The Effect of Temperature on the plot in One Day in the Life of Ivan and The Strangers One Day in the Life of Ivan by Dos.
was a very successful book with many literary devices. The story is told in fist person at times and in third person in other. Dos. has incorporated many literary devices into this book.
The Strangers was written during the 1950s by Albert Camus. The diction in this book is very high with many telegraphic sentences. Both authors use many symbols and motifs in there book. In One Day in the life of Ivan the cold is a significant symbol and in The Strangers the heat is also an important symbol in the book. One Day is about a man named Ivan who lives in the cold Siberian prison located in a tundra. The cold in this novel has helped shaped Ivan’s personality.
After many years in the prison he receives a letter form his family and on page 33 he quotes “ Writing now is like throwing stones in a bottomless pool. In this quote Ivan is talking about his feelings but in third person narration. The simile in this quote implies that he doesn’t like writing back to his family. He feels like he needs to focus on more important things like how to make it through the day with his cold. He also says that he doesn’t have anything to talk about with his family and he has more to say with to his inmates then his family.
Ivan is losing his identity and is starting to become like the rest of the prisoners. In the strangers Albert Camus writes about a man named Meursault who has just received word that his mom has died. During her funeral he quotes the blazing sun is hitting my skin as is floods the valley with its heat. This quote reveals Meursalt’s uncaring personality. He is attending his mom’s funeral and instead of morning over her sudden death he is concerned about the heat.
There is a hyperbole in this quote “ as it floods the valley with its heat. This hyperbole is describing how hot it is which is why meursalt is irrated by the sun. Ivan and Meursault have been changed by their environment. Ivan has become a complete stranger to his family.
It has been I few years since he has last seen his family. The prison has successfully changed him as he has become a completely different man. Meursault is also like Ivan as his momther’s death has had no effect on him. He is still the same and is concerned about the temperature more than his mother’s death. The environment has taken a negative effect of the temperature in both novels. In The Stranger the heat has become his enemy.
Maman quotes “ If you go to slow you risk getting a heat stroke, but if you go to fast you get chilly in the church. She is implying that the heat is really dreadful. There is no escaping the heat since you lose no matter what you try to do in order to escape it. In the life of Ivan the prison is very harsh. It quotes the only light came form the door and the cold followed it. This quote is saying that the cold was everywhere you went whether you sleep or eat.
There is also a personification of the cold. Which is saying that the cold is following you at all times. If it weren’t for the cold the prison would that be very bad but because if the cold working became harder as you body starts to shiver and becomes sore after a long day of work in the cold. The temperature has a negative influence on the setting each novel.
If the cold did not exist in One Day then the prison wouldn’t be so bad. And if it were not for the heat in The Strangers Meursault wouldn’t be as frustrated as he usually is. These symbols have plot changing effects on the novels. If they didn’t exist in the novel then certain events would no have happened.
In One Day the Ivan sleeps in the morning since he feels cold and sore. He later goes to the infirmary and it quotes “ How could a man who is warm feel the effects of a man who is cold. In this section Ivan is trying to get out of doing work since it one less day that he has to work. It is also the reason that he prays for a blizzard during the winter since it one less day. Ivan and the rest of his gang view the cold as a symbol of confinement in the prison. As long as they have been in the prison they have been cold at all times.
The heat is viewed as freedom. Since the heat reminds them of the days before they were sent to the prison. In The Stragners one of the most dramtic irony might not have occurred if it weren’t for the heat. At the beach it quotes the sun hit my back, it burned as hot as a fire. Meursalut is very frustrated by the heat which is why he shot the Arab.
He had to try to relieve his frustration and if it weren’t for the heat he might not have shot him and he would never have reached enlightenment. Both authors have many high points in there stories. One positive they share is the use of temperature as a symbol. If it were no for the heat in The Strangers the Meursault might have thought things through before shoting the Arab. And if it were not for the cold in One Day in the Life Of Ivan the camp might not have been so bad.
And Ivan along with the rest of the prisoners would still have their dignity but because of the cold Ivan gets thoughts like a cigarette would be better then freedom. He wouldn’t have to carry a spoon in his shoe. The purpose of writing one Day is to show the cruel and inhumane things communism does to a country. Ivan was an innocent man who was accused of being a spy and is thrown in prison with no trial. The lasting effect it should have on the reader is that you shouldn’t take anything for granted.
