CliffsNotes on Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

In CliffsNotes on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, you explore the short book that established Alexander Solzhenitsyn's reputation and instantly placed him on the master list of human rights advocates. It describes a typical day in the life of an inmate in the Siberian prison camps of Stalinist Soviet Union.

This study guide carefully documents the ordeal of prisoner S-854 through his ten-year sentence in the Gulag. You'll find a summary and critical analyses of each section of the novel, and explore the life and background of the author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and gain insight into how he came to write the novel. Other features that help you study include

• Character analyses of major and minor players
  
  
• A history of the Gulag prison system and what crimes could get people sentenced to them
  
  
• Critical essays on levels of meaning in the novel and narrative perspective
  
  
• A review section that tests your knowledge
  
  
• Suggested theme topics and a selected bibliography