How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph). We used H.T. Willetts's translation.
Quote #7
Shukhov enjoyed it. He liked people pointing at him - see that man? He's nearly done his time - but he didn't let himself get excited about it [...] They could twist the lost any way they liked. When your ten years were up, they could say good, have another ten. Or pack you off to some godforsaken place of exile. (377)
It's interesting that Shukhov becomes something of a minor celebrity for nearing the end of his sentence. The idea of someone having a future outside of the camps is pretty novel, or new, for the people with twenty-five year sentences, which may as well be life sentences.
Quote #8
But not for the foremen. A work assigner rounds them up with shouts of "Foremen! To the PPS!"
To try on tomorrow's horse collar. (916-7)
This blunt statement of metaphor of Shukhov's helps to point out how exhausting and similar the days are in the camp. The work never stops.
Quote #9
For the moment that ladleful means more to him than freedom, more than his whole past life, more than whatever life is left to him. (912)
Life in the camps has a definite way of blotting out not only the past but also the future, so that the present becomes all-consuming. Here Shukhov's hunger dominates his thoughts.