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Part 5, Chapter 1: The Doomed
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Gulag Archipelago, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Oppression and Totalitarianism
Survival and the Human Spirit
The Dangers of Ideology
Power as a Corrupting Force
The Value of Religion and Spirituality
Summary
Analysis
This chapter is entirely excised and replaced by a brief description from the editor, which summarizes the chapter’s focus on Russian-Ukrainian relations, as well as the “spirit of resistance” that began to grow among prisoners of the Gulag.
Again, despite the horrific conditions the Soviet citizens were subjected to, they never lost hope completely. Even in the darkest moments of the book, Solzhenitsyn points to moments where people stood up for what was right.
Themes
