Thoughts on We

We was certainly one of the more interesting books I've read thus far. And although I enjoyed it for the most part, I hated the ending from a reader's perspective. What I really liked was the way Yevgeny Zamyatin chose to tell D-503's story. D-503's transition as a character throughout the story is a complex one, therefore by writing the book as a series of journal entries by D-503 allow the reader to become immersed in D-503's emotional transition throughout the story. This could be in part why I didn't particularly enjoy the ending. It's not that I thought it was bad. By all means I think that D-503's regression back to the vise of OneState made much sense; however, throughout D-503's journey I was, in a sense, rooting for him. I wanted him to break convention, to realize how blind he had been to his emotions, and to escape through the Green Wall. Therefore, when, in the end, D-503's mind had been wiped clean of emotions and he couldn't even remember the woman he was so passionately in love with, I was sad for him. And I was angry at the fact that this had happened. Although I liked the story, the ending killed for me the story that preceded it, however I see the importance of such an ending. When analyzed, D-503 falling back into OneState's grasp makes a political statement in that individualism has, in a way, become neglected in society. It also opposes the idea of communism in that total government control allows no room for an individual.

The novel again reminded me to an older sci-fi film from 1976. Logan's Run has basically the same premise as We with a few idealistic individuals in a society ruled by a restrictive government. A scene from the movie I think paralleled a scene from the book in a lot of ways. There is a scene in which Logan (Michael York) escapes from the city where he lives, to a world beyond. This world, beyond the "bubble" the city is enclosed in, is teeming with untamed wildlife and things are generally chaotic. (Reminiscent of anything?) When outside the city, Logan discovers one old man living in the wild. This man shows him literature and describes a world from the past; much of what I-330 does to D-503. Because the whole series of events in the film is a little lengthy I probably wont look for it on You Tube. However, I found the similarities between the two scenes to be noticeable so I thought I'd make mention to it.