Darkness At Noon Novel Analysis

paced. This trait is important to Sergei’s character because it shows that Sergei’s character is

The Great Terror was one of the single greatest loss of lives in the history of the world. It was a crusade of political tyranny in the Soviet Union that transpired during the late 1930’s. The Terrors implicated a wide spread cleansing of the Communist Party and government officials, control of peasants and the Red Army headship, extensive police over watch, suspicion of saboteurs, counter-revolutionaries, and illogical slayings. Opportunely, some good did come from the terrors nonetheless. Two of those goods being Sofia Petrovna and Requiem. Both works allow history to peer back into the Stalin Era and bear witness to the travesties that came with it. Through the use of fictional story telling and thematic devises Sofia Petrovna and Requiem, respectively, paint a grim yet descriptive picture in a very efficient manner.

With that thought in mind, we are back to looking at how Arthur Koestler portrayed the character of Rubashov as a vehicle to illustrate the struggle between the ideas of the party and of the individual. The conspicuous disagreement of the Communist Party is the contention between

While under Joseph Stalin, the Great Terror was a time in which had caused constant fear of authority through means that were harmful. It contained the cruelest of tortures, interrogations, and the fearful abuse of human dignity. Joseph Stalin was a cruel leader who had applied vast powers of the Soviet government to control the real, and even imagined opposition to his rule (Doc. C), establishing himself as a dictator. The amount of Soviet people believed to have been killed by Stalin’s government between 1937 and 1938 are around 681,692 people. It is said that around 1,000 people were executed each day (Doc. C).

World War II was a very dark time in the world’s history as it was one of the largest destruction of mankind. Estimated at over 60 million deaths in total, over 6 million of those were Jewish. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the calamitous effects of the war are seen throughout the story. Given by the title, the night has significance as it is a reoccurring them throughout the novel. Many important events take place in the night and there is also a great fear of it. The night also has a deeper meaning as it signifies the darkness within human beings. In the novel, the night is the time of change for Eliezer and the night brings out the darkness of the people in the concentration camps.

With Robert Conquest’s first edition of The Great Terror published in 1968, critics acclaimed that his work was a spotlight on the atrocities wrought by the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Since then, with new sources and statistics coming forward, there have been two reassessments published by Conquest. Regardless of edition, the author attempts to provide the reader a gripping account of Stalin’s mass purges where millions were murdered and millions more were sent to Soviet prisons in brutal, inhumane conditions. Furthermore, to give the reader a well-rounded view of this period Conquest writes about more than just the gulags. He shares his research on the “Moscow Trials,” the vicious methods for obtaining false confessions, life in the labor camps, and much more.

The Russian Revolution and the purges of Leninist and Stalinist Russia have spawned a literary output that is as diverse as it is voluminous. Darkness at Noon, a novel detailing the infamous Moscow Show Trials, conducted during the reign of Joseph Stalin is Arthur Koestler’s commentary upon the event that was yet another attempt by Stalin to silence his critics. In the novel, Koestler expounds upon Marxism, and the reason why a movement that had as its aim the “regeneration of mankind, should issue in its enslavement” and how, in spite of its drawbacks, it still held an appeal for intellectuals. It is for this reason that Koestler may have attempted “not to solve but to expose” the shortcomings of this political system and by doing so

As a former naval captain, Buinovsky is used to being an authority figure. He acts like he is still a captain. He rebukes Fetiukov for picking up other people's cigarette butts. Fetiukov retorts that Buinovsky, too, will soon give in to groveling. Senka, who is deaf, thinks that they are talking about the Captain getting ten days in the guardhouse for insulting Lieutenant Volkvoi. According to Senka, a prisoner cannot afford to be prideful before the authorities. It is the accepted philosophy to "growl and submit" because if you are stubborn, they will eventually break you. Captain Buinovsky, being a newcomer, has not yet adopted this survival approach. Communism breaks the individual of his individuality, therefore

Ivanonv represents the group of people that, though cynical, are obedient to the Party but are understanding of the ulterior motives of others. This is indicated through the conduct of Ivanov as well as the transaction between Rubahsov and Ivanov, where Ivanov states: “I do not want you to be shot…” (Koestler 82). Though there are many other characters, these three specifically create and influence the story with the most significance. These characters are represented as such because Koestler wishes to show the audience of the mistakes of Gletkin, as well as the tragedies of the Rubashov and Ivanov.

The purpose of this analysis is to show how the themes of the novel are loosely based on the events in the soviet union, and the similarities between the world of big brother and Joseph Stalin’s communistic leadership.

In addition to this, in the mindset of the day, if someone was suspected of anti-Bolshevik activities, they were automatically guilty. The investigator would look for anything he could find that could possibly make the person guilty at all. Sometimes the investigator would take up a random piece of literature, say it was bad, and have the suspect shipped off, even if the “incriminating” evidence was something as benign as the children’s story Goodnight Moon. The investigator would not be the one to tell the suspect what he was even accused of; he would just take the “evidence” and people would soon kidnap the suspect and toss him in a cattle car to Siberia, which was cramped with a mass of other convicts. When the prisoners reached the Gulag, an official there would take everyone’s valuables and toss the convicts into cramped cells. The interrogation could start at any time. For some the interrogations were that day, and for others it never came and their lives were lived out in the dirty cells. When and if the interrogator got a confession out of someone, a prison sentence was read out and the convict was sent off to the actual Gulag.

5.Who scorned Ivanovich for doing so? The General 6.What did he intend to say to the Baroness?

    "You keep lying!" screamed Raskolnikov, no longer able to restrain himself. "You're lying, you damned clown!" And he flung himself on Porfiry, who retired to the doorway, but without a trace of panic. "I understand everything, everything!" He approached Porfiry. "You're lying and taunting me so Ill give myself away-" "You can't give yourself away any more than you have already, Rodion Romanovich, old man. Why, you've gone into a state. Don't shout, I'll call my men, sir!" (Dostoyevsky, 34)

Thoroughly, this ordeal Gurov has been through finally has shown him that he has matured and has become a better man. As he brings his young daughter to school and when he drops her off there he begins to reflect upon the two lives he is living, one that is full of the truths and another that is full of lies. This ordeal has made him a better person unquestionably, his affair with Anna has made him ashamed of the bad things he has done in the past. They both feel that the love both of them have had with each other has changed them forever.

Throughout the novel, the theme of the contrasting old guard juxtaposed with the new guard holds an important position. It also held an important place throughout the purges and show trials. By underlining this idea throughout the novel, Koestler shows both the importance of this idea and of the prominent differences these groups had. The characters of Wassilij, Vera Wassiljovna, Ivanov, and Gletkin illustrate the idea of old vs. new that was underlined throughout the purges. First mentioned on page 5, Wassilij (initially called Vassilij) is the porter where Rubashov lives. He had fought with Rubashov’s regiment in the civil war and clearly respected him. Next to his picture of No. 1, Vassilij had hung a picture of Rubashov (6). Vassilij is clearly a member of the older group of Russian society. He was particularly religious, an idea that No. 1 had worked to stamp out. This idea was mentioned the first time he was mentioned—when he added a “heartfelt Amen under his breath, so that the daughter should not hear it…crossed