Introduction to the cancer building

The novel "Cancer House" is divided into two parts with 36 chapters. The novel begins with Rusanov, an official within the system, being hospitalized. The plot develops through the conflict between the other protagonist, Kostoglotov, and the hospital system, and then unfolds a picture of life in the cancer building for readers.

The windows of the cancer building are equipped with iron bars, and a room is lined with beds equipped with bedding. On each bed was a frightened and bewildered man. The system in the cancer building is strict and compulsory: the hospital provides patients with rationed food on time, patients have no right to know their treatment plans, their lockers are checked regularly, and they are not allowed to go out or take a walk at will; doctors and patients never Share information, but both doctors and patients have to face extremely crowded studios, wards and corridors.

The ward should have installed a radio, which is regarded as a symbol of cultural popularization, but it keeps broadcasting "news that you must understand and music that you must appreciate"; a radio is hung on the landing The slogan "Patients. Don't talk to each other about your disease.", with white letters on red cloth, is very conspicuous.

The protagonist Kostogrotov lost his family in the Great Patriotic War. He served on the front line as a soldier and luckily saved his life. However, when he was in college, he was arrested and sentenced for discussing politics with his companions. Suffering "permanent exile", his girlfriend was raped in the exile and survived obediently. The disobedient one committed suicide or disappeared. Elizabeth, a hospital nurse, and her family were arrested during the political purges. Her daughter died in a penal colony, and her husband remains in a labor camp. Doctor Vera's brother was also arrested during that period. Her mother could not withstand the blow and died, and Vera's lover died in the subsequent war, amid the joy she gained from saving lives and healing the wounded.

After more than 20 years of life in the army, labor camps, and penal colonies, Kostoglotov got cancer and was finally admitted to the cancer building until he was dying. After receiving radiotherapy, his condition gradually improved. However, the next course of "hormone therapy" will render him sexually incapacitated.

Rusanov is a person with vested interests who rose through the ranks by falsely accusing and persecuting others during the "Great Purge". When he failed to get treatment through contacts in Moscow and had to be admitted to a general ward as a general patient, Rusanov felt greatly aggrieved. He bossed around his subordinates, patients, and even doctors, asking the doctor to diagnose him as "lymphoma." ”, denying that he himself has cancer.

Dyomka suffered from bone cancer, Yefrem suffered from tongue cancer, Proshka suffered from myocardial cancer, and Asha, who was only 17 years old, suffered from breast cancer; he has even served such patients for many years , Dong Zuova, a doctor who has conducted in-depth research in this field, also ended up suffering from cancer. They rarely see deaths from treatment on the roster. That's because most seriously ill patients leave the hospital when treatment fails. Yefrem, who was active by nature and obsessed with Tolstoy's life theory, was full of joy of life when he left the cancer building, but he passed away soon after. The innocent and simple Proshka was overjoyed when he was told that he could be discharged from the hospital. He walked out of the ward happily with a notice that said "inoperable" in Latin, and he did not know it, and went to his death. Even the cunning and suspicious Rusanov was excited to go home and reunite with his family when he saw the shrinking tumor on his neck. However, the doctor's diagnosis was that "I don't know if he can survive a month with his own resistance."

Patients are forced to receive treatment in hospitals, while the power center controls all resources with the absolute truth of saving lives, using doctors as tools to control the body and spirit of patients.