How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph). We used H.T. Willetts's translation.
Quote #4
Those numbers were the plague of a zek's life. A warder could spot him a long way off. [...] And if you didn't get it touched up in time, you were in the hole for not looking after it! (157)
The numbers act as a symbol in the book. They represent how dehumanized the prisoners are in the camp, and they also represent the rules and anxiety prisoners have to deal with on a daily basis.
Quote #5
So the rule was that every zek carried some firewood every day. Sometimes you'd get it home, sometimes it would be taken from you. You never knew. (747)
This idea of "never knowing" is a running theme in the book. For all the rules and regulations of camp life, it is ultimately highly unpredictable. The guards can ignore or enforce rules whenever they feel like it, which makes a prisoner's life very tenuous, or uncertain.
Quote #6
"Why so late? Why didn't you come last night? Didn't you know there's no clinic in the morning? The sick list has gone over to PPS already."
Shukhov knew all that. He also knew it was no easier to get off work in the evening.
"Yes, but, Kolya, it didn't start hurting last night, when it ought to have." (104-6)
Rules in the camp aren't just uncertain and stressful; they are also irrational. The rules regulating sickbay are really absurd, which Shukhov sarcastically notes in his statement to Kolya here.