Both authors use food and the associated rituals of eating as motifs of imprisonment. Macaroons illustrate the prominence of man in the play as he controls his wife by forbidding her to eat them. This is clearly seen in Mr Helmer’s question, ‘Didn’t go nibbling a macaroon…?’ Macaroons here are a symbol of secrecy and lack of freedom in Nora’s home. She craves independence by eating macaroons, but it does not give her absolute freedom as she cannot eat them whenever she wants. Likewise, Solzhenitsyn uses food as a motif of imprisonment to show the hardships of the camp. Food becomes a spiritual instead of a physical thing for prisoner because of their deprivation of food in the camp. For example, ‘that bowl of soup -…dearer than freedom,…life itself, past, present, and future.’ Unfortunately food is a way of controlling and imprisoning the prisoners as Solzhenitsyn mentions, ‘A cleverly fixed work-report meant good rations ….’ However Shukhov struggles with the cruel cold in the camp he never forgets his personal code of eating etiquette. He eats with slow concentration and removes his hat while eating. Overall, motifs of food influence Shukhov’s freedom more than that of Nora because Shukhov is lacking the basic food provisions but Nora is just denied her luxuries and preferences.
The motifs of imprisonment are not just physical. Both authors demonstrate the imprisonment of independent thought and opinion through motifs of the mind. Ibsen uses the restrictions on independent thought demonstrating the imprisonment of the mind through Nora’s comment, ‘Daddy … tell me what he thoughts, then I thought the same…I thought differently, I kept quiet …, because he wouldn’t have liked … You arranged everything to your tastes, and I acquired the same tastes.’ This reveals the imprisonment of her mind by her husband and father. She is not allowed to express her opinions and there is no one to listen her, which hinders her personality development in the beginning of the play. Similarly, Solzhenitsyn also shows Shukhov’s imprisonment through motifs of the mind, such as, ‘The thoughts of a prisoner- they’re not free either.’ Prisoners are imprisoned by both means, physically and mentally. The narrator’s comment, ‘The authorities did his thinking for him about everything…’, reveals that the lives of prisoners are under the control of higher authorities so that they are forced not to think about themselves. The slavery by the authorities makes Shukhov’s and his fellow prisoners’ lives so hard and unpleasant, they are not able to think about pleasant things. Food, work, temperature, cold, parcels and other camp related conditions had taken the space in the thinking of the prisoners. However, Shukhov sometimes thinks about his family instead of thinking about the camp. For example, ‘he stopped thinking about the camp and let his mind dwell on the letter he’d soon be writing home.’ This shows the irony generated in the narrator's tone of stress and anxiety, in Shukhov's thoughts and expressions where he tries to be free from the camp routines. The limits on personal thoughts of the protagonists demonstrate the extent of imprisonment.
The characters’ personal correspondence becomes motifs of imprisonment that are used by both the authors to show how the camp authorities and Torvald interfere with the protagonists’ privacy. In ‘A Doll’s house’, the intercepted letters from Krogstad to Nora show Nora’s lack of privacy. The key of the letter-box is always with Torvald and Nora is not allowed to open the letter-box or to read her letters. This is shown in the text when the maid brings a note for Nora, but her husband says, ‘Give it to me.[…note…]You can’t have it. I want to read it myself.’ This illustrates Torvald’s dominating nature and Nora’s lack of privacy to read her own letters. However, Nora manages to maintain some secretes through hiding the loan from Krogstad. This does not give her complete freedom. Correspondingly, in ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’, to have full control over the prisoners, camp authorities make private events of prisoners public and the every move of the prisoners is monitored by the authorities. Prisoners cannot have a personal place of their own as they live in a big hall. The prisoners’ privacy is destroyed by the guards when they check their parcels before distributing them. For example, Solzhenitsyn explains, ‘…guards opened the parcels,... They took everything … examined the contents.’ However, prisoners do try to keep their possessions private, as Aloysha sticks to his religious faith and Shukhov keeps his spoon as ‘a little treasure’. Lack of privacy, illustrated through the repeated motifs of intercepted letters and parcels and limits on personal correspondence, heightens their sense of imprisonment.
Regardless of imprisonment, the protagonists of both the texts are developing their character and starving to maintain their pride. Nora fulfils her desire of eating macaroons and denies her husband’s sex after the party. This contrasts with the setting and timing of the play where social convention obliges women to follow her husband. She showed her courage, after realizing the illusion of her husband’s love; she speaks boldly about her imprisonment without hesitating(Act III). Her language tone changes from meagre love words to braveries. She confidently gains her freedom without concern for the prevailing social codes. Consistently, Shukhov who is unable to get his absolute freedom because of his political imprisonment does the things he wants to do. He eats in his own style(by removing his hat), hides small things for future use(hacksaw blade) and behaves with his captain in his own way(especially, when he works with him). He also progresses his nature by enlightening the knowledge of freedom.
The protagonists are prisoners of their time: Nora, a social prisoner and Shukhov, a political prisoner. Ibsen and Solzhenitsyn show their protagonists’ lack of freedom through different motifs of imprisonment. Complying with the rules of the authoritarians is important; if they do not adhere to their rulers’ instructions they risk punishment. Both prisoners’ physical and spiritual dignity is denied. However, the protagonists do try to keep their dignity, dreams and freedom even at the period of their imprisonment by doing things in their own small ways. At the end, Nora gets her freedom, although it is at the cost of rejection from her society and Shukhov gains a sense of freedom through religion and solidarity but he does not have control over his absolute freedom.
Bibliography
Henrik Ibsen, 1998, Four Major Plays, ‘A Doll’s House’, Oxford University Press.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics.
(Accesssed on 19 April 2011).
(Accessed on 21 April 2011).
Word Count: 1499
Henrik Ibsen, 1998, Four Major Plays, ‘A Doll’s House’, Oxford University Press, page no. 1
Henrik Ibsen, 1998, Four Major Plays, ‘A Doll’s House’, Oxford University Press, page no. 3
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 10
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 15
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 15
Henrik Ibsen, 1998, Four Major Plays, ‘A Doll’s House’, Oxford University Press, page no. 5
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 109
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 72
Henrik Ibsen, 1998, Four Major Plays, ‘A Doll’s House’, Oxford University Press, page no. 80
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 36
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 38
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 36
Henrik Ibsen, 1998, Four Major Plays, ‘A Doll’s House’, Oxford University Press,
page no. 77
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics, page no. 110
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, ‘One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich’, Penguin Modern Classics
, page no. 17