The author builds up to the climax stylistically by writing shorter and shorter sentences. He uses his style of writing to put emphasis on the speed of the work. One can really see that the prisoners are having to work faster to make sure the mortar does not freeze. The increased pace draws the reader in and one can place oneself in the position of one of the prisoners working.
The increased pace of work also forces the prisoners to forget the worst aspects of being there such as the cold. The construction of the wall shows how important work is for survival; it gives the prisoners a sense of purpose and takes their minds of more upsetting thoughts. They feel a sense of achievement and pride for constructing the wall. Its actually ironical that they are sent as a labour camp to be punish, but the work they are forced to do actually has many positive aspects.
The experience of working as a team is a very large part of the construction of the wall. It builds up group solidarity and comradeship between the prisoners. There is a sense of loyalty between the team members. This is even the case when Fetiukov spills mortar to try to decrease his workload. Instead of “squealing” to the authorities, the team deals with him themselves and he is made to do extra work.
The building of the wall also clarifies how responsibilities are distributed. Some prisoners are masons, some are carpenters, but these skills alone aren’t the deciding factor when the team leader gives a prisoner a job to do. In the case of the 104th team, Tiurin also looks at the character of the person. He decides on what task a prisoner should do depending on who he is. He decides to make Fetiukov and the captain, Buinovsky haul up mortar up with wheel barrows. He does this because Fetiukov and Buinovsky are intellectuals and the task which he has set them requires the least amount of skill. He knows that they would not be good at masonry or carpentry as they have never had experience in either of those jobs before.
Tiurin learns his teams’ strengths and weaknesses by the way they work, and their attitude towards the work they are doing. One of the most obvious cases of this is when Fetiukov titled the barrow of mortar to make less work for himself. Tiurin then makes Fetiukov do another job and puts Alyosha to replace him. Tiurin knows that Alyosha can be counted on. “You could count on Alyosha. Did whatever was asked of him.”
The building of the wall also exemplifies the control setup of the camp and also reflects the way Solzhenitsyn sees the Soviet society. The Soviet system believed that the sense of pride and achievement from labour was pay in itself for the labour done. The team members seem to disagree even if they feel the sense of pride and achievement.
One can see how the construction of the wall shows the team cope together under the circumstances that they are forced to deal with and how they make something positive out of something that seems entirely negative.
In my opinion the biggest aspect of the wall building is the power of human spirit. Solzhenitsyn shows the abilities of humans to create something better in co-operation with each other even if they are all from different backgrounds and how they manage to achieve something together that could not be accomplished as individuals.
