The Interactive Oral Commentary provided many intriguing insights into the thematic and contextual subtleties in meaning of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We.
In OneState all the creative pieces praise the government and essentially serve as propaganda, drawing a parallel between the OneState and The Party in George Orwell’s 1984. Both dystopian novels share a repressive government, which aspires to fully subjugate the individual to their control.
I found Zamyatin’s narrative techniques very intriguing. Since primarily, D-503 blindly supports the OneState however, as the plot progresses he gains a more critical viewpoint. It was suggested that in fact the protagonist’s opinion changes because of the process of writing in the Record journal, since the …show more content…
Many comparisons in the novel contrast the individual and his insignificance in light of the powerful collective whole. It was interpreted that the dystopian novel warns about the destructive consequences to such full conformity, picturing the effects of it on the society and the individual. Thus, persuading to act against the total government control. Similarly, the multiple biblical allusions, portraying the government as God and the rebels as the devil were used; picturing the thin boundary between the protection that the state can offer as oppose to control and oppression. I was surprised by the observation that the idea of no final revolution highlighted the author’s skeptic attitude towards the Bolshevik revolution and predicting the next ones to …show more content…
Independent creative thinking acts as a threat to the government’s absolute power. D-503’s free writing in the Record journal, his only creative act, leads the protagonist to begin to form his opinion as he starts to question the motives of OneState’s actions. The chronological structure exhibits D-503’s progressive conflict between conforming to the collective ignorance, and reclaiming an individual identity. As a result, he joins an underground resistance movement against the government’s absolute power. Therefore, in order to sustain its power, the OneState must eliminate the opposition, so it suppresses creativity to control the individual. Thus, Zamyatin condemns the 20th century Russian government for manipulating creativity to eradicate personal expression, and in result securing power by eliminating the opposition. Moreover, due to the government’s intervention, the permitted art lacks originality; therefore it also misses any artistic meaning. Referring to the works created by the poets after the state implemented regulations, Zamyatin describes them as a “Musical Factory”. Juxtaposing the intangible and lyrical connotations of “musical”, with the industrial and mechanical implications connected to “factory”. As a result, the author highlights the contrast between the unique work necessary to complete an individually made music piece and the monotonous
In OneState all the creative pieces praise the government and essentially serve as propaganda, drawing a parallel between the OneState and The Party in George Orwell’s 1984. Both dystopian novels share a repressive government, which aspires to fully subjugate the individual to their control.
I found Zamyatin’s narrative techniques very intriguing. Since primarily, D-503 blindly supports the OneState however, as the plot progresses he gains a more critical viewpoint. It was suggested that in fact the protagonist’s opinion changes because of the process of writing in the Record journal, since the …show more content…
Many comparisons in the novel contrast the individual and his insignificance in light of the powerful collective whole. It was interpreted that the dystopian novel warns about the destructive consequences to such full conformity, picturing the effects of it on the society and the individual. Thus, persuading to act against the total government control. Similarly, the multiple biblical allusions, portraying the government as God and the rebels as the devil were used; picturing the thin boundary between the protection that the state can offer as oppose to control and oppression. I was surprised by the observation that the idea of no final revolution highlighted the author’s skeptic attitude towards the Bolshevik revolution and predicting the next ones to …show more content…
Independent creative thinking acts as a threat to the government’s absolute power. D-503’s free writing in the Record journal, his only creative act, leads the protagonist to begin to form his opinion as he starts to question the motives of OneState’s actions. The chronological structure exhibits D-503’s progressive conflict between conforming to the collective ignorance, and reclaiming an individual identity. As a result, he joins an underground resistance movement against the government’s absolute power. Therefore, in order to sustain its power, the OneState must eliminate the opposition, so it suppresses creativity to control the individual. Thus, Zamyatin condemns the 20th century Russian government for manipulating creativity to eradicate personal expression, and in result securing power by eliminating the opposition. Moreover, due to the government’s intervention, the permitted art lacks originality; therefore it also misses any artistic meaning. Referring to the works created by the poets after the state implemented regulations, Zamyatin describes them as a “Musical Factory”. Juxtaposing the intangible and lyrical connotations of “musical”, with the industrial and mechanical implications connected to “factory”. As a result, the author highlights the contrast between the unique work necessary to complete an individually made music piece and the monotonous