A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and House of the Spirits

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds" (Samuel Adams). It takes not a majority, nor a minority, to change something. It takes only a leader, a visionary, with the determination to cause a revolution.

Both Denisovich and Allende encourage this perspective of humankind and reveal this through their writings in "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "House of the Spirits".They create characters that not only recognize the injustices, but also have a deeper understanding of them. This allows these characters to rise above the bondage of oppression and overcome fear, indecisiveness, and passivity. Both Denisovich and Allende illustrate human's inconceivable ability to prevail, even over a society that aims to oppress them.Allende's characterization of Pedro allows him to overcome his oppression through his music and love for Blanca. Allende characterizes Pedro in such a way that he seems invincible, able to overcome Estaban's tyrannical ways.

Esteban could not understand how his authority could be objected, he even, "tried to prevent him from continuing his schooling...but the boy simply rose earlier and went to sleep later to finish his work" (Allende 155).

Here, one can see that Allende shows Pedro's determination, his perpetual fight against his oppressors. Pedro's defiance appeared to vex Esteban. When asked to sing a song that preached of a revolt, he did not falter. Allende writes, "Go on, sing! [..

.] Pedro lovingly picked up his guitar [...

] and began to strum" (154).With no hesitation, he flaunted his rebelliousness. It seems that he was "born a rebel" (154). Significance is seen in the notion that Esteban accuses Pedro Tercero Garcia of playing communist songs and therefore spreading the idea of socialism to the rest of the community. What Esteban fails to realize is that first, Pedro Tercero constructed these ideas himself, consequently he poses a larger problem than anticipated and second, the village has already been exposed to these ideals. The villagers had been in the dark about the outside world, but Pedro sought to change that, he introduced Tres Maria to "pamphlets of the unionists [and] the teachers political newspapers.

"(164) Pedro takes advantage of Esteban's injury and attempts to get others to rally with him.To add insult to injury, not only does Pedro rebel against Esteban's authority, he defies Esteban's wishes and seeks a relationship with his daughter. Although he attempts to stop their relationship, their love proves to be much for Esteban. Allende writes, "She sat down [.

..] and waited [...

] then she opened the window and jumped out. Blanca goes against the wishes of her father, and would willingly accept the consequences in order to be with Pedro. Again, another example of how Pedro seems to be invincible to the wrath of Esteban, even being able to sway the mind of his daughter. Esteban cannot control what he does not understand. The abstract concepts such as love and magic allow the characters in the novel to prevail over oppression.Allende uses the motif of magic and Clara's silence in order to give her power over Esteban's authoritarian rule.

Esteban lacks understanding, therefore bounding him to a world that is disconnected to world in which Clara lives in. Allende writes, "Clara lived in a universe of her own invention, protected from life's inclement weather, where the prosaic truth of material objects mingled with the tumultuous reality of dreams and the laws of physics and logic did not apply" (82). This contrasts to Esteban's world, where, everything is ruled by reason. His inability to connect with other characters on this abstract level isolates him allowing the characters to escape his grasp.

When Blanca states that he "can't keep the world from changing" (170) he bursts into an outrage and knocks the tureen out of her hands. She responds not by arguing but by simply leaving the room Esteban has no choice but to let her leave. Esteban starts to realize his hopeless situation and his powerlessness. Esteban states, "and even if I held her down with my hands and embraced her with all my strength, I could never make her mine" (177). This feeling of helplessness frustrates Esteban.

He has yet to be in a position where he is incapable of controlling others in his environment. As Clara and Esteban grow apart, he starts to feel more vulnerable.Allende writes, "one day Clara had a bolt installed on her bedroom door and after that she never let me in her bed again" (179). The build up of sadness, anger, and frailty could only lead to confrontation.

After Clara made a comment about the similarities between Esteban Trueba and Pedro Tercero, he "lost control and struck her in the face" (200). He had released all the anger he had on the one person who still cared for him, and in turn, lost her forever. Clara never spoke to him again, which, put him in a state he would never recover from, a state of both weakness and vulnerability. While Allende manipulates intangible thoughts and feelings to empower the characters, the use of concrete objects can result in an equal effect.

Solzhenitsyn efficiently utilizes these concrete objects for the same purposes as Allende; to establish an environment in which the character is bound to transcend the stronghold of oppression. Solzhenitsyn allows Shukhov to take pride in his work and does not take kindly to those who did not. In reference to the wall, Shukhov said that: "he didn't know the man who'd worked on it in his place before. But that guy sure didn't know his job.

He'd messed it up (Solzhenitsyn 76). The wall is what inspired him, and gave him hope. Although he knew he would probably never get out, he "couldn't change his nature. He worried about anything he could make use of about every scrap of work he could do-nothing must be wasted without good reason" (88).

It was this hope that allowed him to overcome the rationale of the prison. He found purpose in an atmosphere where no other could. He took pride in the wall; he "was now getting used to the wall like it was his own" (76). Even after the work day was finished, Shukhov still kept working.

He took tremendous pride in hiswork. "He was pleased. Not bad, eh, for one afternoon's work?(87) Not only did Shukhov take pride in his own work but others took pride in what he was capable of as well. Solzhenitsyn enabled him to infringe upon the conformity of the prison and aid others in prevailing against the prisons oppression. Although work may have given them purpose, nothing could inspire them more than food.Solzhenitsyn's accentuation of food reveals humans incogitable aptitude to find hope and triumph.

Food also gave Ivan Denisovich Shukhov hope. Time in thecamp was not measured by days, hours, or minutes but by meals. To Shukhov the time between meals could seem an eternity if there was nothing else to occupy his mind. Solzhenitsyn writes "He had to give all his time to eating. He had to scrape the stuff out from the bottom, put it carefully in his mouth, and roll it around with his tongue" (63).

Shukhov would do favors for others with the small chance of getting a food reward. And even in a place where food outweighed all, Shukhov kept a sense of humanity in the barbaric prison.Shukhov always, " pulled his spoon out (13) to eat. He fought to keep his dignity and not let the system control him. Solzhenitsyn writes, "Then he removed his hat.

.. he could never bring himself to eat with his hat on" (14). Shukhov continues to fight against the oppression not only by keeping his dignity, but also by resisting the prisons tendency to change a man while in the prison. Solzhenitsyn insinuates that Ivan will not leave the prison camp, but he will not give in. And he will survive because of his strength of will and his refusal to compromise his human dignity.