When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Biblical References
- New Testament (128, 135)
- 1 Peter 4:15-16 (136)
- Acts 21:13 (1198)
Historical References
- Bendera (or Stepan Bandera): a Ukrainian nationalist underground leader (77)
- "Special Camps" : hard labor camps for political prisoners (92)
- Article Nine of the Soviet Criminal Code (181)
- Buchenwald: a Nazi concentration camp (268, 386)
- Belomor Canal: a canal linking Baltic and White Seas, built by convict labor 1931-1933 (327)
- Sergei Kirov: a Soviet official assassinated in 1934 (525)
- "1935 Kirov wave" : wave of arrests following Kirov's assassination (525)
- The Great Purge in 1937 (515)
- Korean War (1040)
Pop Culture References
- Sotsgorodok: a Socialist settlement (10)
- "Zeks": Russian slang for inmates or prisoners (first mention on 37, throughout rest of text)
- Ust-Izhma: Shukhov's first prison camp (throughout text)
- Kolkhoz: a collective farm (58, 225-228)
- Vok: wolf in Russian (173)
- Oprichniki: armed forces under Ivan the Terrible (491)
- Kulak: well-off peasant, deemed class enemies under Stalin (514-528)
- Stakhanovite: worker who voluntarily works extra hard for the "glory of communism," named after Alexsei Grigorievich Stakhanov (531)