The morning reveille, a hammer banging against a length of rail, is sounded at five o'clock. The wake-up call is particularly short, because it is cold, and the campguard does not want to stay outside for long. It is still pitch-black when Ivan Denisovich Shukhov gets up. Shukhov almost never oversleeps, since by waking up early he can have ninety minutes of free time before the prisoners assemble to go to work. He earns money during this time by sewing mittens, bringing prisoners their valenki (felt boots), sweeping the warehouses, or collecting dishes from the mess halls. The men who collect dishes sometimes receive bits of food, but Shukhov is careful to resist eating the leftover food from the bowls. His first squad leader said that the men who don't survive are those that lick leftovers, count on the doctors to cure them, and squeal on others. Looking back on his words, Shukhov disagrees about the squealers, because many men have saved themselves by turning others in. .
Usually Shukhov rises at reveille, but today he feels feverish. He lies in bed listening to his squad waking up and going about their morning duties. He listens to the squad orderlies carrying excrement out in a bucket. He hears Tiurin, the squad leader, and Pavlo, the deputy, putting on their valenki. He knows that Pavlo will be going to the bread-storage and that Tiurin will be going to the PPD, the Production Planning Department, for their orders. He also realizes that today his fate will be determined by the new orders handed down to Tiurin. The 104th might be moved to a new site, called "The Socialist Way of Life," out in the open country. They would have to clear the snowdrifts and fence themselves in with barbed wire before they could even start building shelter for themselves, meaning they would be very cold. Tiurin's job is going to be to convince the authorities to send another squad, and he will have to bribe them with salt pork.