How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph). We used H.T. Willetts's translation.
Quote #4
Your foreman matters more than anything else in a prison camp: a good one gives you a new lease on life, a bad one can land you six feet under. (240)
The foremen are almost more powerful than the guards in some ways; a foreman's mismanagement means the gang won't eat or will get bad work assignments. So the foremen is really like the "breadwinner" of the gang.
Quote #5
The two Estonians sat like two brothers on a low concrete slab, sharing half a cigarette in a holder. [...] They clung together as though neither would have air enough to breathe without the other. [...] On the march, on work parade, or going to bed at night, they never stopped talking to each other in their slow, quiet way. Yet they weren't brothers at all - they'd met for the first time in Gang 104. (260)
Life in the prison camp may be awful, but the Estonians show that something decent came out of it. Their brother-like relationship stands in contrast to all the violence, backstabbing, and ruthlessness we see from many of the other prisoners.
Quote #6
Fetyukov had three children on the outside, but when he was jailed they'd all turned their backs on him, and his wife had married somebody else, so he got no help from anywhere. (262)
Though Fetyukov is largely contemptible, he merits some sympathy from Shukhov. The fact that Fetyukov's family abandoned him is also an example of some class commentary. As a former rich man, Fetyukov's family probably had some good social standing that they wanted to maintain. So they ditched their embarrassing relative who is in jail.