We Journal #2

As I read through the next 2/3rds of the novel more things start to reveal themselves such as motifs, setting, language, and cultural connections. The following are examples of each and how I think Zamyatin uses these devices.

I found in We that there are a lot of references and cultural connections to Totalitarianism (a lot). An example I found describes the Integral's purpose, "the Integral is contemplating its great and terrifying future, it heavy cargo of inescapable happiness, which it will carry up there, up to you, the unknown [...]," (73). The Integral will force upon you its happiness which is inevitable, meaning that their rule will be everywhere. This also relates to the Bolsheviks in Russia trying to spread communism to their neighboring countries. I also found that Zamyatin also makes a reference to how Russia's Soviet Bloc nations. "Have you ever heard? They're saying that in the Day of the One Vote?" (108). The Day of the One Vote is held every year and this closely resembles how in the USSR there were similar election practices. Zamyatin wants to reveal and unmask these things for what they really are so that is why he makes this whole book, to compare how Soviet Russia could become this corrupt society and government.

Logic answers everything and is 100% correct, logic cannot be questioned (mathematically). D-503 believes in this throughout all of the novel (motif). This logical reasoning is very influential in the lives of the people under the One State's rule. and for them every problem can be solved by making functions (equations) based on how love and death work, "And hence, if "L" signifies love and "D" signifies death, then L=f(D) -- that is, love is a function of death," (119). D-503 pu)ts love, which is still not fully explained to us now and will probably never be explained (through science at least), all in an equation along with death. (BOOM! We can't even explain what love is but this guy who lives in a fictional world manages to solve it just by thinking and comparing it to an equation. Logic?) 

Language in this book derives from the fact that he is writing through thought process and first person. The fact that he is remembering what he did in throughout his day makes his thinking process choppy and unfinished. "And so what if something had been smashed to smithereens -- it doesn't matter! Just to carry her like this, carry her, carry her..." (127). His thought process completely cuts off because we are reading just some of the highlights of his day and what remains in his conscious mind. I also find that he leaves thoughts lingering and then proceeds with ellipses, "And then, once again; bees, lips, the sweet pain of blooming..." (116). Zamyatin uses the lingering thoughts to justify the fact that logic and total control of every aspect of a person's life will not answer every question that life has to offer. Nature's answers do not derive from a person's invention; we invented numbers right? Of course in their world of numbers, D-503's lingering thoughts cannot be solved by these means. There are no numbers within the world of the natural and its problems.

The setting of the book really helps with the fact of how they think and just their culture in general. "I walked along the X-axis (Fifty-ninth Avenue) to the origin of the coordinates[...] upside down buildings and people, my tortuously extraneous arms[...]" (82). The street he named the "X-Axis" compares to what the real name of it is. Another is, "I am almost alone in the building. I can see far into the distance of the sun-flooded walls: there are rooms hanging in the air[...]" (96). I am not really clear about the setting on this particular page but then just rambles on about there is something coming out of the darkness and shadows and he could hear the footsteps.