Journal #22

Topic C: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

In Zamyatin’s We, he warns us about the dangers of a totalitarian/communistic society. The members of this society are made to be near identical machines that religiously abide to a universal schedule and work as mere pieces in the huge machine that is the One State. Zamyatin warns us of a society in which change is made impossible and there is a “final” revolution. If people are not allowed to have their own opinions and thoughts it is inevitable that they will rise up and rebel because suppressing emotions and individualism is against human instinct.

Human instinct to rebel when individualism is suppressed shows us two things: the first is that the instinct to rebel makes a society such as this unlikely and not very believable. The inevitability of dissension and rebellion removes any chance for a totalitarian machine such as the One State to exist, especially one where people all do the exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Zamyatin may have been influenced by the industrialization that went down during the 1900’s and this translated to his factory-esque approach to the lifestyle of the ciphers in the One State. The second thing that the human instinct to rebel shows us is the hope or alternative that Zamyatin gives us. He shows us this hope in the form of the rebellion that I-330 creates. As long as human beings continue to critique and self-correct themselves and others, then a society that stands still without change will be impossible. Zamyatin’s alternative is simply that a society that stops moving is not a society at all, and one without individuality and emotions is impossible.

Journal #21

Topic B: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Character: I-330

            In the second portion of the book one of the main instigators that rebel against the One State is I-330. I-330, like all the other ciphers in the One State has been victimized through her loss of freedom and individuality. No one in the One State has any say in what happens or who leads the State. This is shown in the following quote, “The celebration was clouded by a slight disturbance wrought by the enemies of happiness, which naturally, deprives them of the right to become bricks in the foundations of the One State, renewed yesterday. It is clear to each of us that taking their voices into account would be as ridiculous as…” (131) In this quote, the One State holds the “Day of the One Vote” in which ciphers vote on a new leader, despite that new leader already being chosen before the votes were taken. The One States indifference to the ciphers that refuse to accept the Benefactor shows their victimization of the peoples of the One State. I-330 resists this society and its lack of freedom and individuality by creating “MEPHI”, an organization that is against the creation of the Integral and the spreading of “non-freedom” ideas throughout the galaxy. So far at this point the book, I-330’s resistance has been decently successful because she has managed to get hundreds of ciphers from the One State to become turncoats and join MEPHI. Her resistance is also successful because she has also swayed D-503, the Builder of the Integral and also because she has breached the Green Wall and joined forces with the more primitive and hairy race outside of the wall.

Journal #20 Topic A

Topic A: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

“At exactly 11:45, I purposefully looked at my timepiece in order to catch hold of the digits-the digits, at least would rescue me. At 11:45, before going to the usual session of physical labor, in accordance with the Table of Hours, I ran over to my room.” (62)

In the One State society, every person abides by the “Table of Hours” or a universally synchronized schedule in which every person is doing the exact same thing, at the exact same time, at all times. Every member in the One State must also report a reason for why they are not at scheduled appointments such as physical labor sessions. This excessive obsession with where every member of society is at any time reveals the paranoia of the One State society. In order to prevent individual thought and rebelliousness the government of the One State uses this system to maintain their current state of “non-freedom”. The passage relates to this section, in which D-503 writes about his daily encounters as he tries to explain the One State to a lower alien race that the Integral is on it’s way to enlighten. He is eventually seduced and “poisoned” through alcohol and nicotine by I-330. D-503 was always the epitome of the One State’s ideals and is easily shaken by I-330 and her methods. Despite all of the rules and regulations imposed by the One State, D-503’s defection along with many others that I-330 has infected lead to the conflict that will shape the rest of the story.