Reading update

I'm reading One day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn.

The genius of the novel ( quite short at~130 pages), which is about a Russian soldier falsely accused of treason and sent to a Siberian Gulag, is not that it's as dark as you would expect.

Here's the last paragraph:

Shukhov went to sleep, and he was very happy. He'd had a lot of luck today. They hadn't put him in the cooler. The gang hadn't been chased out to work in the Socialist Community Development. He'd finagled an extra bowl of mush at noon. The boss had gotten them good rates for their work. He'd felt good making that wall. They hadn't found that piece of steel (he'd hidden on his body) in the frisk. Ceasar had paid him off in the evening. He'd bought some tobacco. And he'd gotten over that sickness.

If you read the whole story, and if you're anything like me, this is a terrifying story though. With obvious torture and 'darkness', you know what you're fighting against. Your body and your will are actively opposing the injustices forced upon you. With a treatment such as this, the point of your humanity is reduced. The sole purpose of your existence then becomes following the wishes of the Commander for as long as possible, and surviving the longest.

Two things jumped out at me the most here.

1. Some blame the obesity crisis in the West amongst the baby-boomers to their parents. Those who had gone through WWII and the rationing involved wanted their kids to have the best food -- the sweetest, fattiest, richest food they could afford. Such food was reinforced as desirable, which led to the baby boomers' high rates of obesity and related heart diseases. I read somewhere that it is that generation which has been outlived by its parents the most (who went through tough times themselves, mind) in recent history. If I were such a parent, I can see myself doing so. Even after having foreseen the consequences.

2. It scares one of the Soviet Gulags, of course, but also reminds me of the pathetic situation of the American judiciary/law enforcement system. More importantly, it feels too close to home on how much similar it feels to working as worker in a capitalist system.