Research paper Social Sciences Research Paper Essay (Research Paper Sample)

Darkness at Noon
Darkness of Noon is set in the late 1930s in the USSR during the great purge that saw mass arrests and executions. The main character in the novel is a man named Rubashov, who falls out of favour with the party and becomes a political prisoner. The novel is divided into four parts; the first hearing, the second hearing, the third hearing and the grammatical hearing.
It begins with Rubashov being arrested by the Russian secret police, known as NKVD, in the middle of the night while he was asleep. It is coincidental that he is woken up from a dream about when he was arrested by the German Nazi secret police, the Gestapo. The NKVD arresting him are two men; one almost his age and the other is younger. The older man treats Rubashov with civility and courtesy unlike the younger one who is rather aggressive. This scene introduces the book’s first major theme which is that of transition from an older, more civilised generation to the next one which is brutal.
His arrest and imprisonment comes as a relief to Rubashov as he no longer has to worry about being arrested. As is norm, he expects to be kept in solitary confinement until he is executed by being shot. He begins communicating with a man in the prison cell next to his using a tap code, whom he later finds out is an army soldier arrest for his hate for communism. The prison cell is Number 402. Their relationship begins on a rough patch as Number 402 is delighted with Rubashov’s detainment due to political divergencies. He calls Rubashov a swine and says “Bravo. The wolves devour each other.” Over time their relationship gets better after Number 402 asks Rubashov to narrate to him his experience of the last time he slept with a woman. They exchange information about the other prisoners and their respective backgrounds.