The ways in which the Häftlinge in Primo Levi's 'If This is a Man' and zeks in Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 'Ivan Denisovich' overcome the dehumanisation through the formation of friendships

Both 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' by Alexander Solzhenitsyn and 'If This is a Man' by Primo Levi are books written about one of the most horrific features of the twentieth century - forced labour camps. Although the authors describe different types of camps with different regimes, their stories are very similar in one aspect. Both of them write about the degradation of the human soul as a result of the harsh …

…to give or receive care and affection to prevent an otherwise inevitable dehumanization. Through examples of friendship and lack of it, each author fundamentally agrees that with comradeship comes hope and a reason to live. Word count: 1464 Sources: Levi, Primo. If This Is A Man. Translated by: Stuart Woolf. Published by: Everyman's Library, London, 1965. Solzhenitsyn, Alexander, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Translated by: H.T. Willets. Published by: Everyman' Library, London, 1978.