This article re-examines One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to address a gap in existing scholarship, which has tended to emphasise the novel’s political testimony while giving less attention to its ethical and philosophical dimensions. The study aims to demonstrate that Solzhenitsyn presents survival not merely as physical endurance but as a form of moral agency exercised under extreme conditions. Drawing on literary, existential, and spiritual strands of humanism, the article proposes a three-part analytical framework focusing on freedom, conscience, and dignity. Using a qualitative hermeneutic close-reading of the novel as its primary corpus, the analysis shows how everyday labour, disciplined self-restraint, and small acts of solidarity enable the imprisoned individual to reclaim inner freedom. The findings indicate that the novel offers a spiritually resonant yet non-doctrinal form of ethical humanism, positioning moral choice as the central means by which human worth is affirmed despite systemic dehumanisation. The study concludes by suggesting that this framework may be useful for future research on ethical agency in Gulag narratives and other forms of survival literature.