The novel We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, is a dystopian novel that, through the extreme, shows the disadvantages and wrongs of Communism. The novel is told in the manner of a diary by the character D-503. He is a mathematician and the constructor of the INTEGRAL, a type of space-ship. D-503 lives in a city called OneState which is led by a powerful, dangerous machine called the Benefactor. OneState is built of glass so that everyone’s business is out in the open, there is no such thing as secrets. Or at least that is part of what the Benefactor and this society is trying to weed out. The people in this world follow a Time Table, march in step, wear the same clothes, and imagination and creativity are not allowed to exist. The world is made of math, logic, and not standing out, people were meant to be one with people around them. Also in this society, they were not supposed to feel emotion, though they could have a sort of friendship with people. Love was irrelevant, but occasionally it slipped in, as it did with D-503. In the beginning he fit into the society and seemed to feel a connection and happiness with all of the logic and order about him. But as the novel progressed, he changed quite drastically. He fell in love with a woman named I-330, who used her sexuality to draw D-503 in; he was putty in her hands. D-503 seems to break away from OneState and its laws to a degree; his thoughts have changed, he focuses more on his emotions and love for I-330, and he risks going outside the wall. In the end D-503 has an operation and his imagination is taken from him, but the twists the book takes on the way is quite interesting.
Overall I thought the book was okay. It was interesting that the author was able to write in such a mathematic way, though I do not think I appreciate this skill as much as I should. The mathematical terms and references were sometimes hard to follow, but did add to the story as a whole. The ending was darker, with OneState once again taking over the mind of D-503. He had a soul and lost it, and he watched I-330 die and felt no emotion. The novel conveyed the message that equality and giving up abstract thought, creativity, and individuality leads to a controlled and twisted society that is most undesirable. The book was occasionally hard to follow, but interesting.
My favorite quote from the novel was in the very beginning when D-503 first meets I-330. She seemed to hear his thoughts as he tried to interpret her face. When he looked at her, he saw “something about her eyes or brows, some kind of odd irritating X that I couldn’t get at all, a thing I couldn’t express in numbers…what white teeth!...I saw the sharp angle her brows made when she lifted them toward her temples- like the sharp horns of an X, and for some reason I got confused again” (p 8). This was a description by D-503 when he was marching along with everyone else down the streets of OneState. He was having some rather interesting thoughts about God when I-330 interrupted him and seemed to know what he was thinking. This quote is interesting for several reasons. First, it emphasizes how large a role math and logic play in this society. D-503 describes I-330 using x’s and angles, it is the only way he knows to see and understand the world. But something about I-330 and the way she is confuses him and is outside of the realm of mathematics; he is unable to describe it and therefore understand it. He is confused and with normal logic and reasoning, confusion is not normal. This is also important because it seems to describe I-330 in a demon like manner, foreshadowing her mischief and toying with D-503. She is described as having sharp white teeth, and her eyebrows make “horns.” She knew how to use her charm to get what she wanted, and she seemed like a dangerous character. Her X did not fit in and her teeth stood out, sharp and gleaming. I-330 was a variable added to D-503’s life, but he was unsure how to solve for her, and she always kept him guessing.
One symbol that was brought up numerous times in this novel was D-503’s hands. He did not like them and “can’t stand people looking at my hands. They’re hairy, shaggy, some kind of throwback…’monkey hands’” (p 9). The hands were symbolic of two things. First, they showed that society was not the same. The people of OneState had shaved their heads, wore the same clothes, had restricted thoughts, and did almost everything at the same time. But one thing that the people could not have in common or be equal in was their looks. They were all quite different. O-90 was round and pink, a gentle lady, while I-330 was thin and cunning. The people were not the same and their looks would always differ and D-503’s hands emphasized this. More importantly, though, his hands connect him with a more primitive way of life. As he stated, his hairy hands are like monkey hands. The society of OneState is a very controlled place; it is clean and there are no animals or any real signs of nature. It is a city full of glass buildings, a clean machine. But D-503’s hands portray a wildness and lack of control. He does not like them because they are linked to the past. His hands are symbolic in that D-503 is still human and linked to the primitive past of people, and there is a wild side in him that is fighting to get out (his soul).
Overall I thought the book was okay. It was interesting that the author was able to write in such a mathematic way, though I do not think I appreciate this skill as much as I should. The mathematical terms and references were sometimes hard to follow, but did add to the story as a whole. The ending was darker, with OneState once again taking over the mind of D-503. He had a soul and lost it, and he watched I-330 die and felt no emotion. The novel conveyed the message that equality and giving up abstract thought, creativity, and individuality leads to a controlled and twisted society that is most undesirable. The book was occasionally hard to follow, but interesting.
My favorite quote from the novel was in the very beginning when D-503 first meets I-330. She seemed to hear his thoughts as he tried to interpret her face. When he looked at her, he saw “something about her eyes or brows, some kind of odd irritating X that I couldn’t get at all, a thing I couldn’t express in numbers…what white teeth!...I saw the sharp angle her brows made when she lifted them toward her temples- like the sharp horns of an X, and for some reason I got confused again” (p 8). This was a description by D-503 when he was marching along with everyone else down the streets of OneState. He was having some rather interesting thoughts about God when I-330 interrupted him and seemed to know what he was thinking. This quote is interesting for several reasons. First, it emphasizes how large a role math and logic play in this society. D-503 describes I-330 using x’s and angles, it is the only way he knows to see and understand the world. But something about I-330 and the way she is confuses him and is outside of the realm of mathematics; he is unable to describe it and therefore understand it. He is confused and with normal logic and reasoning, confusion is not normal. This is also important because it seems to describe I-330 in a demon like manner, foreshadowing her mischief and toying with D-503. She is described as having sharp white teeth, and her eyebrows make “horns.” She knew how to use her charm to get what she wanted, and she seemed like a dangerous character. Her X did not fit in and her teeth stood out, sharp and gleaming. I-330 was a variable added to D-503’s life, but he was unsure how to solve for her, and she always kept him guessing.
One symbol that was brought up numerous times in this novel was D-503’s hands. He did not like them and “can’t stand people looking at my hands. They’re hairy, shaggy, some kind of throwback…’monkey hands’” (p 9). The hands were symbolic of two things. First, they showed that society was not the same. The people of OneState had shaved their heads, wore the same clothes, had restricted thoughts, and did almost everything at the same time. But one thing that the people could not have in common or be equal in was their looks. They were all quite different. O-90 was round and pink, a gentle lady, while I-330 was thin and cunning. The people were not the same and their looks would always differ and D-503’s hands emphasized this. More importantly, though, his hands connect him with a more primitive way of life. As he stated, his hairy hands are like monkey hands. The society of OneState is a very controlled place; it is clean and there are no animals or any real signs of nature. It is a city full of glass buildings, a clean machine. But D-503’s hands portray a wildness and lack of control. He does not like them because they are linked to the past. His hands are symbolic in that D-503 is still human and linked to the primitive past of people, and there is a wild side in him that is fighting to get out (his soul).
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