzhenitsyn spent a long time in the camps is alsoinfluenced his language and style of writing the story. But this makesknowledge only benefits, since a person gains access Knowing everything he writes about, he seems to be transported to the hospital andhe himself takes part in everything that happens. But hardly anyonebe one of us can fully understand Kostoglotova, which is everywheresees the prison, tries to find it in everything and finds the camp undermove, even at the zoo. The camp has crippled his life, and he understands that he is unlikely to be able to start his old life, that the road backclosed to him. And millions more of the same lost people were thrown outshens to the vastness of the country, people who, communicating with those who are nottouched the camp, they understand that there will always be a stand between thema wall of misunderstanding, just as Lyudmila Afanasyevna Kostoglotova did not understand.
We mourn that these people, who were crippled by life,disfigured the regime, which showed such an insatiable thirstlives, have experienced terrible suffering, and are now forced to endure social rejection. They have to give up that life towhich they have strived for so long, which they deserve.
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“Cancer Ward” by A. Solzhenitsyn is one of those literary works that not only played an important role in the literary process of the second half of the 20th century, but also had a huge influence on the minds of contemporaries, and at the same time on the course of Russian history.
After the publication of the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” in the “New World” magazine, Solzhenitsyn offered the editor-in-chief of the magazine A. Tvardovsky the text of the story “Cancer Ward”, previously prepared by the author for publication in the Soviet Union, that is, adjusted for censorship. An agreement with the publishing house was signed, but the pinnacle of the Soviet legal existence of Cancer Ward was the collection of the first few chapters for publication in Novy Mir. After this, by order of the authorities, printing was stopped, and the typesetting was then scattered. The work began to be actively distributed in samizdat, and was also published in the West, translated into foreign languages, and became one of the grounds for awarding Solzhenitsyn the Nobel Prize.
Solzhenitsyn's first story to appear in print revolutionized literary and social life in the Soviet Union. The story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (whose original title was “Shch-854”) was the first to openly talk about camp life, the life that millions of people lived throughout the country. This alone would be enough to make an entire generation think, to force them to look at reality and history with different eyes. Following this, other stories by Solzhenitsyn were published in Novy Mir, and his play “Candle in the Wind” was accepted for production at the Lenin Komsomol Theater. At the same time, the story “Cancer Ward”, the main theme of which is the theme of life and death, the spiritual quest of man and the search for an answer to the question of how a person lives, was banned and was first published in Russia only in 1990.
One of the main themes of the story is the powerlessness of man in the face of illness and death. Whatever the person, good or bad, higher educated or, conversely, uneducated, whatever position he holds, when an almost incurable illness befalls him, he ceases to be a high-ranking official and turns into an ordinary person who just wants to live. Along with describing a person’s struggle for life, for the desire to simply coexist without pain, without torment, Solzhenitsyn, always and under any circumstances distinguished by his thirst for life, raised many problems. Their circle is quite wide: from the meaning of life, the relationship between a man and a woman to the purpose of literature.
Solzhenitsyn brings together in one of the chambers people of different nationalities, professions, committed to different ideas. One of these patients was Oleg Kostoglotov - an exile, a former prisoner, and the other was Rusanov, the complete opposite of Kostoglotov: a party leader, “a valuable worker, an honored person,” devoted to the party. By showing the events of the story first through the eyes of Rusanov, and then through the perception of Kostoglotov, Solzhenitsyn made it clear that power would gradually change, that the Rusanovs with their “questionnaire management”, with their methods of various warnings, would cease to exist, and the Kostoglotovs would live, who did not accept such concepts as “remains of bourgeois consciousness” and “social origin”. Solzhenitsyn wrote the story, trying to show different views on life: both from the point of view of Vega, and from the point of view of Asya, Dema, Vadim and many others. In some ways their views are similar, in others they diverge. But mainly Solzhenitsyn wants to show the wrongness of those who think, like Rusanov’s daughter, Rusanov himself. They are used to looking for people somewhere downstairs; think only about yourself, without thinking about others. Kostoglotov is an exponent of Solzhenitsyn’s ideas. Through Oleg's arguments with the ward, through his conversations in the camps, he reveals the paradoxical nature of life, or rather, the fact that there was no meaning in such a life, just as there is no meaning in the literature that Avieta extols. According to her concepts, sincerity in literature is harmful. “Literature is to entertain us when we are in a bad mood,” says Avieta. And if you have to write about what should be, then it means there will never be truth, since no one can say exactly what will happen. But not everyone can see and describe what exists, and it is unlikely that Avieta will be able to imagine even a hundredth part of the horror when a woman ceases to be a woman, but becomes a workhorse, which subsequently cannot have children. Zoya reveals to Kostoglotov the full horror of hormone therapy; and the fact that he is deprived of the right to continue himself horrifies him: “First I was deprived of my own life. Now they are depriving them of the right... to continue themselves. Who will I be with and why now? The worst of the freaks! For mercy? For alms? And no matter how much Efrem, Vadim, Rusanov argue about the meaning of life, no matter how much they talk about it, for everyone it will remain the same - to leave someone behind. Kostoglotov went through everything, and it left its mark on his value system, on his understanding of life.
The central question, the answer to which all the heroes are looking for, is formulated by the title of Leo Tolstoy’s story, which accidentally fell into the hands of one of the patients, Efrem Podduev: “How does a person live?” One of Tolstoy's later stories, the opening of a cycle devoted to the interpretation of the Gospel, makes a strong impression on the hero, who before his illness thought little about deep problems. And now the whole chamber, day after day, is trying to find the answer to the question: “How does a person live?” Everyone answers this question according to their beliefs, life principles, upbringing, and life experience. The Soviet nomenklatura worker and informer Rusanov is confident that “people live by ideology and the public good.” Of course, he learned this common formulation a long time ago, and even thinks little about its meaning. Geologist Vadim Zatsyrko claims that man lives by creativity. He would like to accomplish a lot in life, complete his large and significant research, and implement more and more new projects. Vadim Zatsyrko is a borderline hero. His beliefs, brought up by his father, who admired Stalin, are in line with the dominant ideology. However, ideology itself is for Vadim only an application to the only important thing in his life - scientific, research work. The question of what makes a person alive constantly sounds on the pages of the story, and finds more and more new answers. The heroes do not see the meaning of life in anything: in love, in salary, in qualifications, in their native places and in God. This question is answered not only by patients in the cancer ward, but also by oncologists who fight for the lives of patients and face death every day.
Finally, in the last third of the story, a hero appears who deserves special attention - Shulubin. If Rusanov’s life position and beliefs in the novel are opposed to the truth that Kosoglotov understands, then the conversation with Shulubin makes the hero think about something else. With traitors, sycophants, opportunists, informers and the like, everything is obvious and does not need any explanation. But Shulubin’s life truth shows Kosoglotov a different position, which he had not thought about.
Shulubin never denounced anyone, did not be mean, did not grovel before the authorities, but however, he never tried to oppose himself to them: “As for the rest, I’ll tell you this: at least you lied less, understand? At least you bent less, appreciate it! You were arrested, and we were forced into meetings to work on you. You were executed - and we were forced to stand and clap for the announced verdicts. Don’t clap, but demand execution, demand!” Shulubin's position is in fact always the position of the majority. Fear for oneself, for one’s family, and finally, fear of being left alone, “outside the team,” forced millions to remain silent. Shulubin quotes Pushkin’s poem:
In our vile age...
In all the elements man -
Tyrant, traitor or prisoner.
And then the logical conclusion follows: “And if I remember that I was not in prison, and I firmly know that I was not a tyrant, it means...” And the person who did not betray anyone personally, did not write denunciations and did not denounce his comrades, still turns out to be a traitor.
Shulubin’s story makes Kosoglotov, and with him the reader, think about another side of the issue of distribution of roles in Soviet society.
In addition to numerous literary studies and articles devoted to the “Cancer Ward,” an article by L. Durnov, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, professor, oncologist, deserves attention. This is a doctor’s point of view, an attempt to analyze “Cancer Corps” from the point of view of medical deontology. L. Durnov claims that “Cancer Ward” is “not only a work of art, but also a guide for a doctor.” He dwells in detail on the medical terminology of the story, emphasizing how correctly and accurately Solzhenitsyn describes the symptoms of various oncological diseases. “I can’t help but feel that the story was written by a certified, knowledgeable doctor,” writes Durnov.
In general, the topic of the relationship between doctor and patient, medical deontology is one of the leading ones in “Cancer Ward”. And it is no coincidence that the role of Vera Gangart (Vega, as Kosoglotov calls her, giving her the name of the largest, guiding star) in Kosoglotov’s spiritual quest is great. It is she who becomes the embodiment of life and femininity. Not earthy, physical, like nurse Zoya, but true.
However, neither the romance with Zoya nor Kostoglotov’s admiration for Vega leads to the union of the heroes, because Oleg, who has overcome even his illness, is unable to overcome the alienation and spiritual emptiness acquired in prisons, camps and exile. The failed visit to Vega demonstrates to the hero how far he is from ordinary everyday life. In the department store, Kosoglotov feels like an alien. He was so accustomed to a life where buying an oil lamp is a great joy, and an iron is an incredible success, that the most ordinary items of clothing looked to him like an incomprehensible luxury, which, nevertheless, is available to everyone. But not for him, because his work, the work of an exile, is practically free. And he can only afford to eat a stick of kebab and buy a couple of small bouquets of violets, which eventually go to two girls walking by. Oleg understands that he cannot just come to Vega, confess his feelings to her and ask her to accept him - such an eternal exile, and also a cancer patient. He leaves the city without having seen each other, without explaining himself to Vega.
Literary allusions and reminiscences play a significant role in the story. Tolstoy's story was already mentioned at the beginning of the work. It is worth noting Solzhenitsyn’s other appeals to the topic of literature, its role and place in the life of society and every person. For example, the characters in the novel discuss Pomerantsev’s article “On Sincerity in Literature,” published in Novy Mir in 1953. This conversation with Rusanov’s daughter Avieta allows the author to show the philistine attitude towards literature: “Where does this false demand for the so-called “harsh truth” come from? Why should the truth suddenly be harsh? Why shouldn't it be sparkling, exciting, optimistic! All our literature should become festive! After all, people get offended when their lives are written about in a dark way. They love it when people write about it and decorate it.” Soviet literature should be optimistic. Nothing dark, no horror. Literature is a source of inspiration, the main assistant in the ideological struggle.
Solzhenitsyn contrasts this opinion with the very life of his heroes in the ward of the cancer ward. The same story by Tolstoy turns out to be the key to understanding life for them, helps them solve important issues, while the heroes themselves are on the brink of life and death. And it turns out that the role of literature cannot be reduced to either mentoring, entertainment, or an argument in an ideological dispute. And Dema is closest to the truth, asserting: “Literature is the teacher of life.”
Gospel motifs occupy a special place in the story. For example, researchers compare Efrem Podduev with a repentant thief crucified along with the Savior. Kostoglotov’s quest ultimately leads him to spiritual rebirth, and the last chapter of the story is called “And the Last Day.” On the last day of creation, God breathed life into man.
In the “living soul” there is love, which for Tolstoy means the desire for God and mercy, and for Solzhenitsyn’s heroes it means conscience and the “mutual disposition” of people towards each other, ensuring justice.
Solzhenitsyn cancer camp building
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There are questions that are awkward to ask, especially in public. So at some point I asked myself a stupid question: why was “Cancer Ward” written? The question is doubly stupid. Firstly, because any real work of art is created for one reason: the artist cannot help but create it. And secondly, Solzhenitsyn explained everything in some detail about the Cancer Ward. There is his diary entry from 1968 - “The Corps” had already been written by this time. It is from the so-called R-17 diary, which has not yet been published in full, but fragments of it have been published. These fragments were used in Vladimir Radzishevsky’s comments to “Cancer Ward” in Solzhenitsyn’s 30-volume collection.
The idea for the story “Two Cancers” arose in 1954. This meant the cancer of a former prisoner and the cancer of a functionary, a party worker, a prosecutor, with whom Solzhenitsyn was not in bed at the same time. He suffered that illness a year earlier and was known to the future author of “Cancer Ward” only from the stories of his neighbors in this very sad institution. Then he writes that on the day of discharge he had a different plot - “Tales of Love and Illness.” And they didn’t connect right away. “Only 8-9 years later, already before the appearance of Ivan Denisovich, both plots came together - and Cancer Ward was born. I started it in January 1963, but it might not have taken place; it suddenly seemed insignificant, on the same line as “For the good of the cause”…”.
It must be said that Solzhenitsyn seemed to like this story least of all that he wrote. Fair or not is another matter.
“...I hesitated and wrote “DPD”, but completely abandoned “RK”. Then somehow “The Right Hand” came out - a wonderful Tashkent “oncological” story. “It was necessary to create a desperate situation after the seizure of the archive, so that in 1966 I would simply forced(Sol-zhenitsyn italics this word for himself. — Approx. lecturer) was for tactical reasons, purely tactical: to sit behind the “RK”, do an open thing, and even (with haste) in two echelons.” This means that the first part was sent to the editors of Novy Mir when the second had not yet been completed. “Cancer Ward” was written so that they would see that I had something - such a purely tactical move. We need to create some kind of appearance. For what? What does Cancer Corps cover? The “cancer building” covers the final stage of work on the “Archi-pe-lag”.
Work on a summary book about Soviet camps began a long time ago. But the peak time for working on “Archipelago,” as we know, was from 1965 to 1966 and from 1966 to 1967, when Solzhenitsyn went to Estonia to the farm of his friends, naturally in the camp. And it was there in Ukryvische, as it was later called in the book “The Calf Butted an Oak Tree,” that “Archipelago” was written in quite such Spartan conditions. The Corps is covering it up.
It's like that. Tactics are tactics. But something here, in my opinion, remains unsettled. Perhaps Solzhenitsyn himself did not need to negotiate this. Of course, in 1963 Solzhenitsyn began writing and left Corpus. In 1964, he even made a special trip to Tashkent to talk with his doctors and delve into the matter. But strong work began at the same time, literally in parallel to “Archipelago”. No, he wrote this at a different time of the year, so to speak, in different conditions, in an open field. But these things went in parallel.
And there is some very deep meaning in this. We know that Solzhenitsyn did not intend to publish “Archipelago” right away. Moreover, its publication at the turn of 1973-1974 was forced: it was associated with the KGB seizure of the manuscript, the death of Voronyanskaya This refers to the suicide (according to the official version) of Elizaveta Voronyanskaya, Solzhenitsyn’s assistant and typist and the secret keeper of some of his manuscripts., with all these terrible circumstances - when he gave the command to print. In principle, he intended this publication later. Even in the situation of confrontation in the late 1960s - early 1970s with the authorities, and not only out of the instinct of self-preservation, Solzhenitsyn believed that the turn of this book had not yet come. The blast wave will be too powerful, and God knows what will happen here.
And while breathing out and building this, he simultaneously wrote “Cancer Ward,” a book that made it possible to take the path of reconciliation. Not oblivion of the past, but reconciliation, repentance and human conversation, including and not least with the authorities. That’s why this initial message was so important. Two cancers. What does this mean? This means that all people are mortal, and according to Tolstoy’s story, which is read in the “Cancer Ward” This refers to Tolstoy's 1881 story "How People Live.", the inevitable question: how do people live?
The key phrase for the “Cancer Corps” is what Efrem Podduev recalls, how he did not spare the prisoners. Not because he had any special feelings for them, but because he would be held accountable if the ditch was not completed. And I heard: “And you will die, foreman!” Here are prosecutors, and personnel officers, and super-party functionaries - you, too, are not insured against cancer and diseases that are worse than cancer. Remember, Rusanov exclaims: “What could be worse?” Kostoglotov answers him: “Leprosy.” You are not insured against illness or death, come to your senses.
That’s why Tolstoy’s component of the subtext and death of Ivan Ilyich, and the direct discussion of the story “How People Live,” are so important. Solzhenitsyn was always, as they say, fanatically fascinated by the accuracy of the fact. At the same time, the duration of the “Cancer Ward” has been postponed by a year. He fell ill in the spring of 1954, and the action takes place in 1955. Why? Because it was in 1955 that changes became noticeable in the country. The removal of most of the members of the Supreme Court, the resignation of Malenkov and those cheerful promises of the commandant that sound in the last chapter: soon all this will end, there will be no eternal exile.
“Cancer Ward” was written about a time of hope, and let us note that it was written during a difficult time, but in some way a time of hope. In hindsight, we understand perfectly well that liberalization was driven into the grave. But in fact, the situation in 1966, 1965, 1967 was extremely fluctuating. It is unclear what this collective leadership will do. And here this human message was extremely important. This was somewhat of a missed chance for the authorities and for society. Despite the fact that the focus on society was very important, Solzhenitsyn wanted “Corpus” to be published in samizdat.
And here we cannot help but cite two analogies. When the noose approached completely, in the fall of 1973, everything became clear, and Alexander Isaevich did not know whether he should go west or east or be killed. What is he doing at this very moment? He writes a letter to the leaders of the Soviet Union, they say, you live on this land, you are Russian people, is there something human in you? It didn't turn out. And it must be said that much the same happened many years later with the word addressed not so much to the authorities, but to society, with the article “How can we organize Russia”, where those very soft paths, understanding, negotiation, recovery were not seen, not heard. In general, something like what happened with the “Cancer Ward” at one time.
The work of the great genius, Nobel Prize winner, a man about whom so much has been said is scary to touch, but I cannot help but write about his story “Cancer Ward” - a work to which he gave, albeit a small, but part of his life, to which he They tried to deprive us for many years. But he clung to life and endured all the hardships of the concentration camps, all their horror; he cultivated within himself his own views on what was happening around him, not borrowed from anyone; He outlined these views in his story.
One of its themes is that, no matter what a person is, good or bad, educated or uneducated; no matter what position he holds, when an almost incurable illness befalls him, he ceases to be a high-ranking official and turns into an ordinary person who just wants to live. Solzhenitsyn described life in the cancer ward, in the most terrible of hospitals, where people doomed to death lie. Along with describing a person’s struggle for life, for the desire to simply coexist without pain, without torment, Solzhenitsyn, always and under any circumstances distinguished by his thirst for life, raised many problems. Their circle is quite wide: from the meaning of life, the relationship between a man and a woman to the purpose of literature.
Solzhenitsyn brings together in one of the chambers people of different nationalities, professions, committed to different ideas. One of these patients was Oleg Kostoglotov, an exile, a former prisoner, and the other was Rusanov, the complete opposite of Kostoglotov: a party leader, “a valuable worker, an honored person,” devoted to the party. By showing the events of the story first through the eyes of Rusanov, and then through the perception of Kostoglotov, Solzhenitsyn made it clear that power would gradually change, that the Rusanovs with their “questionnaire management”, with their methods of various warnings, would cease to exist, and the Kostoglotovs would live, who did not accept such concepts as “remains of bourgeois consciousness” and “social origin”. Solzhenitsyn wrote the story, trying to show different views on life: both from the point of view of Bega, and from the point of view of Asya, Dema, Vadim and many others. In some ways their views are similar, in others they diverge. But mainly Solzhenitsyn wants to show the wrongness of those who think, like Rusanov’s daughter, Rusanov himself. They are used to looking for people somewhere downstairs; think only about yourself, without thinking about others. Kostoglotov is an exponent of Solzhenitsyn’s ideas; through Oleg’s arguments with the ward, through his conversations in the camps, he reveals the paradoxical nature of life, or rather, the fact that there was no meaning in such a life, just as there is no meaning in the literature that Avieta extols. According to her concepts, sincerity in literature is harmful. “Literature is to entertain us when we are in a bad mood,” says Avieta, not realizing that literature is truly a teacher of life. And if you have to write about what should be, then it means there will never be truth, since no one can say exactly what will happen. But not everyone can see and describe what exists, and it is unlikely that Avieta will be able to imagine even a hundredth part of the horror when a woman ceases to be a woman, but becomes a workhorse, which subsequently cannot have children. Zoya reveals to Kostoglotov the full horror of hormone therapy; and the fact that he is deprived of the right to continue himself horrifies him: “First I was deprived of my own life. Now they are depriving them of the right... to continue themselves. To whom and why will I be now?.. The worst of freaks! For mercy?.. For alms?..” And no matter how much Efrem, Vadim, Rusanov argue about the meaning of life, no matter how much they talk about it, for everyone it will remain the same - to leave someone behind. Kostoglotov went through everything, and it left its mark on his value system, on his concept of life.
The fact that Solzhenitsyn spent a long time in the camps also influenced his language and style of writing the story. But the work only benefits from this, since everything that he writes about becomes accessible to the person, he is, as it were, transported to the hospital and he himself takes part in everything that happens. But it is unlikely that any of us will be able to fully understand Kostoglotov, who sees a prison everywhere, tries to find and finds a camp approach in everything, even in the zoo. The camp has crippled his life, and he understands that he is unlikely to be able to start his old life, that the road back is closed to him. And millions more of the same lost people are thrown into the vastness of the country, people who, communicating with those who did not touch the camp, understand that there will always be a wall of misunderstanding between them, just as Lyudmila Afanasyevna Kostoglotova did not understand.
