How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph). We used H.T. Willetts's translation.
Quote #7
Amazing how time flew when you were working. He'd often noticed that days in the camp rolled by before you knew it. Yet your sentence stood still, the time you had to serve never got any less. (355)
Shukhov really gets at the heart of the time conundrum, or question, here when he notes that the days in the camp just keep piling up but the end of it all never approaches – like that never-ending first period class that you hate which crops up every morning like a bad penny. You know the one.
Quote #8
When you're flat on your face there's no time to wonder how you got in and when you'll get out. (388)
This is a really powerful image for how downtrodden the prisoners are in the camp. There's no time for anything but survival.
Quote #9
The whole crowd, Shukhov as well, were furious. What sort of rotten creep, louse, s***, swine, murdering bastard was he? The sky was dark, what light there was must be coming from the moon, the frost was hardening for the night, and the mangy cur was missing! Hadn't the s*** had his fill of work? Wasn't the official working day, eleven hours of it from dawn to dusk, long enough for him? (761)
Stylistically, this is a great example of stream-of-consciousness, which is where we hear Shukhov's thoughts reflected in the general narrative itself. We don't have quote marks to signal it, but the furious language and the thoughts about all the wasted time indicate that this is coming from Shukhov himself.