We (Russian = My), Zamyatin
Brief Biography (based on introduction):
- naval engineer by training
- arrested during the revolution of 1905
- supported 1917 overthrow of government
- denounced by later regimes
- went into exile in 1931
- co-wrote the screenplay for The
Lower Depths (Les bas-fonds) with Jean Renoir in 1936
- died in Paris in 1937
Publication History:
- Written 1920-21
- Read at All-Russian Writers’ Union and 1923
but not admitted into publication
- Translated into English 1924
- Published in Russia in Czechoslovakia in
1927
Vocabulary:
Syllogism
(157)
Taylor (38, 73)
Group Discussion
1. What aspects of the One State are utopian?
What does D-503 like about this home?
2. What aspects of the One State are dystopian?
What compels D-503 to rebel against the comforts of the One
State?
Close Analysis
Preparation: Synecdoche
on p. 92
Close Analysis Examples: Analyze specific literary elements
in one of these passages and argue for their significance in
terms of the novel's major themes and questions
a) "Five minutes later and we were already in the aero. A May
sky of blue majolica and the light sun in its own golden aero,
buzzing behind us, not rushing ahead, not falling behind. But
there, up ahead, was a cloud whitening our view like a cataract,
stupid and puffy, like the cheeks of the ancient 'Cupid'--and it
was somewhat irking me" (Zamyatin 24). cf. p. 91
b) " . . . A blaze. Inside the iambs, buildings are rocking and
liquid gold is bursting upward, then tumbling down. Green trees
are twisting in convulsions, dripping sap--then only the black
crosses of their skeletons remain. Then Prometheus appears
(referring to us, of course)" (Zamyatin 42). cf. p. 83
c) "My ribs were iron twigs, tightly . .. When she speaks, her
face is like a rapidly glittering wheel: you can't make out the
separate spokes. But, at that point, the wheel was immobile. And
I saw a strange combination: her dark eyebrows hitched up high
to the temples--a mocking, sharp triangle, pointing upward--and
two deep wrinkles, from her nose to the corners of her mouth.
And these two triangles somehow contradicted each other,
imposing on her whole face this unpleasant irritating X--like a
cross. A face crossed out with a cross" (Zamyatin 47).
Questions through Record 19
1. What's the significance of D-503 fainting on p. 85?
2. What are some of the Biblical allusions in We, and
what do they signify? (cf. p. 66, 79, 98)
Entropy and Energy in We
"So: there are two forces in the world, entropy
and energy.
One tends toward blissful peace, to happy equilibrium, and the
other toward destruction of equilibrium, toward tortuously
constant movement. Entropy: our, or more accurately, your
ancestors, the Christians, worshiped it like it was God. But we,
anti-Christians, we . . . " (Zamyatin 144).
The concept of entropy as Zamyatin uses it is analogous to the
idealist dialectic that underscores
much of Western writing, including the Bible:
- The World Outside the Garden of Eden
Group Discussion--end of We
1. What do the 3 women in D-503’s life represent?
2. Who or what do the Mephi represent? How does meeting them
change D-503?
3. What do you think of the ending? Was the revolution a
success or a failure--why or why not?
Work Cited
Zamyatin, Yevgeny. We. Trans. Natasha
Randall. NY: Modern Library Classics, 2006.