Oppression, Gulags, North Korea?

After finishing Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’ One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, I am starting my research on the gulags of the Soviet government. While the Soviet gulags were horrendous, and a complete and utter violation of many basic human rights, the gulags of North Korea are as bad, if not worse. Like the work camps of the Soviet regime the prison camps belonging to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea contain a wide variety of prisoners, with the majority of them being political prisoners. However, unlike the Soviet prisons, if a North Korean is sent to a prison camp their entire family may be deported there as well. The North Korean penal system will send a prisoners parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, even grandparents and grandchildren to the camps in order to stamp out all “dissidence”. Like the Soviet gulags the North Korean camps are located in very secluded regions of the country, with no form of communication to the general public. Crippling injuries are common as a result of the back breaking slave labor prisoners must endure, and the emotional trauma from living in a North Korean camp is tremendous.

There are two different North Korean gulag-style camps. There are internment camps, most similar to the soviet gulags, and reeducation camps, where prisoners are forced to memorize speeches from Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, as well as perform slave labor. The internment camps are where political prisoners are kept, whereas reeducation camps are for prisoners who performed actual crimes, such as stealing food or crossing the border illegally. In both camps prisoners are viciously beaten and tortured for extended periods of time, while other prisoners are allowed to starve to death.

To continue researching the gulags of the Soviet regime as well as those of the current North Korean government, I intend to watch at least 1 documentary on the North Korean camps as well as viewing photos and reading first person accounts of the atrocities of gulags. At the suggestion of Ms. Romano I may also read Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son, a novel concerning the camps in North Korea as well as other government facilities such as state-run orphanages. I so far have not encountered any challenges in my research, apart from the fact that I must carefully select my materials and sources in order to make sure that they are factually correct. There is a lot of fictional material concerning gulags available, and at times it can be difficult to discern that from the primary and secondary sources available on the internet.

Intro to Ivan

For the 4th Quarter Independent Reading project I chose to read Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’ One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich follows Ivan, a Russian soldier who is interned in a gulag as a result of his capture by the German’s during the Second World War. As we follow Ivan through a day in the gulag, Solzhenitsyn reveals the perils of wrongful conviction and a poor legal system. Many of the inmates encountered throughout the book did not commit crimes that would warrant incarceration today; in many cases, these men didn’t commit any crime at all. For example, Shukhov, the protagonist of the novel, is incarcerated for espionage simply because he was in the presence of Germans while he was in a Prisoner of War camp. The Soviet government had no proof that he had committed any crimes, but he is imprisoned “to be safe”. In some ways, the novel reveals the complete lack of compassion that the Soviet government had for its people, imprisoning young people for 20-30 years for little to no reason, in the hope that removing all discourse would yield a much safer and more controllable country.

As a result of reading this book I am researching the gulags of the Soviet government, as well as wrongful imprisonment elsewhere. Over the past week I read 2 stories from survivors of the gulags concerning their time in the camps, as well as looked at multiple images of camps and the conditions that inmates lived in. The gulags were horrendous places; working conditions were terrible, and Siberian winters were terrible. Not only was it cold, but the ground would shift from being frozen to thick mud. Those who were imprisoned often went without meals in order to save up their bread ration, and slept in cabins with forty other workers all while being poorly equipped for the Siberian winters. 

I am currently four fifths of the way through the book, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. While I have read this book twice before, I find that after each reading of the book I get something new from the text; a small detail, or part of the plot that I completely missed before. As stated before, I am now reading this book with the intention of looking at the discussion of imprisonment, which will hopefully reveal details that I did not notice before.

500 Pages Later

What can be said regarding Joseph Heller’s Catch-22? Well, It’s incredible to say the least. It is by far the most engaging fiction book about the Second World War that I have read, simply because it uses “dark satire” and because the characters of the 256th Squadron seem more realistic than other characters in historical fiction. Many historical fiction books regarding the Second World War only discuss the dark and miserable aspects of the war, and discuss them in a tone that is intended to draw a sympathetic, sad response from the reader. Catch-22 doesn’t ignore the miserable aspects of war, such as losing a friend, but it also discusses the the more light hearted aspects, such as chasing Italian women in Rome. The dark satire makes any situation the characters of Catch-22 encounter seem funny. Even the burning of a hospital kitchen is hilarious, as the wounded men in the hospital watch the firemen battle the flames before they are called to the runway to ensure no planes burn on the runway, leaving the fire to burn itself out. The whole basis of Catch-22 is satirical; a man may ask to be grounded due to reasons of insanity, but if he is capable of asking to be grounded for this reason, then he is actually sane, and has to fly. Now, to the character experiencing this absurdity, Catch-22 may be a total annoyance, but to the reader this circular thinking is rather humorous. The ordeal with Captain Cathcart constantly raising the number of required missions is a sick joke to the airmen who have to suffer because of it, and is a large part of the dark humor that Heller uses. When the crew of Orr’s plane has to ditch in the sea, “Orr began opening up compartments in the raft, and the fun really began. First he found a box of chocolate bars and he passed those around, so we sat there eating salty wet chocolate bars while the waves kept knocking us out of the raft into the water. Next he found some bouillon cubes and aluminum cups and made us some soup. Then he found some tea. Sure, he made it! Can’t you seem him serving us tea as we sat there soaking wet in water up to our ass? Now I was falling out of the raft because I was laughing so much. We were all laughing. And he was dead serious, except for that goofy giggle of his and that  crazy grin. What a jerk! Whatever he found he used… he finds is a fishing line and dried bait, and his face lights up as though the Air-Sea Rescue launch had just sped up to save us” (308-309). Although the men are in a dire position here, one can’t help but laugh at the spectacle taking place in the raft, As Orr enjoys himself searching for hidden items. The dark satire in this book makes it bearable; without it, Catch-22 would just be another historical fiction novel about the Second World War. Catch-22 also grapples with the idea of bureaucracy. In fact, the book is almost centered around the theme that bureaucracy has absolute power in war. The colonels and generals of the Air Force have absolute control over the pilots and other airmen. When the men wish to stop flying missions, they're mission requirement is raised, with total disregard for their wellbeing. Catch-22 is the biggest example of bureaucracy in this book; to be grounded, the airmen must declare themselves insane to Dr. Daneeka, but if they are capable of declaring themselves insane then they are sane and must fly. It took me quite a while to come this conclusion, but after fondling the ideas of Catch-22 and the other examples of bureaucracy, a skill I acquired from reading Nabokov's "Good Readers and Good Writers", I was able to extract this theme from the text. I also used this skill when analyzing the characterization of Yossarian. Initially Yossarian appeared to be a whiny clown who would prance around the airbase. However, after looking at his behavior and antics, I came to the conclusion that Yossarian may suffer from PTSD. This diagnosis explains his reluctance to fly again after witnessing the deaths of his fellow airmen at Ferrara.

Apart from using a satirical tone throughout the book, Heller switches back and forth between flashbacks and current events without any notice. In one chapter the death of the soldier in white may be discussed, while in the next the parade grounds in California and the arduous marching inflicted upon the men by Scheisskopf will be described. Heller uses this sometimes confusing structure to draw attention to the fact that war is also confusing and hard to understand. Heller’s strategy is certainly effective; I was often thrown off when the soldiers would suddenly move from a hospital in Italy to a cadet training center in California.

Though the book can be somewhat confusing at times, I would definitely recommend this book to any reader who enjoys reading about the Second World War, and enjoys satirical novels. Satire and the Second World War are not a common combination in writing, however Catch-22 manages to use this combination to its advantage, as it is both engaging and entertaining. Of course, this combination would not mean anything without a cast of characters who were simultaneously realistic and absurd. Orr and Hungry Joe were ridiculous characters; Joe a raving lunatic who often attacked fellow soldiers for making a few too many noises, and Orr, a giggling ninny who, unlike his crewmates, seemed to enjoy being stranded in the sea with little provisions. The length of the book (514 pages) may put some readers off, but Catch-22 felt like a quicker read simply because of how enjoyable it was. I managed to read this book in around 15 hours over the course of a week simply because I struggled to put it down; I wanted to see what would happen next, and what wily scheme Yossarian cooked up to avoid flying more missions.

Milo Milo Milo

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, is about a United States Air Force squadron based on the island of Pianosa, off of the west coast of Italy. The novel follows Captain John Yossarian and some of his fellow airmen, as they try to fulfill their mission requirements so that they can return home, and survive the war at the same time. Unfortunately, their commanding officers have hyper inflated egos and wish to be the best squadron of the entire United States Air Force, and raises the mission requirement to make his group look better. However, he often does this when many of the airmen have either just exceeded the previous value, or are very close to reaching the previous value. This infuriates many of the airmen, and causes many of them to plot the deaths of their commanding officers, though these plots never lead to murder.

One of the well respected airmen on Pianosa is Milo Minderbinder, the pilot who never flies planes. Rather, he is the mess officer, and feeds the airmen. However, his sole purpose in the book isn’t to just be a scheming mess officer. Milo symbolizes capitalism and greed. He and his “syndicate” buy and sell items on the black market. He is very money-minded, and will sell or buy anything to make a profit, even if he is taking money from his fellow airmen. When discussing the purchase of eggs for the squadron, Milo explains that “I make a profit of three and a quarter cents apiece when I sell them to me and a profit of two and three quarter cents apiece when I buy them back from me. That’s a total profit of six cents an egg. I lose only two cents an egg when I sell them to the mess halls at five cents apiece, and that’s how I can make a profit buying eggs for seven cents apiece and selling them for five cents apiece. I pay only one cent apiece at the hen when I buy them in Sicily” (231). In addition to his complicated systems for making a profit, Milo often buys materials in bulk in the hope that he can sell them. However, this doesn’t always work, and in one scenario, he is left with a huge amount of Egyptian cotton, which he covers in chocolate and sells to the airmen on Pianosa. Milo knows that the chocolate covered cotton will make the airmen ill, but he continues to sell it anyway because he can make a profit off of it, displaying his greed and lack of concern for his peers (262). Milo also sells wares through his group M & M Enterprises to the Germans, infuriating his commanding officers who send M.P.’s to capture the German pilots at the airfield.

The Absurdity of Circles

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, is about a United States Air Force squadron based on the island of Pianosa, off of the west coast of Italy. The novel follows Captain John Yossarian and some of his fellow airmen, as they try to fulfill their mission requirements so that they can return home, and survive the war at the same time. Unfortunately, their commanding officers raise the mission requirements as soon as most of the airmen reach the previous requirement, keeping the airmen in service longer than they would like to be, and thus putting them in more danger.

Catch-22 and circular thinking control the lives of the airmen of the 256th Squadron. It is the one rule that many of them live by, and the rule that governs whether or not they fly. The rule dictates that a man may ask to be grounded due to reasons of insanity, but if he is capable of asking to be grounded for this reason, then he is actually sane, and has to fly. However, there are other forms of Catch-22 throughout the book. When Milo refuses to deprive Major Major of food, Captain Black says that “This whole program is voluntary Milo--don’t forget that. The men don’t have to sign Piltchard and Wren’s loyalty oath if they don’t want to. But we need you to starve them to death if they don’t. It’s just Catch-22. Don’t you get it? You’re not against Catch-22, are you?” (114). There are no benefits to either side of the decision. The men either starve, or sign an oath saying that they will do as Piltchard and Wren please. Catch-22 and the decision between eating or signing away rights are just two examples of absurdity in this book. Yet another example of this is when Yossarian is in bed with his lover Luciana, where Yossarian exclaims “You won’t marry me because I’m crazy, and you say I’m crazy because I want to marry you?”, to which Luciana replies “Because you say you love me. How can you love a girl who is not a virgin” (160). Luciana and Yossarian are in bed just after having sex, and she says that she can’t marry Yossarian because she isn’t a virgin? The absurdity present in this book astonishes the reader, but also makes sense as the book is intended to be a dark satire of war, and the inner workings of the military as a whole. It is not surprising that the men of the 256th Squadron are incapable of enjoying themselves and returning home when they have such a ridiculous rule keeping them in the air, and other absurdities controlling their free time.

Yossarian

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, is about a United States Air Force squadron based on the island of Pianosa, off of the west coast of Italy. The novel follows Captain John Yossarian and some of his fellow airmen, as they try to fulfill their mission requirements so that they can return home. Unfortunately, their commanding officers raise the mission requirements as soon as most of the airmen reach the previous requirement, keeping the airmen in service longer than they would like to be.

Captain John Yossarian is a rather interesting character in that there is always something wrong with him, rather, he feigns that there is always something wrong with him. When the reader first encounters Yossarian, he “was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn’t quite jaundice. If it became jaundice they could treat it. If it didn’t become jaundice and went away they could discharge him. But this just being short of jaundice all the time confused them” (7). Really, he is just using illness as an excuse to stay grounded, instead of flying more missions. Yossarian believes that he has been completely wronged by the system put in place by Colonel Cathcart. Whenever Cathcart raises the number of missions, Yossarian has either just passed the previous number, or he is only a few missions away from reaching the previous number. Many of his peers call Yossarian a “complainer”, but he is one of the only airmen who sees the injustice being dealt upon the airmen by their superiors (122). Yossarian only resents the increase in the number of required missions because like most men, he is scared of death. Rather than be called into action, Yossarian often runs off to Rome to spend time with loose women, or squirrels his way into the hospital. Yossarian wasn’t always prone to tucking his tail between his legs and running for safety. When he and his crew were bombing the bridge at Ferrara, instead of leaving immediately after they had made their first pass, Yossarian made his crew fly back for a second pass to drop their bombs. If they had dropped them during the first pass, they would have missed. Yossarian was hailed for his bravery after his heroism at Ferrara, and was promoted to Captain for his efforts. However, Yossarian lost a fellow airman, Kraft that day. One can assume that this loss caused Yossarian to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which would explain why Yossarian is so apprehensive to fly more missions afterwards. This diagnosis would also explain why Yossarian is always afraid that there are people waiting to in the brush to attack him.