Russian Literature

Who is happier: a prisoner in a Russian gulag, or a free, well-educated Russian citizen? The answer isn't as obvious as it might seem. If the free man is a nihilist trying not to fall in love, and the imprisoned man is grateful for every piece of bread, then true happiness could be found in unexpected places. We can see this played out in the novels Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The characters in these novels searched for happiness in many different places. Some found it, and some didn't. These novels demonstrate a universal longing for happiness, and man's search for it, and we can take what we learn there and apply it to our own lives in order to find happiness for ourselves.

The happiest person in these books is probably Alyosha, the Baptist in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Even though he is trapped in the gulag, he finds solace in his religion, and even considers it a blessing that he's there. He can concentrate on his religion, and doesn't have to worry about outside distractions. This religious conviction is shared with Vassily Ivanych and Arina Vlassyevna, Bazarov's parents, in Fathers and Sons. They find happiness in their religion, and in their son. This is ironic, because Bazarov is a source of more pain than happiness to them in actuality, but they're so proud of him that when Arkady compliments Bazarov to his father, Vassily Ivanych says "You have made me utterly and completely happy."
Bazarov bought into this supernatural magic in his childhood, but he has lost that wonder. Looking at a pit near his house, he tells Arkady "That poplar-tree ... reminds me of my childhood: it grows on the edge of the pit where the brick kiln used to be, and in those days I firmly believed that the clay pit and the poplar constituted a special talisman: I never found time hang heavy on my hands when I was near them." Bazarov's education and firm nihilistic convictions destroyed this wonder, as he says "Well, now I'm grown up, the talisman no longer works. Bazarov almost finds happiness again through his love for Madame Odintsov. He even goes so far as to tell her "that I love you idiotically, madly." She rejects him, however, and he is forced to return to his views against all of womankind. In a way, Bazarov is similar to Tsezar Markovich, who gives what he has, but only for things that will earn him a reward, not like Alyosha, who "makes himself nice to everyone, but doesn't know how to do favors that get paid back" according to Shukhov. Though Alyosha doesn't get favors paid back, he found true happiness, and that is his reward.
Arkady discovers that happiness can be found in other people in Fathers and Sons when he falls in love with Katya, and learns to appreciate things like nature. She takes Arkady under her wing and teaches him to love, just like Alyosha takes Shukhov and shows him how religion can lead to happiness. Prior to this revelation, Arkady and Shukhov have been looking for happiness in the wrong places, Arkady in Bazarov's nihilism, and Shukhov in the dog-eat-dog, power-hungry life of the gulags. These other, self-centered philosophies don't bring either of them happiness, nor do they bring happiness to those who refuse to give them up. Bazarov does, however, glimpse the happiness that Arkady finds in love, but every time he gets close, he finds trouble. Madame Odintsov returns his love merely with "you have misunderstood me," and this rejection is very had on him. He later gathers up the courage to kiss Fenichka, but this also proves to be disastrous and he is forced to duel over it. He wins the duel, but he is forced to leave that home. So, though Bazarov comes close to overcoming his nihilistic views and experiencing love, it never works out.
Bazarov is still, more fortunate than Madame Odintsov, who never found love. Bazarov said "You are longing to fall in love...but you can't. That's the reason for your unhappiness." He was right, but neither of them accepted it then. Madame Odintsov does marry in the end "not for love, but out of conviction," and though she doesn't find love then, there is still hope, in that "They live in the greatest harmony together, and may live to attain happiness ... or even love." Her kind of resigned coldness to the world is similar to that of the old prisoner that Shukhov sees eating in the gulag. This man had been in various gulags for years. "All life had drained out of his face but it had been left, not sickly or feeble, but hard and dark like carved stone." This man had been imprisoned for so long that the gulags had taken away part off his humanity. However, he still held his head high, and placed his food, not on the dirty table, but on "a well-washed bit of rag," so that he could hold onto the little bit of self-respect that he had, just like Madame Odintsov's marrige gave her a semblance of love in the end.

Though Solzhenitsyn and Turgenev's readers probably aren't imprisoned in Russian gulags, or consumed by nihilistic apathy, these books can still show mankind where happiness can truly be found. These books tell us that the most educated, or most powerful people aren't necessarily the happiest. Instead, it's the people who find happiness in the little things in life, like nature, love, and religion who are truly happy. If everyone really bought into this, the world would be a much happier place.
In Fathers and Sons, the happiest people, after all os said and done, are probably the newly-wed couples: Arkady and Katya, and Nikolai Petrovich and Fenichka. It is noted that "A change had come over our friends of late; they all seemed to be handsomer and more virile." It says that "they all smiled, and they all looked apologetic; they all felt a little akward, a little sad, and at bottom, very happy. They attended to each other's wants with an amusing consideration." This happiness came from merely accepting and loving one another and trying to make others happy. This is unexpected, that happiness should be found in trying to make someone else happy, but this idea is found in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich as well, in the character of Alyosha. He was kind to everyone, never expecting anything in return, and he was possibly the only truly happy person in the gulag. Finding happiness this way is difficult for many people. It's human nature to focus on oneself and not on other people, but if we can achieve that selflessness, then we could get a glimpse of the happiness that these characters found, even without having any power or, in the case of Alyosha, anything more than his daily bread.
Vassily Ivanych and Arina Vlassyevna find happiness in their meager existence on their farm as well, whereas Bazarov, with his education and his nihilism searches for happiness, but can't find it. He expresses this in a conversation with Arkady;
‘I'm thinking what a happy life my parents lead! At the age of sixty my father still finds plenty to do, talks about "pallative measures," treats patients, plays the bountiful lord of the manor with the peasants - has a gay time of it, in fact; and my mother's happy, too; her days are so chockful of all sorts of occupations, sighs and groans, that she doesn't know where she is, while I. . .'
‘While you?'
‘While I think; here I lie under a haystack . . . the tiny bit of space I occupy is so minute in comparison with the rest of the universe ... And yet here, in this atom which is myself, in this mathematical point, blood circulates, the brain operates and aspires to something too . . . what monstrous business! What futility!"
Obviously, Bazarov's pure logic and faith in learning alone has left him without any kind of true happiness, whereas his parents' life, focused on helping others, working with nature, and the emotions associated with religion, has made them truly happy. This would suggest that happiness comes from enjoying what you have, even if it isn't much. Shukhov discovers this when he looks over his day, sees things like not going to the cells, enjoying his work, and getting a little extra food, and he calls it "A day without a dark cloud. Almost a happy day." Shukhov learns to appreciate the little things that he can get, and that makes him happy. This appreciation for the little things in life is something else that mankind could learn from. Instead of complaining about the troubles in life, if we would focus on the little things that make days "without a dark cloud," maybe happy days would come more often.

Though Fathers and Sons and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich don't seem to be books about happiness at first glance, the characters in these two books prove that happiness can be found in places where it is least expected, so that a prisoner in a Russian gulag can be just as happy, or even happier than a free, well-educated man like Bazarov. In each of these books, there are characters that find happiness, and characters that struggle in their search for happiness. As readers, we can see these struggles and apply them in our own lives, so that we can learn to look for happiness in other people and in our normal lives. In this way, we can make the world a happier place without adding anything to it but ourselves.