, like the other three thousand six hundred andfifty-three mornings which Ivan Denisovich Shukhov had spent inthe camp, was not perfect but instead held glimmers of hope forthe future and for the day to come. The bulk of Solzhenitsyn^s novel takes place outside thecamp at a work area where Shukhov and his gang, gang 104, arebuilding a power plant. It is during this period of work thatIvan Denisovich Shukhov is the most inspired and the mosthopeful. Even at the very outset of the workday Shukhov and themen of gang 104 were hopeful. ^Though they had been sitting downfor barely twenty minutes, and the workday--a short winterone--went on only till six, they all thought this had beenwonderful luck, and the evening didn^t seem far off now^(Solzhenitsyn 57). The positive attitudes of these men isastounding. Shukhov and another prisoner, Kilgas, were firstassigned to find any kind of material which would be sufficientto cover the large windows of the power plant which gang 104 wasbuilding. Both men were enthusiastic about their task becausenot only was it physical it was also mentally demanding. Theyhad to use the miniscule resourses they had to get the job done. Perseverance over the cold was also very important tosuccessfully completing, or starting, a job. Before Shukhov andKilgas went in search of roofing felt to cover the windows of thepower plant, Shukhov made sure he had the perseverance to beginthe days work. He thought to himself, ^never mind how hard itwas to begin the workday in such freezing cold, the thing was toget over the beginning--that was the important part^(Solzhenitsyn 60). After setting himself in the right frame ofmind Ivan Denisovich Shukhov had to do one more thing before hewould go off with Kilgas in search of the roofing felt. Heneeded to find his special trowel. Shukhov knew that after heand Kilgas had covered the windows of the power plant it would betheir job to lay bricks. For Shukhov, his spe...
