This opening episode establishes some of the ground rules in the camp — a camp which is, in many ways, a paradigm for Soviet Russian society. Improved conditions can be attained only by bribery. Ivan hopes that his gang boss can bribe the chief clerk not to change their work assignment. This means, of course, that some less fortunate gang will be assigned to the job and exposed to its hardships. Ivan does not waste much sympathy on these fellow prisoners. The struggle for survival demands some human decency, of course, but ultimately, the law of the jungle prevails.
Ivan remembers Kuzyomin, his first gang boss in another camp, reminding some newcomers that the first one to die is always the prisoner who licks out bowls, puts his faith in the infirmary, or turns into an informer.
