Reader Response #3

Roxie Hildebrand
Period 3
Reader Response #3

It's really strange to learn more about the individual prisoners.  I thought that most of the characters in the camp were middle-aged or older.  It took me by surprise when it said that one of the prisoners was just sixteen years old.  They are in the camp for ridiculous reasons, like bringing milk to refugees.  Shukhov's story is pretty depressing.   Shukhov was captured by the Germans in 1942 while he was in the army.  When he escaped, the Soviet authorities did not believe his story, and were convinced that he was a German spy.  He had to sign a confession to treason to avoid death.  His sentence was supposed to be ten years, but the government often extends sentences.  Reading this part of the novel slightly confused me because I don't know a lot about what was going on in Russia and eastern Europe during World War Two.  
Overall, life in those camps sound pretty awful.  If it's not the excruciatingly cold weather or a superior railing at you, it's another prisoner beating up on you.  They underfed most of the prisoners and then beat them bloody if they tried to obtain more food or make it last longer.  The prisoners were not even allowed to have religious items.  The man who reads the Bible a lot has to hide it every time he leaves or a guard comes in.  Life there seems hard even if they were to remove all the intensive labor.  This book was really depressing.